Posted: 9/1/2002 5:32:59 AM EDT
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Gentlemen, I am currently running Win 98SE (don't laugh, please!) and am considering going to XP or 2000 Pro. I have a copy of 2K and I found a good deal on XP Pro OEM ($139). I do a lot of simming such as EAW, CFS2, F4, F-18, USAF, and some FS2002 along with FPS like Medal of Honor, Ghost Recon and Rouge Spear, UT, Wolfenstein, etc... My questions are which should I go with and why AND what about dual booting? I have read guides on it and feel I could set it up but is it problematic to use and should I expect many headaches? I plan on buying a second HD so can't I simply install XP or 2K on the new drive rather than all of the partition stuff people talk about? Any advice from you all would be appreciated! |
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There is nothing "wrong" with 98SE, it was a pretty good platform (as far as windoze is concerned) for gaming. I have XPpro and 98se on [this] machine. I originally had 98se and wanted to try out Xppro. here is what I did: I had a new hdd, so I installed it as a 2n drive. I ran XP and did a fresh clean install on the 'new' hdd. In Bios, I change the boot drive order to which ever drive I want to use (have boot up first) [system] There are a lot of things that will catch you a way different (it did me!) and some of it is annoying. I've since spent 99.99% in XPpro now. I was thinking about pulling off all the stuff from the 98 hdd and wiping it clean for extra space. I do have Win2k on several othermachines, that just run SETI full time, not a problem with it. XPpro was tempermental at one time, but I've had it since the beginning and there have since been a whole mess of patches (it IS windows) it seems to be pretty stable now. |
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An alternative is to consider a mobile docking station for use with a second harddrive. The station allows you to convenently remove one drive and insert another from the front of the computer case panel. (not hot pluggable though) You will need an extra tray to use one station with two harddrives. I've stayed away from ME and XP due to their initial problems regardless of whether they have been patched up on not. I will stick with 98SE and Win2K if I have to but prefer the new release of Linux SUSE 8.0. http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?EDC=333527 www.inclose.com |
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I strongly suggest installing either 2000 Pro (my choice) or XP Pro on a clean harddrive. Memory management from either is far better, and 512MB or 1Gig of RAM is cheap and easy these days. You can't get close to that with 98. 2000 will be more stabile and will have better driver support, though XP is near full support these days (it always takes a while for hardware companies to get their drivers right for a new OS, especially for video, which is critical for you as a gamer). I recommend buying a new harddrive (you can get 100 Gigs for $100 if you look) and installing to the new drive. Slave the old drive and pull off what you need, then format it. You can, if you choose, install a different OS on the 2nd drive. -Troy |