XP Or more RAM? I got $100+

[SupaTroopa]

I'm running 98se and have 512MB's of I think DDR2100 SDRAM.

I can buy the XP Home upgrade, or maybe 512MB DDR500 RAM for $120 (will eventually upgrade it to 1GB).

Not sure which would serve me better for now?

Any advice!!?

(transfering all old components to another box and am going to sell it as a mid-range PC eventually)

[O'C]

I think 98 will only recognize up to 512MB of memory, so getting more won't help.

The question becomes whether the PC will run XP well enough. If it was built / purchased after 1999, you should be okay. Then I say definitely go for the upgrade. Having recently upgraded myself, XP is much better, IMO.

[SupaTroopa]

thanks, i'll prob just get the XP upgrade disc, maybe XP will help with all my new hardware, 98 gives me fits with drivers and everything else it seems, tired of it honestly.

So yes my PC is very modern/newer (not even a year old). I'll prob just do a format on my current 20GB drive and install the XP upgrade on it I suppose, and will just have to wait for the 1GB RAM upgrade I so desperately need.

[Mr. Natural]

I say go for XP. A far better OS. More stable, secure, better network performance. You have the memory to run it, so go for it! :shades:

[O'C]

And you probably know this already, but I believe doing a clean install of XP is better than upgrading on top of 98. Especially if you're having driver issues as it is.

On top of what Mr. N. said, XP is way better at handling digital pics, burning CDs, etc.

[RHooks]

I have to go along with the rest. You'll see more benefit from junking Win 98. If you're going to go with the XP upgrade version you should do a fresh install of 98 then apply the XP upgrade. That way you will be less likely to inherit any bad baggage from a whacked out 98 install.

[SupaTroopa]

Thanks all, and yes i'll definitely format a HDD and install XP on it (I assume all the XP upgrade disc would ask for is my W98SE key/license #). So I "shouldn't" have to install 98SE at all...just verify I own it via the key I think.

Can't wait to upgrade my DDR RAM though still, 1GB seems to be crucial to running games like Far Cry and running Macromedia products (Fireworks etc..,) concurrently.

[O'C]

Hooks,

Does he need to reinstall Win98? I may be wrong, (and I haven't done it myself), but I thought that you could do a clean format / install directly from the upgrade disk. I assume it has the entire OS on the CD and that the upgrade part is more of a licensing issue than anything else.

But like I said, I could be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time......

Edit: Brad, you must have been typing at the same time as me. I imagine the upgrade works something like that. Good luck once again.

[SupaTroopa]

hehe, thanks OC, yeah I'm just going from my experience upgrading from W95 to 98SE.

I can't imagine XP "writing over" 98SE on the same drive etc..,

[Feuerwizard]

Go for XP SupaTroopa! Good luck!

[RHooks]

Unless MS has changed the way they do OS upgrades, it will look for a couple of files on the hard drive before installing. There were ways to make an upgrade cd act like a full cd in 95/98 as they both contain all of the same files. Whether or not they do it different with XP would be a question for the hexadecimal guy. You can always try it and see. If it says no, that just means you have to go back and install 98 first.

You definitely do not want to upgrade from a 98 install that already has problems or really has just been in use for a long time. The upgrade will attempt to use the information from the OS already installed, compounding whatever problems you already have. That's why you see so many people say not to do OS upgrades.

[Ojnod]

Thanks all, and yes i'll definitely format a HDD and install XP on it (I assume all the XP upgrade disc would ask for is my W98SE key/license #). So I "shouldn't" have to install 98SE at all...just verify I own it via the key I think.

This is correct, the way I understand is you put the XP upgrade cd in and at one point it will ask for you 98 cd just to verify that you had 98.

[SupaTroopa]

I hope that's true, re-installing 98SE clean and formatting is such a pain.

I don't mind formatting my drive out, then installing XP clean on it if possible, if it just involves sticking my W98SE Cd in the drive to verify it.

I still haven't read any confirmation of that yet though, but hope you're right!

[DanTheManPR]

XP IS AWSOME!!!!!

And windows 2000 is awsome as well.

[SupaTroopa]

Well I'm writing to you know from XP, good advice. It does ask for the W98 "CD," but that was it, converted to NTFS and the set-up options are great (no DOS obviously).

[Tavo]

You'll probably get asked to insert the win98 cd when installing winXP.
One word of advice, put up a firewall BEFORE connecting to the internet in winXP, then inmediatelly go for the updates. I got hit with a worm the first minute I was on the internet when I reinstalled winXP.

[SupaTroopa]

Hmm, well it runs great and I'm very happy with the upgrade (went very smoothly) also noticed a noticeable performance increase in my games (since I can use all of my available RAM now I guess, among other things).

I haven't installed my firewall yet but will do so first thing tonight I guess (Zonealarm free version).

Can't believe I didn't do this sooner...a new 80GB HDD, and an upgrade to my RAM an CPU and I'll be set for the next year or so hopefully.