BS-ed by windows

[Aaron]

I like 2K/XP way better than 9x.  I run XP on my computer - although I've heard several complaints about it, I actually like it quite a bit.

As far as compatibility, I have few games that don't work, and if they aren't 3D then you can always run them in Virtual PC on Windows 98 or below.

I've never heard of an Athlon XP or Pentium 4 screwing up in older Windows versions, but I don't think you'll get the full kick out of your processor in 9x versions of Windows...

 

[Caddberry]

I don't think you can get an Athlon with RDRAM.

yeah thats my bad.. i dont think i have seenone of those either.. to the best of my knowlege RDRAM is just an intel thing.. its also faster though from my understanding.. and causes a lot more heat.. that board was smooth.. but probably way too much $$$ to spend when i would have to buy a new vid card.. plus more RAM.. or well new RAM.. the rest of my crap would migrate over.. but well geee the core components.. would be struck.. i didnt find a price on it tho..i will probably use price watch.com.. i got my 80GB hard drive for under $100.. it shipped to me in just a static proof baggie.. i was kinda disappointed by that.. but hell.. it works.. it works very well actually..

 

[Aaron]

On Pricewatch, I'm seeing the GA-7VAXP for like $100.  Not too bad.  But then you need a CPU and some memory before you can use it...  and DDR memory is still pretty expensive.

 

[atzn]

Btw, is it pretty normal for the Athlon XP to screw up more in older windows versions? That does make sense since it is a pretty new cpu. I'm just wondering: should I make a switch to XP or 2000? Of course this will sacrifice my ability to play a few of my favorite games, but I DO have other computers that use (and will always) windows 98.

Should I make a mad dash to the 2k?

I don't think it will screw up in older versions (like Win98)..

But yeah as Aaron said if u use older windows u won't get the full kick out of your new Athlon XP processor.

As for Windows choice.. Win2k is good.. anyway.. double booting is always a nice option to have..  

 

[Lord Kane]

to the best of my knowlege RDRAM is just an intel thing.. its also faster though from my understanding.. and causes a lot more heatquote

Yes and no.
RDRam has far greater bandwidth (can be up to 1GHz now, when DDR only goes up to 400MHz ATM), but its' CAS latency is far higher (IIRC it notmaly has a CAS latency of 8 as opposed to DDR's 2). This means that all in all unless you have an app that specificaly stresses bandwidth, you won't notice much if any difference.