anken

Distinguished
Oct 30, 2007
153
0
18,680
Hi,
we built our new gaming rig and would like to install WinXP Pro on it. I have seen at the Newegg site that there is a $40.- difference between WinXP Pro and the 64bit version.

Here are the spec's:
CPU:Intel core2 Quad Q6600 2.4MHz
Mobo: Asus P5K3 /Deluxe WiFi-AP, LGA775
Video: XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3
HDD: Western Digital Caviar 500 GB
Ram: Corsair 2 GB DDR3
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower 700W

With this configuration, do you think that it's better to go with WinXP Pro 64 bit?
I'll appreciate your thought and suggestions. Thanks
 

riser

Illustrious
WinXP Home.

Pro would be for corporations. Save the money and get Home unless you plan on connecting this computer to a Domain. If you don't know what a domain is, go with the Home version.

Skip the 64 bit version.
 

g-paw

Splendid
Jan 31, 2006
4,479
0
22,780
Be sure to get the OEM version, no difference and if you need to replace parts, you can still activate it if you do a clan install. Also, if you have a home network, Home is easy to use to set it up with a unique Workgroup name if you want.

Riser, what's the difference between a Workgroup and Domain? Thanks
 

riser

Illustrious
Workgroup:
All computers act independently of each other and are not centrally administered via a server.

Domain:
All computers "connect" to a Server which maintains user accounts, passwords, security, etc. The server can administer all computers attached to it.

Basically, a workgroup is a bunch of computers sitting around. A domain has a bunch of computers all connected to a single Server that manages them, generally handing out DNS, WINS, DHCP, and maintains the security for each computer. In a workgroup, you create a local account on the computer. In a server, you create that account on the server and you can log into any computer attached to the domain. Kerberos security is used to validate a user on the local computer. A user logs into the domain attached computer. That computer forwards that information to the Server using kerberos (Google Kerberos) and grants a ticket (security key basically) to the computer. Every time that computer accesses something local to the computer or on the network, the ticket (security card) is checked to make sure they have access to do such things.

More indepth reading and actually a good read:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/crawford_02january14.mspx