Windows 98se, windows XP and fs9. Your advice please

[ant_1984]

Hi all, I currently have fs9 running with win98se. Just wondering If i'd see any benefits if I upgraded to XP?
My system is as follows.
P4 2.8Ghz
512MB Kingston PC2700
Gigabyte Radeon 9600Pro
Motherboard (not sure, know it's a Gigabyte P4 Titan)
60GB HDD
Force Feedback Pro

Would there be any benefits in terms of performance. I'm sure in terms of stability there would be. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Anthony Young

[draky]

I have gone through most of MS operating systems and have settled for XP Pro and it sure does seem a lot more of a stable platform than pervious op systems by MS. I hear there's not a lot of difference between the Pro and Home Edition as far as gaming goes. I certainly have much less of those dreaded blue screens, in fact can't remember if I have ever had one running XP. I'd go for it. One copy per machine though - I had to purchase it 3 times for the laptop and the better half's machine - rather expensive. You have to activate each copy, just beware if you have multiple computers.

XP was a lot better in setting up the home network too.

Dave

[ant_1984]

Thanks draky, I think I'll give it a go and see what happens.

Anthony Young

[OTTODAD]

Anthony,

I went through the same WIN 0/S cycles as Dave. Took the MSTS Forum a long time to persuade me to abandon WIN-98SE though ! ;-)

Have not regretted it since. Frame Rates are up with my nVidia TI-4600, AMD XP2400+, 1.5 Gb Ram, 120 Gb hard drive machine.

When changing to WIN-XP do not "Upgrade"=Install over WIN-98SE, it's best to do a CLEAN install. NTFS is said to be best, but depends on what your machine does mostly. Data reliability has never been an issue for me with any WIN O/S ! If it works with average size files in partitions of less than 30 GB then FAT-32 is faster. You will also need to upgrade all your drivers for WIN-XP, easily obtained from the makers of your hardware.

Also make sure you Partition your Hard Drive into Logical Drives. WIN-XP does not need more than 10 Gb for it's System Files and smaller Partitions are easier to manage, supply Data faster, Back-Up faster individually and are kept out of harm's way in case of a WIN Systems failure. Yes, a had a few "Black Screens of Death", WIN-XP is not much better than previous versions, all depends on what you do with it. Good idea to have NORTON GHOST Images of your WIN O/S System drive just in case !! ;-)

It also improves performance stopping any of it's "Services" running you do not need and don't run any programs in the background while SIMMING, especially not being ONLINE, Virus Checkers, Firewalls or Networking being active.

O t t o

[Waltm]

Hi Anthony,

I've been through every Windows version since 3.0. Yes, XP is the best I've seen yet. If you haven't parted with your money yet, I would recommend XP Pro (as opposed to XP Home).

-- Walt

Running FS2004 at 1280x940x32

Intel Pentium 4, 2.0 GHz
Windows XP Pro
512MB PC800 RDRAM,8100
128MB ATI Radeon 9600 Pro
CATALYST Windows XP 3.9 video driver
DirectX 9.0b
19 inch Samsung SyncMaster 955DF Monitor
Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS
MS ForceFeedback 2 joystick

[prowler]

Ottodad,

Would you take a gander at my thread regarding what XP services are required to run FS9 (with FSNav)? I'm trying to set up a hardware configuration to use when booting up before simming.

Maybe you have some insights?

Any help is appreciated, as always.

prowler