Opinions wanted from people using Win2K for gaming....

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Thu May 08, 2003 10:34 pm

I'm considering going back to Win2K when I build my new workstation. There's really nothing in XP that I need or use, and XP has a couple of VERY annoying problems.

The most annoying is that if you spawn multiple Explorer windows (as I do) XP doesn't remember their sizes and positions after you've opened a certain number.

The only fix for this is a registry hack, but you eventually hit the limit again and have to reset the registry another time.

It's annoying as hell. I use detail view and carefully adjust the size and the column widths for all my explorer views, and then XP just forgets them all eventually.

Win2K doesn't have this problem, and that alone is reason enough for me to go back.

About the only thing I'd miss is System Restore, but since I ghost my OS partition at least once a month, and whenever I'm about to install new hardware, that's a non issue.

Frankly I'm sick of the bloat and I want a nice lean fast system again.

My only concern is gaming. I have to assume that game publishers aren't working too hard at Win2K compatibility anymore, and I wanted to get a feel from you Win2K gamers out there how that stands. I only play first person shooters - mostly Quake engine games (which I know all work fine under Win2K), but just wanted to hear if anyone was running into issues with games in general and Win2K.

I never had a problem with gaming & Win2K, but it's been almost a year since I switched to XP.

Thanks....

PreDatoR · Post by **PreDatoR** » Fri May 09, 2003 12:29 am

Win2K lean and fast u have to be kidding me... gotta take a nap on 2k between reboots....

Their both pretty much the same when u get down to it... XP is customizable with a couple select apps

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Fri May 09, 2003 12:35 am

I havent had any gaming issues with 2k. Its all I use here. it really is XP. if it works with XP it will work with 2k 99% of the time. there is a new service pack someing out for it soon anyways.

Greg

DocSilly · Post by **DocSilly** » Fri May 09, 2003 1:42 am

I've been playing on Win2000 since April 1999 and all recent games are working without a problem.
Greg said it, when it runs on XP then it'll run on 2k.

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Fri May 09, 2003 6:07 am

I don't play that many games but i haven't seen any problems - bf1942, daoc

i do notice that some of the kids games won't run on 2k, but they will run on xp - but you probably don't play that much Carmen Sandiego anyway

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Fri May 09, 2003 6:56 am

Oh crap, Carmen Sandiego doesn't work on it!?

PRED: I agree XP boots faster (that's because it doesn't wait to have drivers and services acknowledge that they've successfully started), and that's why it'll stay on my laptop. Couldn't care less about it on my desktop since it runs 24/7.

But XP is a bloated OS compared to 2K. I disable EVERYTHING in XP that distinguishes it from Win2K, so I don't see the point in carrying the bloat when I'm not using any of the features.

I'm sitting here doing desktop work on a Win2K system that's HALF THE SPEED of my workstation for a couple of days, and I'm just blown away by the snappy performance of desktop apps compared to XP.

After 9 months running XP I can honestly say there's NOTHING in it that I need or use that 2K doesn't have, and my annoyance with the explorer window bug that MS refuses to fix just drives me crazy. I practically start throwing things at the wall when the damn limit is reached and all my fucking explorer windows lose their size/position information (happens around once a month).

Thanks all. I'm going back.

Absolut Talent · Post by **Absolut Talent** » Fri May 09, 2003 4:55 pm

ive been using 2k for awhile

works great with every game ive played (mostly first person shooters)
I do have problems playing some older games that would run in dos (wing commander 3), but i use my 98se machine for those

Jim Z · Post by **Jim Z** » Sat May 10, 2003 12:32 am

Greg said it, when it runs on XP then it'll run on 2k.

I'll third that. The only things that I couldn't run on 2k were games that assumed a Win9x environment. They only ran under XP using compatibility mode, and usually 3D didn't work.

I've found 2k to be marginally slower at 3D than XP, but with a fast enough card it shouldn't be an issue.

BillyGoat · Post by **BillyGoat** » Sat May 10, 2003 12:39 am

ah but its nice to be able to swap out mb/cpu combos without having to reformat
just swaped out my atlon 1600/ecs for a epox/p4 combo, ran a repair and walla- no reloading of 40 gigs worth of apps and games :-)

PreDatoR · Post by **PreDatoR** » Sat May 10, 2003 12:52 am

and that is exactly why i run XP...

Its 2K with that one nice repair feature

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Sat May 10, 2003 12:58 am

just uninstall your chipset drivers in 2k and you should be good to go.

ANd you dont have 2 call in randomly like xp might want.

Greg

PreDatoR · Post by **PreDatoR** » Sat May 10, 2003 1:55 am

don't work that way unfortunately... i tried more than once to do a mobo swap with win2k and it failed everytime... 2k wouldn't see the hdd on bootup and would spit out an error...

BillyGoat · Post by **BillyGoat** » Sat May 10, 2003 8:18 am

yep same dice for me win2k bx to via= hosed up os big time

smb · Post by **smb** » Sat May 10, 2003 9:00 am

Originally posted by PreDatoR
don't work that way unfortunately... i tried more than once to do a mobo swap with win2k and it failed everytime... 2k wouldn't see the hdd on bootup and would spit out an error...

That's why I use a Promise ATA card.

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Sat May 10, 2003 10:35 am

my bad, I then add in the driver for the new one. its worked twice now....who knows, maybe im really lucky.

Greg