[Grey Wolf]

Let's see....
My suggestions are, in this order:
1. 2000 or XP
2. 384-768MB of RAM
3. A new graphics card, preferrably at least a 9600XT or 5700 Ultra.

[Stealth]

Originally posted by TopAce
I have 384, and win98 runs better than it did with 256. Speaking of expereince.

Originally posted by Liberator
Why?

and i'm saying if he's already got 256MB RAM, he should upgrade his operating system before upgrading his RAM.  i don't care if you've got 4 GB of RAM on a 98 machine... i never said it wasn't possible, i said why do that when you can get a better operating system.  i mean what's another 128 MB of RAM going to get him?  a 1.2 second faster loading time on Photoshop?  please...

Speaking of experience.

[Kosh]

Windows 98 can handle up to 512 MB of RAM with no trouble. Beyond that it will give you problems.



EDIT: Namely this: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;253912&Product=w98

and this: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;311871&Product=w98

[Stealth]

but you're not going to find a really noticeable difference between 256MB on 98 and 512MB on 98, whereas you WOULD notice a difference if you were running, say, XP.

i just say leave the RAM there for the meantime... get 2000 or XP.

[Kosh]

It depends on if he's running SCP or not. But he can do both at the same time.

[JR2000Z]

Depends on how much money you are planning to spend and what the upgrade is for.

If you plan to get a graphics card, you should keep in mind how it is going to work with your mobo and RAM.

If you plan to get a new OS, don't think that it will give you a new performance leap. Especially with your current computer specs.

[Cyker]

This is a bit tricky actually...

Personally I'd upgrade the video card, but the problem is you won't get as much of a boost running, say, a GF6800 on Win98 as you would in 2k/XP.

If you'd asked a few years ago I'd have said get a GF4 Ti4x00, but it would be a bit wasteful now unless you can get one really cheap.

256MB of RAM is a bit on the low side for Win2k, and will probably chug a lot on XP also - I usually recommend anyone getting 2k or XP has at least 512MB RAM, if not more.

Some people can get away with less, (esp. if they have really good fast hard disks, only have 1 partition and one OS, and don't install/uninstall lots of stuff), but generally I find 2k and XP eat RAM like it's going out of fashion (And don't get me started on the stupid disk caching algorithms!).
Unless you're a pedantic bastard like me and go through the Windows Services killing all the ones that shouldn't even be running then OS RAM utilisation alone will hit around 200MB quite easily after a few minutes of 'normal use'.

So, IMHO, if you wanna upgrade Windows, I'd get some more RAM at the same time...

[wolfdog]

Originally posted by Kosh



If XP is crashing, then you have something wrong with your system. XP doesn't just crash on its own.

That's a fairytale IMO... if my pc handles 2k without crashing, it should handle XP too, but it doesn't... hardware is about 1/2 year old and i don't have any conflicts. guess XP doesn't like my video card

but that's OT...

I think it's true that you won't feel the difference between 256 or more with win98, and also that for both XP and 2000 256 is a little low...  ofcourse that also depends on what you're using it for.

I would upgrade both OS and RAM...

[Stealth]

Originally posted by Cyker
So, IMHO, if you wanna upgrade Windows, I'd get some more RAM at the same time...

that i must agree with.  both XP and 2000 will run fine on 256MB, but i'd highly recommend 512MB+ for both.

[Taristin]

2000 runs fine on 128MB. It could probably be better, but I have no real trouble with the OS running, along with 3dMax, and itunes simultaneously.

2000 is a pretty good OS for tht alone.

[Gank]

Originally posted by Stealth
but you're not going to find a really noticeable difference between 256MB on 98 and 512MB on 98, whereas you WOULD notice a difference if you were running, say, XP.

Yes you do, I just upgraded from 256 to 512 a month or so ago and the difference is very noticeable.

[Lynx]

allright, I got XP. It works like a charm, never even crashed once since I'm using it(98 would've annoyed me about 5 times by now). I disabled some of those helper programs since every time I accessed the internet it threw a load of crap at me.

But there's another problem: The intrnet connection doesn't work too good. After some time, I can't open anything anymore. The machine is connected to the net, but if I want to open something, nothing happens. Closing and reopening the connection doesn't work either. Happens both on IE and Firefox. Only restarting helps(and then after some time, it happens all over again). Any help?

[Liberator]

Do a scan for spyware and viruses.  Get a third party firewall, i've been told that the one that comes with XP, while better than nothing, is utter ****e.

[Stealth]

Originally posted by Gank


Yes you do, I just upgraded from 256 to 512 a month or so ago and the difference is very noticeable.

on 98?  hardly... you need to do some research into how much memory 98 uses.

[Gank]

Eh, I dont need to do research, I upgraded the memory and **** goes faster, end of story.