Which to upgrade: OS or PSU?

I just got a brand new computer game, and the accursed thing keeps crashing!

My system is a humble little thing, but I now think that it's starting to get out of date. I've also spliced the PSU cables several times and I think that it may be a contributer to the problem. My question is this: Which should I upgrade my operating system or my power unit? I do not see myself getting any upgrades in the near future until I get a steady source of income and there is a definitive socket to upgrade to (which is going to be another two years I guess...). The system is not overclocked, and the card is not overheating. Also, I am using the latest Omega drivers, or rather the latest Omega drivers for windows 98.

Information:
Game: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
OS: Windows 98SE
PSU: Enermax 350w unit
Vid: Radeon 9500 /np soft-modded to pro
Ram: 768 SD-Ram (running at 133) /w vcache edit to fix memory error

What is the CPU and motherboard?

The CPU is an Athlon XP 2000+ with a palomino core and the motherboard is an Gigabyte GA-7ZXE.

Keep in mind that I do not intend on replacing any hardware anytime soon.

OS, its 2005, almost 2006 and your using an OS that came out almost 8 years ago??

infinitevalence said:

OS, its 2005, almost 2006 and your using an OS that came out almost 8 years ago??

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Yes...it's a testament on how cheap I am.

its cool, by no means a judgement but i think its about time to think about an upgrade. See if you can find a copy of XPhome OEM, you should be able to get it for ~$75, if you can you might even find it second hand ( just make sure its a leagal copy with COA and every thing!) for less.

infinitevalence said:

its cool, by no means a judgement but i think its about time to think about an upgrade. See if you can find a copy of XPhome OEM, you should be able to get it for ~$75, if you can you might even find it second hand ( just make sure its a leagal copy with COA and every thing!) for less.

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If you are a student (be it junior high or college) you can get student/teacher editions of software like this, and often for VERY cheap.

try www.journeyed.com to start with.

I would recommend an OS upgrade. Try buying Win2000 Pro on Ebay. That would be cheaper than WinXP.

If the PSU's rails are fine, i would definatly can 98. 2k would probably perform the best on that setup since XP would probably bog it down more then help.

the only reason to stay away from 2k is the limited future support for hardware drivers and updates. MS has already stated that they will not do another service pack for 2k, and they are suggesting that 2k's end of life should be some time next year. While i prefer 2k over xphome i just dont think its a good idea to spend $40 on soon to be obsolete software when you can spend 2x as much and know its safe to use for 2-3 more years. IE i think its going to be cheaper to buy xphome in the long run then 2k.

Evil_Eye said:

The CPU is an Athlon XP 2000+ with a palomino core and the motherboard is an Gigabyte GA-7ZXE.

Keep in mind that I do not intend on replacing any hardware anytime soon.

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IMO, unless you upgrade the processor, stay with Windows 98 SE, if you don't mind doing so longer, because games often are faster with that OS when the processor is limited.

RJARRRPCGP said:

IMO, unless you upgrade the processor, stay with Windows 98 SE, if you don't mind doing so longer, because games often are faster with that OS when the processor is limited.

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I have heard this, but my own experience doesn't bear that out. W2K is stable as a rock and works fine with old games like Quake III Arena and newer games like DOOM 4.

As long as you don't plan on updating hardware any time soon, I wouldn't worry about MS calling it an obsolete OS. Even if you do update hardware, you will probably still be able to get compatible drivers from the hardware manufacturer.

On top of all that, you don't have to deal with the hassle of asking Mother MS if you want to update your hardware because W2K doesn't check to see if you changed hardware.

With Windows 98SE, it's time for an NT built Windows. 9x windows sucks the big one
Grab a new XP upgrade and do a fresh install (using fdisk, delete the windows 98 partition and when XP asks you, reformat with NTFS, backup your files first!)
With the upgrade, all you need is the original 98 disc to prove you own a previous windows, but it will still install a full version of XP.

After that, it may be the PSU. If you want to make sure, at least reinstall 98 if you haven't already. A Win98 install only lasts 6 months-a year before it get's buggy and annoying.

K15 said:

With Windows 98SE, it's time for an NT built Windows. 9x windows sucks the big one
Grab a new XP upgrade and do a fresh install (using fdisk, delete the windows 98 partition and when XP asks you, reformat with NTFS, backup your files first!)
With the upgrade, all you need is the original 98 disc to prove you own a previous windows, but it will still install a full version of XP.

After that, it may be the PSU. If you want to make sure, at least reinstall 98 if you haven't already. A Win98 install only lasts 6 months-a year before it get's buggy and annoying.

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I still say that you are better off with W2K. You can get a full version of W2K Pro with SP4 on Ebay for under $75 if you are persistent. XP is expensive and requires that you ask Microsoft permission to change significant hardware (motherboard, etc.). If you made your splices correctly in your PSU (soldering the connections), then I doubt that the splices are a factor. I do that sort of thing all the time. It really sounds like you have corrupted software (probably in the OS).