I just found out I need to reinstall my window, or even change my hard disk. IT seems like part of my C drive is corrupted. I tried scandisk, and when it gets to certain sector, a message pops out and says that I need to backup my file and pull the harddrive out. I only get rescan or skip for that message.
SO, I'm thinking if I need to reinstall, I might as well go with Win ME. I like to hear what hardcore gamers like you has to say. Since I'm a gamer myself, opinion from other so called experts really doesn't do me any good.
Is Win98 better than WinME in terms of gaming, the same or the opposite?
[This message has been edited by getsleepy (edited 12-26-2000).]
Windows ME
Im lucky (or perhaps not lucky, it's part of my job) to have 5 different PCs at home (Most are for work, home office) running multiple OS on them (Win98 - W2K2) and in general didn't encountered much problems with WinME. I didn't notice any differences between Win98SE and WinME when looking at the performance of games.
As far as I've tested WinME it is ok, but there are still some problems with the newest drivers and directx 8.
A friend was unable to play BG2 under ME after dwonloading the new, relased (!) driver for his Elsa Erazor X2 graphic card (system crash). I myself encountered problems (not with BG2, but other games) with the directx-features of ME where these games run fine under Win98. But the same problems occured after installing DX8.0 on Win98, so I assume it was more a problem with the first DX8 Version than with Windows itself.
Another aspect is the build-in media player of ME, it uses some RAM.
My advice: if you prefer to stay on the save side or if your system has only 64 meg RAM, stay with Win98SE (and buy some ram
). Same applies if you have some 'exotic' hardware or if you are not able save your old stuff and do a clean installation (no upgrade).
If this does not apply, take the chance and install WinME, sooner or later Win98 is out.
As far as I've tested WinME it is ok, but there are still some problems with the newest drivers and directx 8.
A friend was unable to play BG2 under ME after dwonloading the new, relased (!) driver for his Elsa Erazor X2 graphic card (system crash). I myself encountered problems (not with BG2, but other games) with the directx-features of ME where these games run fine under Win98. But the same problems occured after installing DX8.0 on Win98, so I assume it was more a problem with the first DX8 Version than with Windows itself.
Another aspect is the build-in media player of ME, it uses some RAM.
My advice: if you prefer to stay on the save side or if your system has only 64 meg RAM, stay with Win98SE (and buy some ram
). Same applies if you have some 'exotic' hardware or if you are not able save your old stuff and do a clean installation (no upgrade).If this does not apply, take the chance and install WinME, sooner or later Win98 is out.
I can't tell you what is right for you but I know I am not going to WinME ever. I am going to stick with 98 until Win Whistler finally comes out.
Win98 is fast, relatively stable, still has DOS (unlike ME) which is still useful in some cases, and is more widely used right now than ME which also means greater support.
As to your specific problem I suggest asking the same question in the forums area of [url="http://www.anandtech.com"]www.anandtech.com[/url] It is one of the most intelligent and helpfull forums around. I would consider getting a new hard drive just in case, especially since hard drives are quite cheap these days. $150 can get you a 45gb IBM 75GXP ATA/100 hard drive which is top of the line and has quite a bit of space.
Win98 is fast, relatively stable, still has DOS (unlike ME) which is still useful in some cases, and is more widely used right now than ME which also means greater support.
As to your specific problem I suggest asking the same question in the forums area of [url="http://www.anandtech.com"]www.anandtech.com[/url] It is one of the most intelligent and helpfull forums around. I would consider getting a new hard drive just in case, especially since hard drives are quite cheap these days. $150 can get you a 45gb IBM 75GXP ATA/100 hard drive which is top of the line and has quite a bit of space.
Win ME actually does have DOS it just can't be booted into DOS. That's one of many small cosmetic changes that on the whole make little difference between ME and 98, except to make it harder to fix certain things since most are locked into the OS. ME is I think more trouble than it's worth, and if you're upgrading to it ever then wait for the second edition of it. Like the old gag says, "when you're using MS stuff wait until at least version 3." 