WinXP Question

TerrorFirmer

Would it be a bad idea to install WinXP on a machine with 256ram and 600mhz?

Thanks.

angelofdeath

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/upgrading/sysreqs.mspx

Chalk

should be fine,
just turn off most of the graphical fetures.

TerrorFirmer

Chalk wrote:

should be fine,
just turn off most of the graphical fetures.

I'm using a pc of this spec running xp, and it won't play any games bar ancient ones properly

I assumed it was to do with the low processor power running both xp and games.

Games like Half Life have to be run at lowish detail. Gfx card is a radeon ve 64mb, so no problems there.

snappieT

I have XP running on a 266MHz P2 with 192MB Ram. Your's will work just fine.

Chalk

its hardly a gaming machine

itll run xp / web / officey stuff but i can imagine it being great for games.

if you want to play games like half life on it,
youd be better off with win98 as it uses less processor power

angelofdeath

should be fine to play half life on

[font=Arial,Helvetica,Swiss] Minimum System Requirements [/font]

[font=Arial,Helvetica,Swiss]
[*]Windows® 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT 4.0
[*]Pentium® 133
[*]24 MB RAM
[*]2X CD-ROM drive
[*]Mouse and Keyboard
[*]640x480 SVGA high color (16-bit) display
[*]Windows-compatible sound device

[/font]

TerrorFirmer

Chalk wrote:

its hardly a gaming machine

itll run xp / web / officey stuff but i can imagine it being great for games.

if you want to play games like half life on it,
youd be better off with win98 as it uses less processor power

Yeah thats what I originally thought - but it gets wierder. Runs Soldier of Fortune 2 fine. (min spec 400mhz) Then runs Half Life( min spec 166mhz), Day of Defeat and Counter Strike like a dog?

Its very bizarre. I dont really mind that much, as it was only ever intended to run old games anyway - but at this spec, it should be able to run half life perfectly fine with all the options maxed. My old 500mhz machine used to be able run games that it only had the minimum spec for grand. This machine has trouble running games that it even has double the requirements for.

I checked out all the parts, all seems to be fine - I'm thinking maybe its a graphics card issue, downloading the latest ati drivers to check that out.

peepsbates

snappieT wrote:

I have XP running on a 266MHz P2 with 192MB Ram. Your's will work just fine.

i had same worked just fine

astrofool

its because half life has evolved over the years with patches. If you get a v1 cd of half life, you will be able to play that. If you want to play online via steam, then the recommended is ALOT higher than those listed above.

juliuspret

snappieT wrote:

I have XP running on a 266MHz P2 with 192MB Ram. Your's will work just fine.

Whats the point of putting WinXp on that?
Put Win98 back on it or at most a chopped down version of Win2000...WinXp on that dinosaur just isnt a good idea.

angelofdeath

astrofool wrote:

its because half life has evolved over the years with patches. If you get a v1 cd of half life, you will be able to play that. If you want to play online via steam, then the recommended is ALOT higher than those listed above.

the steam minimum requirements are a bit higher than the half-life minimum requirements but still well within the 256ram and 600mhz of the op

DemonOfTheFall

Have you turned on hardware acceleration in the graphics options of half-life? It defaults to software render :cries:
I remember playing the original unreal tournament in software render 320x240. Oh those were the days.

TerrorFirmer

Yes, I'm not that retarded!

The only thing that actually puzzled me was that soldier of fortune 2 ran fine, which has about double or triple the minimum requirements of half life.

Anyway, installed a fresh copy of Win2000 - problems gone. Havent tested HL yet, but UT, soldier of fortune 2 and red faction working fine again.