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Would W2K make better use out my hardware, for gaming purposes?

MichaelD

MichaelD

Lifer
Kind of an embarrassing question, but if I don't ask, I'll never find out, right?

My rig is mostly used for gaming. In the past 98se has been the gamer's choice of OSs'. But lately, more and more tweaks are being uncovered for W2K and vidcard driver support is there for W2K as well.

I don't know much about W2K. Used it for about a month at my last job. Using NT right now at work. My definition of W2K is "it's WindowsNT with a Win98-looking interface." Is this way wacked out off the mark? Educate me.
 
Win2k is slick, but if you're a gamer, 98SE is probably the best option. A lot of people have had to take a lot of time to iron out problems with their software, but after it's all working right, and scores are almost identical to 9x, there is no going back 🙂
 
I like 2k better and I do some gaming. However I have a dual boot just in case I can't play a certain game under 2k.
 
W2K IF setup correctly is an excellent OS for any use.

However, not everyone has the time or desire to learn how to tweak it correctly.
For some people Win98 is still the way to go, as W2K can get confusing if something doesn't work right away.

When you get W2K setup correctly it's really nice. Getting it setup correctly can be a pain. 🙂


My definition of W2K is "it's WindowsNT with a Win98-looking interface." Is this way wacked out off the mark? Educate me.

NT has always given me the impression of being: Blocky, simple, reliable, and boring.
W2K gives me the impression of being a: Nicer looking, more complicated, still reliable, with options/tweaking galore version of NT.

Can't say i EVER thought it was anything like Win98.
As I have only (1) impression of Win98: Piss-poor memory management

 
Thanks guys. You've got me thinking now! "It takes tweaking"...well, I guess most of us here are tweakers, right? 🙂 I doubt I'd run into a problem with W2K that most of you haven't already run into. I could just come here and get the hookup...and better memory management to boot!

What about drivers? Would I need new drivers for my videocard, soundcard, NIC and all that jazz? Easily downloaded I suppose.

EDIT:
Being that I have more than one HD, I could dual boot 98 w/o any issues right? How does this work? I mean, how do you tell the computer "boot this or that?" Thru DOS?
 
I have been running W2k since Release Candidate 1 and I love it. When it first came out, gaming under win2k was subpar. Now it is slower than 98, but the games work fine. All the bugs have been worked out for the games I play.


I play Counterstrike in Win2k all the time with my Voodoo 5 and it is fine. In the past I have played Unreal Tournament and Quake3 in it well also. I might get lower Frames per Second, but the tradeoff of enhanced security, stability, and better memory management make me a lot happier.

I would go for it, at the worst you will need to reformat and reinstall Win98.

Also, if you are dual booting do not install Win2k and Win98 on the same partition, it will not work well.
 
Hey MichaelD,

Check NT Compatible to see if your games and other software work properly. I play mostly FPS and the Quakes, Half-Life, UT's etc. work fine for me.

EA Sports games are the only ones I ever hear about having problems. For me personally, NBA Live 2001 won't work in Win2k.

My opinion, go with Win2k. I didn't like it at first, but I've come to the conclusion that, that was just because I was unfamiliar with it.

Once you get accustomed to it you probably won't even want a dual boot.
 


<< Also, if you are dual booting do not install Win2k and Win98 on the same partition, it will not work well. >>



I dunno about that, astroview. At one point I was dual booting off of the same partition and I had absolutely no problems whatsoever.

MichaelD, I think the best way to install would be to setup (or keep) Win98 first. Then begin installation of Win2k. It's setup program will ask you what drive or partition you want to use. Then blamo, when its done you'll automatically have a boot menu screen that lets you choose either Win98 or Win2k.
 
Afropick,

Excellent reply, Sir! Thanks very much. I also am a FPS player. UT, Quake, DeusEX, Serious Sam (yeah, it's mindless, but kicks butt when the PM's are cranked!) Halflife (all of 'em!)

I will check out that website for the compatibility issues. I've not had even 1% of the BSOD's and other probs that everyone has had w/Win98SE. But, I've found that as I've gotten to be a more advanced user (thanks mostly to this forum!) it's been becoming slowly more and more limiting. Particularly the memory management issue.

Thanks again. Have a great day!

Sincerely,
Mike D
 
I also run Win2K and I've had no problem running games. FPS did go down on some games like UT and Quake, but it is certainly a worthwhile trade-off for stability (e.g. no more BSOD.) Setting up networks is a breeze with Win2k and NTLDR is far superior for dual-booting (even with LINUX).

I've started using XP at work so I will have a chance to see what I can expect game-wise.

I strongly recommend you get the SP2 for Win2k.
 
Is SP2 for W2K free? (Crowd bursts into laughter, Mike blushes...) I dunno, that's why I'm asking. Not gonna spend $200 for an OS then have to spend another $100 to make it stable...good old Microsoft. :|

Is the SP2 like &quot;Windows Update?&quot;. Where you go to MS's site, they scan your PC and compile a list of what you have and don't have and then you can DL it? Thanks.
 
SP1 came with win2k back when I got it. I'm guessing that sp2 will come with current copies of win2k.... You can probably also download it but I'm not sure (it might take a while).
 
SP2 is free, just go to the Windows Update from the Tools menu.

No, MSFT stopped doing scans. The bad thing now is that all the updates are downloaded in one freakin' monster SP(I think it was 100MB+ if I remember correctly.) After the SP2 is downloaded, then it determines what you need, installs whatever needs updating and then deletes the unused files.

I hope you have broadband ISP. 🙂
 
Thanks guys. Yeah, I have DSL. Finally got feed up with a max DL speed of 2.2kbs. (That's the actual max speed, BTW...SAD-NESS!) and got DSL. Never going back to DU. It would be quicker to walk to MS HQ in Washington state than to DL anything over dialup! 😛

Pondering, pondering, pondering this Win98 vs.W2K thing. Argh. 😕
 
My advice? Save your money now and wait until XP comes out in September/October.

I hear WinXP will be an excellent gamers' OS.
 


<< Thanks guys. Yeah, I have DSL. Finally got feed up with a max DL speed of 2.2kbs. (That's the actual max speed, BTW...SAD-NESS!) and got DSL. Never going back to DU. It would be quicker to walk to MS HQ in Washington state than to DL anything over dialup! 😛

Pondering, pondering, pondering this Win98 vs.W2K thing. Argh. 😕 >>



Mark up another point for 2k; your 512Megs of memory are going to waste on Win98 🙂
 
I second that advice frankroh just posted and wait for XP this fall or at least wait untill your next mainboard/ cpu purchase and get a copy of Win2k OEM 150$. Im running XP right now and I dont see any improvement in the gaming aspect over Win2k.If your just bored and want to learn something new, save your money and download and learn a Linux distro. I game with no problems with Win2K but gaming is secondary to me. I run a graphics workstation and Win98 poor memory manangment and instability makes it a no go for me, but if all I was doing was gaming and internet I would not make the switch.

Rain
 


<< SP2 is free, just go to the Windows Update from the Tools menu.

No, MSFT stopped doing scans. The bad thing now is that all the updates are downloaded in one freakin' monster SP(I think it was 100MB+ if I remember correctly.) After the SP2 is downloaded, then it determines what you need, installs whatever needs updating and then deletes the unused files.

I hope you have broadband ISP. >>


nope, i installed win2k after a format a week ago and updated to sp2, and it was only 13 megs from the windows update page.
 
One of the main purposes for Win2k is to provide security. One of the ways Win2k provides security (for some odd-ball reason) is not letting the software interact with the hardware as easily as Win98 does. I'm sure it's not targeted to be &quot;yeah, let's make it a pain in the ass!&quot; But It's more hardware-interaction restrictive.
 
OK, did some surfing on the OS and Gaming Forums and read some stuff that scares me. :Q

Supposedly (correct me if I'm wrong, please) some files created in FAT32 (i.e. Win98SE) will not open w/W2K because it uses NTFS. Is this true? I have MASSIVE AMOUNTS of Word/Excel/PowerPoint presentations that I use on a regular basis. It's work-related, even though it's done at home. I must be able to manipulate these files. We're talking about a Gigabyte of info here! Big stuffs! Info please.
 
I personally did not like the feel of Wind2k. It felt too buisness like and seemed to restictive. It didn't take me to long to get real frustrated with all the compatability issues. My scanner, joystick, and burner all had problems. I am sure Win2k is mor stable but I personally do not have any stability problems with Win98SE. I am sure if I would have been more patient and taken the time I could have got Win2k tweaked enough to solve all or most of the problems I was having. Even MS says Win2K is meant for buisness use and may not be the best OS for home use.
 
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