Windows 7 or XP for gaming? Plus help.

When I get it, I'll run Speccy on it and post the results here.

With a Pentium 4, I would stick with XP... But, your PC is DEFINITELY capable of Windows 7 x86. I say, try both and decide

ezeht said:

I have never heard of a p4 that can do ddr3 much less ddr2- all p4 I know of is normal ddr only- maybe pc800.

a ati 1650 is a pretty low end card and can not even do sm3 and I think they made them for both pcie and normal pci 8x slots- pcie is 16x slots. So if your specs are near right and it is p4 and normal ddr and normal pci slot its gaming performance will not be great in either xp or w7 and more than likely xp is about all it can or should do- but xp support is near over or soon will be- xp only supports sp3 any more. Your system would have fits playing games on a high res monitor if normal p4 performance.

IMO w7 is a better gamer but w7 is more quirky than xp in everything multi media. But is somethings w7 does well and mostly because the systems are more powerful and more system ram. My w7 rig is a better gamer even in dx9 games but again because it is a more powerful system and more ram.

Also if it is a p4 depending on how old its chip sets etc are vista nor w7 may support it at all. If to old surely vista nor w7 will auto install or update drivers etc and you may not be able to even install some or most drivers etc manually if the hardware is to old and trying to use vista or w7.

If free that system is maybe something and if you are going to use xp- other than that you might want and more new system that uses at least ddr2 and has a pcie slot for a video card. It does not have to be the most new stuff which would be ddr3 etc- but has to be new enough if you plan to use vista or w7 or vista or w7 will not support the hardware..

All and all quirky stuff aside- I still think w7 is better than xp or for gaming anyway- and vista and or w7 is pretty much forced on us. Time - things change with time- but are not necessarily better- but if support is ended for older stuff what can you/we do. We have to move on and buy newer stuff. Fools will argue newer is better just because it is newer- they make the same arguments over crt and lcd or what ever. They are as wrong as the day is long- but you can not argue with them.

Hope you figure it out and your exact specs for that said system exact mobo and cpu and memory and vid card etc. Folks could better help ya. Again I have never heard of a p4 that can do ddr2. Something does not sound right- you should check into it..

See ya..

There is definitely P4's running DDR2 infact most ....Not DDR3 at all..
P4's go out with the minimum of a AGP slot then upgrade to a newer PCI-E...
Stick to XP and check out those awesome games for your system i listed @ the start of your thread.

Later!!

Looks like you do get them running DDR3 but rarely...And not recommended.

Hmm- I can be wrong. As said it could have been some hybrid? I had 2x p4's a ABIT AI7 and a IC7g. I do not remember any asus etc that could run ddr2 or 3 it was not even invented then and neither was pcie vid slots. Or best I remember.

I made a mistake in my first post and said pci 8x slot i meant agp and changed it.

These was well I still have all my old systems and still work but boxed up now in storage. My Abit IC7 mobo specs- I used a 2.8c cpu in both my p4's.. My AI7 was near same specs as the IC7g mobo.. Best I remember the 875's was the last of the p4's.. I used my new ic7 less than a year before I got my ABIT KN8 and it had ddr and pcie- My Abit Fatal1ty an9 32x had ddr2 and pcie 2x 16x slots. Best I remember reading- my kn8 was as old as I could go amd and w7 support it- I ran w7 on my buds kn8 until we built our new systems.. Best I remember the nforce 4 was the oldest chip set w7 would support for amd any way. I am pretty sure intel systems had a cut off some place..>

IC7g Specifications:

CPU
Supports Intel Pentium 4 Socket 478 processors with 800/533/400 MHz FSB
(400 MHz is for Northwood only)
Sports Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Chipset
Intel 875 / ICH5 RAID
Support Intel CSA Gigabit LAN
Supports Dual Channel DDR 400 with ECC function
Supports Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT) function
Supports Advanced Configuration and Power Management Interface (ACPI)

Memory
Four 184-pin DIMM sockets
Supports 4 DIMM Single/Dual Channel DDR 400 memory.(Max. 4GB)
Supports configurable ECC function

AGP
Accelerated Graphics Port connector supports AGP PRO 8X/4X (0.8V/1.5V)

Dual Serial ATA RAID
2 channel Serial ATA 150MB/s data transfer rate with RAID function (0) via South Bridge
2 channel Serial ATA 150MB/s data transfer rate with RAID function (0/1) via Silicon Image PCI Chip

Audio
6-Channel AC 97 CODEC on board
Professional digital audio interface supports 24-bit S/P DIF optical In/Out

Media XP (Optional)
Supports card reader function for Memory Stick™, Secure Digital™ and Type I/II CompactFlash™
Supports Wireless Remote Control and S/PDIF Out / Mic In / Headphone Out / USB 2.0 / IEEE 1394

System BIOS
SoftMenu™ Technology to set CPU parameters
Supports Plug-and-Play (PNP)
Supports Advanced Configuration Power Interface (ACPI)
Supports Desktop Management Interface (DMI)
Write-Protect Anti-Virus function by AWARD BIOS

Gigabit LAN
On board Intel CSA Gigabit LAN

IEEE 1394
Supports IEEE 1394a at 100/200/400 Mb/s transfer rate

Internal I/O Connectors
1 x AGP PRO, 5 x PCI slots
1 x IrDA
1 x Floppy Port supports up to 2.88MB
2 x Ultra DMA 33/66/100 Connectors
4 x Serial ATA 150 Connectors
2 x USB 2.0 headers, 2 x IEEE 1394a header
1 x CD-IN, 1 x AUX-IN

Back Panel I/O
1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 1 x PS/2 mouse
1 x Printer Port, 1 x COM port
1 x S/PDIF Out connector, 1 x S/PDIF In connector
1 x Audio connectors (Front Speaker, Line-in, Mic-in)
1 x Audio connectors (Center/Sub, Surround Speaker)
2 x USB 2.0, 1 x IEEE 1394a
2 x USB 2.0, 1 x RJ-45 LAN Connector

Miscellaneous
ATX form factor
Hardware monitoring - Including Fan speeds, Voltages, System environment temperature

Prisoner

It is possible it is running DDR2 with a P4. My old HP does and still runs DDR2- built in 2005.
I added RAM in it so I know what is in it.
In fact I'm looking at the old originals I pulled right now. I put the old ones in the new pack.
Newegg.com - WINTEC AMPO 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AMD2533-2G1K-R

I do not believe XP "saves" RAM. Its simply not using the recources it has available to it effeciently, as Win7 will.
Theres a difference.

AS far as gaming performance, I have found Win7 does just as well or better than XP in many cases.
Aside from some really old games, and even then only had a problem with a few.