which hogs more memory 2k or XP??

[thePh@r@oh]

I'm gonna build a rig for a friend and he was telling me that he would rather have XP but he told me if 2k would make games run better he would rather have it. i was wondering if XP hogged memory cause i figure that if 2k didnt that it would run games better. im just curious throw me some info

[DanGrease]

Since Windows XP has far more eye-candy it uses more of your computers memory for sure. But Windows XP is considered to perform better with games.

dan

[Scott Tiger]

XP both hogs more memory and tends to play games better than 2K. If he's into gaming and likes things to "look pretty" then I'd get him XP. If he's a desktop power user sort of guy I'd give him 2K. \

I'm sure others will disagree though. Right now it seems people like to pick on XP like they like to pick on AOL..

[thePh@r@oh]

ok what about XP skinning programs?? im thinking im gonna want to custom skin it for him any suggestions? and how much does that screw up your performance

[DanGrease]

For me it has screwed up the performance badly using skins. But there are programs such as StyleXP and WindowsBlinds that are useful for this. Totally agree with Scott.

dan

[Kruzin]

You can run XP in 'classic' mode, without all the eye-candy. Mine looks just like my old 9x/2k used to look. While it can suck more resources than 2k, it doesn't have to.

Overall, XP runs games and apps better for me than any previous OS did....

[thePh@r@oh]

i wanted a different look but if it screws everythign up i dont want to worry with it

[Aaron_J]

Kruzin hit the nail on the head.

Kill the eye candy, disable the unneeded services and you will improve performance AND reliablity. Windows XP doesn't have to be nearly as much of a resource hog as it is right out of the box.

BTW, Some of the eye candy has proven buggy in every install of XP I have done, I don't know which because I simply kill most of it when I see instability in a new install. This approach clears up a lot of it.

[Beemer]

Here are a few of my links to speed up XP.
These GUI modifications will leave the XP colour scheme basics with all the fluff removed.

http://beemerworld.com/tips/fluff.htm
http://beemerworld.com/tips/searchmutt.htm
http://beemerworld.com/tips/servicesxp.htm
http://beemerworld.com/tips/components.htm
http://beemerworld.com/tips/disabledllcache.htm
http://beemerworld.com/tips/fastmenu.htm

Cheers!

[Scott Tiger]

I don't have any problems with the eye candy but I only use XP's default themes - I don't any of the aftermark stuff.

While you can get XP's memory usuage down quite a bit with a few settings tweaks it won't run using as little memory as 2K does as it's had it settings tweaked. 2k just runs faster on a less powerful box.

I'd strongly suggest not using any of the theming programs out there for Windows. They've caused more problems than I ever though worth while. If you want something that you can skin to your heart's content get Mandrake and use KDE for a desktop. There are more themes for KDE than a body could count.