In the end, you need to decide exactly what games you plan to run and determine if that hardware is adequate – and if they are compatible with Windows 2000 to begin with.

You will need more than 128 MB RAM for a smooth Win2k experience. Unlike with Win9x, you are not limited to 512 MB by Win2k, so feel free to max out your RAM. Formatting your hard drive using FAT32 instead of NTFS will give you a small performance boost as well. Also, be sure to install Service Pack 4.

As for NT4, you really don't want to use that OS for any kind of gaming. Way too many problems with driver and game compatibility.

Windows ME is fine if you don't need a pure DOS mode. However, it is still based on the Win9x architecture, so any issues that you had with 98SE are potentially applicable there as well.

Just remember to enable application compatibility mode in 2000 to give you access to 9x compatibility mode.

regsvr32 %WINDIR%\AppPatch\slayerui.dll

For Windows 2000 you might get away with just 256MB RAM, but I always find 512MB+ a little better. But like others have said, it's all going to depend upon what games you intend playing?

You mention running DOS games - if this is a criteria then that pretty much limits you to just Windows 98 or ME. But really, ME probably won't offer you anything over 98 other than "oh look, it's different" and probably "oh crap, it's crashed" depending upon the hardware configuration. Couldn't resist sorry. 😉

If you're happy to stick to just Windows games, then Windows 2000 will indeed be a nice fit. Be aware that some games can be a real pain to get running on Windows 2000, even with compatibility mode enabled. A notable example are many late 90s/early 2000s EA titles, welcome to patch hell as many are truly atrocious.

I can't really help with driver version for the TNT2, I've long forgotten what I used to use back in the day on Windows 2000. Stick as early as possible and then experiment with different versions onwards from that point, but be aware that earlier driver versions may have worse performance as it took a while for graphics card drivers to fully mature & optimise for Windows 2000.

You mention NT 4, this is a non-runner for any kind of gaming really so don't bother.

Thanks for all the help. I have a dedicated computer for DOS gaming I will be using, so that eliminates the need for this PC to run both Windows and DOS games. As far as drivers go, I've read that Detonator 30.82, while being a later version, is a good choice for Windows 2000. I'm still not sure about ME- I'm worried about using drivers designed for Windows 98 (2.xx, 3.xx, 5.xx) on Windows ME considering Windows 98 drivers being used on ME was one of the leading contributors to ME's instability.

I feel that 512MB of RAM would be far too much for a build with even a 700MHz PIII- let alone a Katmai 500. In my experience Windows 2000 ran just fine on 128MB of RAM, this was on a Dell Latitude C600 I had for about 2 years or so.

athlon-power wrote on 2020-12-15, 14:03:

Thanks for all the help. I have a dedicated computer for DOS gaming I will be usinddddddddg, so that eliminates the need for this PC to run both Windows and DOS games. As far as drivers go, I've read that Detonator 30.82, while being a later version, is a good choice for Windows 2000. I'm still not sure about ME- I'm worried about using drivers designed for Windows 98 (2.xx, 3.xx, 5.xx) on Windows ME considering Windows 98 drivers being used on ME was one of the leading contributors to ME's instability.

In terms of drivers there's a world of difference between WinME (where older drivers were indeed prime cause of stability issues) and 2k (where Win9x .vxd drivers simply weren't available). If drivers exist for Win2k, they will be native. No guarantee of stability, but much better chance.

I feel that 512MB of RAM would be far too much for a build with even a 700MHz PIII- let alone a Katmai 500. In my experience Windows 2000 ran just fine on 128MB of RAM, this was on a Dell Latitude C600 I had for about 2 years or so.

Don't underestimate updates. A vanilla Win2k install is MUCH lighter than after adding all SPs. Not as bad as with WinXP, but you really could use that RAM with a fully decked-out Win2k install, and it's not as if it's impossible with a P3 - a lot of P3s were used for 2k/XP builids in 2002-2005 after having been upgraded to this sort of spec. Not great gaming systems, but if you couldn't afford the latest stuff, you did get a perfectly functional computer.

Video, sound and chipset drivers are all very much supported in 2k. Not sure about the NIC but your probably safe
I personally just go with latest drivers rather then worrying about the fastest performing so cant give recommended version numbers.
Games may take a slight performance hit, not enough for me to notice/care and while a BX system is pretty stable in 98 it really is so much more so in 2k. It's where I do majority of my 9x gaming now.

Only catch is some games don't like 2k. for me I never got Need for Speed 3,4,Porche or Return Fire (really old 95 game) working so do have 98SE as a 2nd OS for those games (and only those)

NT4 game compatibility is crap as only got DX3 officially, Unofficial DX5 isn't great. Fun OS to mess around with though.
WinME not a bad choice if your not using dos but it's not going to "feel" much different to your currant 98 install

chinny22 wrote on 2020-12-16, 10:54:

Only catch is some games don't like 2k. for me I never got Need for Speed 3,4,Porche or Return Fire (really old 95 game) working so do have 98SE as a 2nd OS for those games (and only those)

Can't recall if I managed to get NFS Porsche running, but recently I did mange to get NFS4 running on my Windows 2000 gaming build. Had to basically copy the contents from the CD-ROM to the HDD and use a No CD crack to run the game.

So much trouble with 98se comes down to both motherboard quality, cards quality also choices that dictates the drivers used can make 98se crash happy or not.

I learned that much with BX and VIA boards when I was using 98se. On VIA, I had constant problems, likewise with low quality BX board.

Cheers,

I suggest ME. It's obviously not as lightning fast as 98, but it's just fine when you give it enough resources. It's the most sophisticated DOS based Windows version, installation is easy. I would say it's not as "clean" as a nicely done 98 system, but less of a pain to get stuff done.

NUSB and these unofficial Service Packs also use WinMe system files..
After applying these, Windows 98/SE has some of the WinMe Look&Feel.