sooo.... xp or win7?

[Jimbo]

Apologies if I am asking something already asked - I had a quick look and didn't find anything.

I have a Hantarex Polo/3 monitor.

I have bought a Radeon HD4350 card: -
http://www.asus.com/uk/Graphics_Cards/EAH4350_SILENTDI512MD2LP/specifications/

Out of XP and Windows 7, what is generally regarded as the better OS to run CRT Emudriver and GroovyMame?

Cheers

[twistedsymphony]

IMO if you plan to run Demul, Dolphin, or PCSX2 then you should go with Win 7 for better Direct X support. otherwise XP is a lot easier to work with.

Similarly if you want to take advantage of any 64-bit stuff Win 7 is a better choice. there is XP 64 bit but in my experience it has such poor support that it causes more problems than it solves.

I don't have any experience with Win 7 and CRT_EmuDriver personally.

[yatzr]

I've done both and I like Win7 better.  My XP 64 one was fine once I had it all setup, but it was a giant pita to get all the proper drivers installed.  My motherboard's onboard LAN didn't have xp 64 compatible drivers, so I ended up having to use a PCI NIC just to get it connected to the internet to activate.  This kind of problem is only going to get worse with newer hardware.  My latest motherboards don't even have the old PCI slot  .  I also had a problem with audio drivers that I never really figured out.  I ended up using a separate usb audio adapter.  The Win7 one was just so much easier to setup.

The only other difference I've noticed is that my Win7 one boots slightly faster.

[Calamity]

Yeah basically I agree. If you're using relatively new hardware you'd better use Windows 7, although Windows XP is easier to setup.

[Vigo]

Win 7 boots fast, comparable to XP even on older computers. Trim services on Win 7, and I personally believe it boots even faster. I try to use Win 7, simply because it seems to have less driver issues.

[planexcvs]

If your monitor is trisync, then I would go with Win 7.

The only reason I went with XP for my setup was that trying to set up the resolutions through the LCD and doing the monitor swap with my video card, that needed an adapter to get VGA, wasn't working for me.

[Jimbo]

Thanks all...  monitor is just plain old 15Khz, but I also have an extra wide LCD for displaying the game marquee.

I think I'll give Windows 7 a go with an SSD - fast boot is also something I'm after.

Thanks again.

[Calamity]

but I also have an extra wide LCD for displaying the game marquee.

You should have mentioned that "detail". Unfortunately, multi-monitor is one of the weaknesses of W7, at least with these drivers. The system will get slow when two monitors are enabled. If you're going to use two monitors my advice is to stick with XP.

[Jimbo]

but I also have an extra wide LCD for displaying the game marquee.

You should have mentioned that "detail". Unfortunately, multi-monitor is one of the weaknesses of W7, at least with these drivers. The system will get slow when two monitors are enabled. If you're going to use two monitors my advice is to stick with XP.

Aah... ok, XP it is then!  Thanks for the clarification.

[krick]

If you go with Windows XP x64 Edition, I STRONGLY recommend using nLite to create a custom Windows install disc with 5eraph's Windows XP x64 post-SP2 Update Pack slipstreamed in

nLite
http://www.nliteos.com/

5eraph's Windows XP x64 post-SP2 Update Pack
http://www.ryanvm.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6400

If you know that your hardware needs specific drivers that aren't included in Windows, you can slipstream them as well.  My Atheros onboard Ethernet adapter isn't supported by XP x64 out of the box, so I added that driver to my custom Windows install disc to make the setup process much easier.

[Jimbo]

This is very helpful - many thanks!