Will XP speed up this machine compared to 98se?

[me]

I have a machie that consists of the following:

Asus A7N8X-DELUXE version 2.0 Mobo
AMD XP 3200+, 400fsb
two 512 meg stcks Corsair PC 3500 XMS DDR, dual channel mode
ATI Radeon 9800 pro, 256 meg videocard

I am using 98se and wonder if XP home would make it scream faster than
it already does? Does XP tend to add speed to most machines? How about
driver support for my hardware?

I was also thinking about the other option of installing Win 2000 pro but
I don't know what the difference between it and XP. Any help/advise would
be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

in a word... yes. however you should keep in mind that you may end up
losing some legacy support for software as well as hardware. (from what you
listed I don't see a problem.)

 

[Ron Martell]

I have a machie that consists of the following:

Asus A7N8X-DELUXE version 2.0 Mobo
AMD XP 3200+, 400fsb
two 512 meg stcks Corsair PC 3500 XMS DDR, dual channel mode
ATI Radeon 9800 pro, 256 meg videocard

I am using 98se and wonder if XP home would make it scream faster than
it already does? Does XP tend to add speed to most machines? How about
driver support for my hardware?

I was also thinking about the other option of installing Win 2000 pro but
I don't know what the difference between it and XP. Any help/advise would
be greatly appreciated, thanks.

XP might have some performance advantages on that hardware, but they
may not be sufficient to be readily noticeable. Studies have shown
that it takes a performance change of about 17% before most users will
notice it.

Your hardware should be supported just fine, at least what you have
listed.

What you have to be concerned about is:
- hardware that was manufactured in 1999 or earlier, as often drivers
for these items are not included with Windows XP.
- older software, especially 16 bit stuff written for Windows 3.x and
DOS apps. Much of this works just fine with Windows XP but there are
some items that will not work with it no matter what you do.

As for Windows 2000 it has the internal version number of Windows NT
5.0 whereas Windows XP is Windows NT version 5.1. So for comparison
purposes you can consider Windows XP to be "Windows 2000 Second
Edition".

If you are using the machine for games or for any sort of multimedia
work then Windows XP is preferable to Windows 2000. Improved support
for this type of application, plus the hardware that they use, is one
of the biggest differences between 2000 and XP.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."