Which OS is best for O/Cing.. Win2K or WinMe/9x?

[dalva]

Sometimes my WinMe system is stable for a few days then it starts to experience cross linked files, kernel32 errors, registry errors, file corruption (for example I had to reinstall some of my games to fix this problem, like Half Life, Quake III, etc).

I have updated and run my Norton Anti-Virus program to make sure it wasn't a virus. Computer is Virus free. In order to keep my WinMe system running stable I have to frequently (everyday) run Norton's WinDoctor, and Disk Doctor just to keep the errors to a minimum. I also defrag constantly.

I am frankly getting fed up with this whole situation. So I am considering using Win2K as the foundation for my O/Ced system.

Here are my specs and temps (Please advise):

PIII700 FCPGA (Flipchip) @980Mhz - Using AlphaPEP66 w/Artic Silver Compound (smal contact area)
FSB@140Mhz
256MB CAS3 RAM @140Mhz
CPU Voltage @1.90
I/O Voltage @3.66
P3V4X mobo (chipset & clock generator are cooled w/heatsinks & Artic Silver Compound)
Adaptec 2940U2W SCSI controller card w/Cheetah 9.1 80mb/sec 10,000RPM drive

CPU and mobo Temps:

37.5C/99.5F - CPU Idle
40.5C/104.9F - CPU Full Load
30C/86F - Mobo Temp

Help me Overclock-Kenobi you're my only hope!!!!

[Jon]

This really has nothing to do with the OS you are using. The hard drive is just as succeptible to problems due to overclocking as you processor. In fact, all devices are subject to problems/failure.

Your PCI bus is running well out of spec causing your SCSI card and SCSI drive to operate at bus speeds it is not made to run at. Some drives can handle this no problem, but once you start getting the type of errors you are then data corruption is at hand.

All you can really do is try to get your PCI bus as close to 33MHz as possible. Seems very odd to me that it won't run at 140MHz as this doen't put it out of spec very much at all. All components are different, however.

Make sure you have a PCI divisor and it is set at 1/3 in the BIOS. Other than that, no change in OS can really help you.

[Ericsson]

umm...

All you can really do is try to get your PCI bus as close to 33MHz as possible. Seems very odd to me that it won't run at 140MHz as this doen't put it out of spec very much at all. All components are different, however.

Make sure you have a PCI divisor and it is set at 1/3 in the BIOS. Other than that, no change in OS can really help you.

so the guy is running at an fsb of 140 and you want him to set it to 1/3? that's 46.66mhz pci.

i think scsi cards are more sensitive to pci bus speeds...but 1/4 of 140 is just 35mhz...still not too high but like i said...they might be more sensitive and causing the data corruption. try going back to 133mhz fsb.

[phantom punisher]

dosnt sound like the os is the problem but just for the record i have both 98se and 2k on this machine and i can always load 98 at a higher cpu speed. 1100 vs 1070 for win 2k. i havent used 98 long enought to tell if it will hold up though

[floyd]

shouldn't be a problem - i overclock and run on WinME w/out any glitches.......some of the other answers seem to be about right, though - check your bios and set at 4:1 and shouldn't be too far outta spec........

[s3pp]

Ericsson (Feb 27, 2001 06:50 a.m.):
umm...

All you can really do is try to get your PCI bus as close to 33MHz as possible. Seems very odd to me that it won't run at 140MHz as this doen't put it out of spec very much at all. All components are different, however.

Make sure you have a PCI divisor and it is set at 1/3 in the BIOS. Other than that, no change in OS can really help you.

so the guy is running at an fsb of 140 and you want him to set it to 1/3? that's 46.66mhz pci.

i think scsi cards are more sensitive to pci bus speeds...but 1/4 of 140 is just 35mhz...still not too high but like i said...they might be more sensitive and causing the data corruption. try going back to 133mhz fsb.

There are SCSI cards available with an own clock generator, that don't suffer from this problem. Might cost some extra, but will problably solve the problem if it's really related to the card.

[Mr B]

Granted, the problem at hand here is data corruption due to out of spec configuration, although, it's close enough where it really shouldn't be a concern, as mentioned above, the answer to the "subject" question would be;

Win 2K. From what I've read (I run ME) it's far more stable.

Of the 9x platform (95/98/ME) I believe 95c and 98a would be the ones that are most stable. I've got an old 4500 RPM 1 GB drive mounted for testing w/ 98a for the OS. I was having probs with it, but think it is more rotational speed of the drive than anything else...(just ran slooooow for some things, notably when reading from the hdd)

I did notice slightly higher benches in Sandra w/ 98a.

When I can spring for a 7200 RPM drive, I'll load 98a first, do some benching, and then ME, and see which is better.

I'd have to say 98a...just less bloated. gotta be faster.

Mr B

[wild_andy_c]

I don't see it as a case of which Operating System is best for overclocking, but moreso which operating system is better PERIOD.

As such I must state that it is my opinion that Windows 2000 Profession SP1 is a wonderful operating system when compared to all of the flaky 9x variants including Millenium Edition.

I'm not a Linux user - but can see the advantages that it has for users for whom security and stability are a must.

Back on the stability tip though - my PC has been running for over 70hours now without needing any resets. This is good for a microsoft based PC that is running many applications synchronously in order for me to get my days work done each day at the moment whilst I'm confined to the house in order not to infect anyone with what I have at the moment!!

Windows 2000 Professional SP1 rules okay (but can't wait for SP2!)