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#11
Welcome to the forums.
Being part of the lunatic fringe gaming L33T puts you into Win7 64 bit and at least Professional.
If at all possible, shake down a student for a copy and use the extra money for a SSD drive.
Install a clean copy (preferably on a new SSD or HD) of Win7 64 bit and do the standard install/patch drill except networking. Read carefully on networking, following what seems logical may not work.
If you see a slight drop in gaming check out
Windows 7 Service Configurations by Black Viper
There is a lot to learn there but his "safe" settings work well and will return your gaming speed.
GPU BIOS flashing utils that worked in XP are not working for me. Making a DOS USB drive to boot from is best for flashing anyway.
All in all you want to do this.