[Skippy]

Dual booting is the only way

BTW : FS and FS2 work fine on XP Pro

[NeoHunter]

Damn Windows 98 is always giving me problems, so I intent to upgrade to Windows XP. But I'm a little hesitant because I have a lot of games tat I'm not sure can work in WIndows XP.

What about Homeworld Cataclysm? Or maybe even Descent Manager Tools?

[Fury]

ALL games and softwares are working on my system (WinXP) fine. Unless the game requires pure dos to run correctly, like old Wing Commanders. Or the software is specifically designed for Win9x, like some older system utilities.

There is VERY FEW games that does not run under WinXP, but they are quite rare anyways and usually not no-ones favorite games.

You should not have anything to worry about, I have heard that truespace 4 does not work correctly under XP, but TS5 does. Not sure about that though, might be a problem in user's system. Much like darkage's FS1 does not work under XP but other's does.

If you get XP, I recommend you to check out this tweak guide:
http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/winxp_services/index.shtml

That guide is single best tweak for XP, you can significantly reduce memory usage of XP right from the system start and XP loads faster!

[Fury]

Homeworld and HW Cataclysm works just fine under XP, as does Descent Manager tools.

[NeoHunter]

Thanks a lot, guys!!! You have helped me set my mind on Windows XP. Now all I need is a new P4 2.0GHz PC.

[Vertigo1]

Dude, if you're going to use XP, take advantage of the NT kernel!  Build a dual-processor system!  Dual CPU boards are getting cheaper.  Hell, AMD's prices on chips just dropped immensely as have intel's!  Now is an excellent time to upgrade.

You can more than likely use most of your existing parts!  All you'd really need is new CPUs (have to be the same speed), a new motherboard, and possibly new RAM.

Make sure your power supply is adequate to support the motherboard you buy though.

[Fury]

Actually, I see no good reason to build up a dual CPU system.
There is not enough games that really utilizes dual CPU systems to their full advantage.

Thing might be another if you are hard-core renderer, most rendering programs like Lightwave supports dual CPU systems.

But in my opinion, it is much better to build up powerful single CPU system. Also, two CPU's produces more heat, so you need better cooling, more powerful power supply and bigger case for slightly bigger motherboard. Not worth of the trouble IMO...

[Fury]

Originally posted by NeoHunter
Thanks a lot, guys!!! You have helped me set my mind on Windows XP. Now all I need is a new P4 2.0GHz PC.

Make sure that you buy newer Northwood P4, as it is faster than older.

[NeoHunter]

What Northwood P4??? What's that? A new PC brand or what???

[Redfang]

Originally posted by NeoHunter
What Northwood P4??? What's that? A new PC brand or what???

 
A new core for Pentium 4. Done in 0.13 micron, old (Willamette) was 0.18. Has 512kb L2 cache, old had 256kb. That cache makes it faster, and it runs cooler, and overclocks better, like with LN2 some of those hardcore overclockers have got 2.2GHz running at about 4Ghz.

[Vertigo1]

Yeah, just be prepared to pay a dozen arms and legs for it though.  Its hella expensive.

[NeoHunter]

Wow...its that good huh?

[NotDefault]

I'm going through a nightmarish computer upgrade right now; the processor, motherboard, memory, OS, and video card are all getting upgraded.  Right now, it's completely busted.

I'll get back to you when it works so I can try it out.

[Fury]

Newer Northwoods will eventually replace older Willamettes, just like Athlon Thunderbird replaced old Athlon. Price is what it is.

Really, AMD systems are cheaper than P4 systems, but then again Northwood is overall a bit faster than equal Thunderbird.

Personally I recommend getting Norhwood if price is not too high for you. If you want P4, make sure that you buy Northwood!

Northwood P4's are currently available in following speeds:
2.53 GHz, 2.40B GHz, 2.26 GHz (source: www.intel.com)

Edit: And also, I'd recommend Abit BD7II (non-RAID) motherboard for your P4, it supports DDR RAM, so get one 512 MB DDR stick.
RAID is rarely usefull for home gaming computer...