Should I upgrade to Windows 98?

[megaboy]

I have an older PC with an Intel 430FX chipset, Cyrix 133 Mhz processor, and 64 MB of RAM. I am a music enthusiast and would like to get into burning CDs and downloading music? I am currently running Windows 95, which seems to do pretty well. Can my machine sufficiently handle an upgrade to Windows 98, and if so, what would the real advantages be?

[Gallaeglagh]

There's not a huge difference between 95 and 98. 98 is a little easier going on internet related connectivity. As far as downloading or burning discs you'll see no difference. Your processor also is on the low end and may struggle with 98.

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When in doubt search on Google

[Jumby]

I'm not sure what your financial deal is, but upgrading your computer will be well worth the expense if you plan on doing more with your computer. You can really find some deals out there. For instance: http://www.computer-show.com/Modern/itemdesc.asp?CartId=9066448KUSXC68&ic=SYS048&tpc=
This is without CD, so you can buy one you like and get it installed. And you gan get CD burners for $79. Like Gallaeglagh says, it will be a struggle --- with what you have, not just Win95.

[bassman]

Gotta agree with the others here. I recently upgraded a 233 machine to 98 and am totaly displeased with overall performance. It is pretty bare and is mainly for a printer server and additional workarea. It was working fine, quite fast and no real problems to speak of. It is now slower and I have had a few problems with network issues.
HeHe, if it ain't broke......

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[kayden azagthoth]

Hello megaboy,

I could be wrong here, but don't a lot of today's burners (8x and up) require at least a 233MHz processor? I would also assume that market burners require at least Windows 98.

Unless you are thinking about getting an older/used burner (1x, 2x, etc.) I'd assume that your current system is past it's prime for burning time. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

I agree with the others and look into buying either a smoking new system, or even just a entry level Duron or Celeron.

You'll be very pleased with the speed differences.

Kayden

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And all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be.

-Pink Floyd

[pentachris]

Before you put $100+ into a cd burner, I'd take everyone else's advice and upgrade your system a bit. Check your motherboard manufacturer's website and find out what kind of CPU it can handle - the one you've got now doesn't have MMX technology (it's well past its prime). Sounds like you're on a socket 7 board - I got an AMD K6-2 550 mhz (the fastest socket 7 chip made, I believe, but with less cache than the K6-3's) for $37 plus shipping about a month ago.

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If my computer were the eighth dwarf, it would be Dumpy.
-Chris

[JadedC36]

Megaboy;
Here is my experience with Win98. At work I have a desktop that I use as a terminal on a telephone switch, and access the company lan through a 56K circuit. It was a P90, 64 MB ram, and Win95. Some new DSL equipment required me to run an X-windows program from the server. So I got IT to get me a little more power with more graphics power. What I got was a P133 with 128 MB ram, a PCI video card and Win 98. The programs load, and run more slowly on this machine, than they did on the P90. You might not be happy with how W98 runs on your PC, (but you might be surprised). Luck.

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Mike

[Paleo Pete]

Depending on finances, check into what CPU your motherboard will support. I'm running win98 on a P-233MMX and a CD-RW, and don't have any serious complaints. I've compared it to a couple of newer off-the-shelf machines in retail outlets and wasn't too impressed with anything under 1GHz, but those are running tons of background garbage, slowing them down.

With the CD-RW it does fairly well, copies 100MB at 8X in 10 minutes or so, and so far haven't made a coaster yet. Performance is fairly decent, and until a minute ago I was running 8 browser windows, IRC, ICQ, Outlook Express, Zone Alarm, Norton, Notepad and Character map. I could barely notice a bit of sluggishness. That's with 128MB RAM and 2MB S3 Trio video.

I've seen a P-133 try to run win98, it doesn't run well, and with a Cyrix CPU I would avoid it, the Cyrix chips were good, but had problems with win98 for some strange reason. Three in my family all were flaky with win98, swap to Intel CPUs and they run perfect. With win95 the Cyrix CPUs do well.

CSO (http://www.computersurplusoutlet.com/) often has early Pentium CPUs, Price Combat (http://www.pricecombat.com/) and Price Watch (http://www.pricewatch.com/) are worth a look too.

One note, with the Intel i430 chipset don't try to go with more than 64MB RAM, that's all it can cache and more will slow it down.

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[Mini-Me]

Hi there!
I would not suggest going to Windows 98 with anything less then a P166MHz with 64MB of RAM and plenty of HDD space.

Windows 98 has nice features over Win95, but unless you really need the features(like USB support), then I would stick with Win95.

I have seen a 486 DX-100 with only 16MB of RAM and 800MB HDD installed with Windows98, but it was slow as a snail(if not slower).

Windows 95b makes a great system for downloading, playing MP3, burning CD-R's and such.

My machine is a P166 with 64MB RAM, and 20GB HDD running Win95b.
I have used a CD-writer on a machine as slow as a P100MHz with 32MB of RAM - it worked fine.
Just disable any screensaver while burning CD's, and run only the CD-buring application.
Also, set your burner speed to 2x MAX.
Faster then 2x on anything less then 166MHz CPU can easily result in the CD-writer suffering buffer-underrun, and the outcome of this, is that you will have a nice little beer coaster!!!!
http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif


G.


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Windows is the most dangerous computer virus on the Internet.

[JadedC36]

I just want to edit my previous post here. My P133 pc that I use at work only has 64MB ram, as it should. I just thought my IT tech added extra ram.
I'm sure it is an i430 chipset.

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Mike