To XP or not to XP?

[3DMike]

I've just got hold of a copy of win XP on its first official day of release here in the uk. Before I take the plunge I need to ask a few questions and get some reassurance. I've spent ages getting my overclocked system stable and running sweet & dont want to mess it up for minimal improvements (i.e if its just a pretty GUI I aint gonna touch it!)

Q: Will it safely install over win ME?

Q: Are there any known incompatibilities with Abit motherboards, Geforce vid cards or western digi hard drives?

Q: Will the above hardware need any firmware updates to work, are these available and stable?

Q: Will it cope with a heavily overclocked system and allow tweaking?

So many questions.......
Answers appreciated.....

Mike

[Oni]

If you're dead-set on installing it, I would advise that you DON'T go overtop of ME. Its always safer to do a clean install.

As of right now, I don't believe that there are any compatability issues w/ any hardware right now, although driver releases might be sketchy for a while.

Personally, I wouldn't bother w/ it. It does have a prettier interface (trying to look like MacOS) that slows the computer down, but that can be disabled. Apparantly its more stable than even Windows 2000, but I'd wanna see it to believe it (Few things are as stable as NT . . . Linux being the top of the list). Its also serious Spyware and Bloatware, so you'll always have Microsoft looking over your shoulder when you install stuff, and it'll keep growing and growing and growing . . .

If you want stability and performance, a nice install of Windows 2000 Professional would be the way to go, and its a whole lot cheeper than going out and picking up a copy of XP Professional or Corporate.

[DeepScience]

Originally posted by Oni
If you want stability and performance, a nice install of Windows 2000 Professional would be the way to go, and its a whole lot cheeper than going out and picking up a copy of XP Professional or Corporate.

I think he said that he already has a copy.
I think XP would be more likely to find all the latest drivers if they are still running on your system when you install it. But that's just my opinion.

WinME is perfectly stable on my box. The exception is Cubase and the word is that it's much more stable under XP so I'm probably going to try the upgrade in a day or two. Sounds like a similar system to yours.

Zonealarm works with XP so that will kill any spyware trying to be nosy.

[kieran_d]

I use zone alarm on my 98se machine, so if i where to install it in xp would that stop Micro$oft knowing what i am doing (or will they find away around it?) thx

also.... how big is xp when first installed?

and whats the diff in home or pro?

[DeepScience]

Originally posted by kieran_d
I use zone alarm on my 98se machine, so if i where to install it in xp would that stop Micro$oft knowing what i am doing (or will they find away around it?) thx

also.... how big is xp when first installed?

and whats the diff in home or pro?

If Zone doesn't catch everything they'll be out of business in a week.

XP Prof takes 1.5GB to install.

which XP to get? (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp)

[wizardloader]

Zone Alarm, Norton, and other programs don't work on XP. To check hardware and software compatablility run the tests at PC Pitstop www.pcpitstop.com

[kieran_d]

i installed norton antivirus 2000 in xp pro and it worked fine (only used it for a day or two but) :rolleyes:

[wizardloader]

Cool I have Norton System Works 2001 and PC pitstop says it won't work. Great news there. Thanks

[Kingslayer]

1. Yes it will update from ME. However a clean install is always best.

2. None known at this time.

3. No.

4. I dont think XP is that great at overclocking. My Athlon 850 made it *** out at 950 and it is very picky about memory. I had two chips of 128 that have run fine together with every other operating system, yet XP wouldn't play nice. A buddy of mine had this exact problem.

[kieran_d]

Hey wizardloader,
I was just looking norton and the norton recuce disk thingy is gone, it was there in 98se where did it go... and other thing is that auto protect will not run, cuse xp diables it... so maybe thats what they ment when they said it did not run?

[wizardloader]

Yes it seems so. The only way to fix it right now is to buy the upgrade. That sucks because Norton ain't cheap

[3DMike]

Bunch of arse!

took the plunge and inststalled it anyway. Tried to run Sandra to see if benchmarks had changed but none of the benchmarks will run and according to SiSiftware they haven't done an XP update yet?

Also just noticed the CPU temp has leapt from 45C to 53C! Not healthy at all, will ahve to click back a little until I can work out why. Any ideas??

M

[wizardloader]

Not from me. I'm waiting till the issues work out and the "Wizard" that Micro$oft uses makes me mad. I own 3 PC's on my LAN. Damn if I'll buy 3 copies :(

[rUfUnKy]

First I will have to go with everyone else on doing a full install,though xp was supposed to be made to upgrade with no flaws :rolleyes:.If you can work out all the kinks win xp is defiantly worth installing. Me ,I had no kinks to work out it runs flawless on my puter very stable OS!!

[wizardloader]

I read and saw on TechTV that the OS is rock solid with the 2000 kernal.
Also that it can run for days with no re-boot. In otherwords its what Windows has promissed from day one. I like the interface etc. Its the Lincense Agreement I hate...my $.02

[3DMike]

I havent even started looking for kinks yet! Wont bother me thought I like kinks ;)