Was diehard for Win98SE then switched to Win2K, too slow went back to Win98SE for my older games, Put WinXP Pro on my wifes machine was curious about it, saw it was really fast after I dumped the fluff and optimised the system for performance. So I installed it on my own machine, had to give up my older games but what the heck I don't play the games after I beat them anyway. I haven't had even 1 crash on the games I'm running, plus I've successfully installed even some of my older games that were rated for Win2K, one game that always caused problems was MOHAA, it constantly kicked Win98SE's rear, usually had to disable all background programs to get it to run, WinXP Pro no problems at all. When I was considering WinXP, I was warned to stay away from the Home version, and formatting with the FAT 32 file system, go with NTFS period and that has turned out to be good advise.
And I wasn't having problems with Win98SE from lack of hardware performance.
My Specs:
WinXP Pro
M/B=MSI-KT4V-L
CPU=AMD-XP2100+ x266FSB
Heatsink=Volcano6/Modified/HS60mmFan
RAM=PC2100 DDR266
AGP=GF4-TI4400
SndCrd=TBSC
LAN=Onboard/VIA
HD=Maxtor 7200Rpm-ATA133 40G
PS=Antec 430 Truepower
CDRW=TDK40-12-48B
Cheiftec Dragon Case
Ripleys: The Volcano 6 Modified is outperforming, Swiftech's MCXC370 and CoolerMasters HHC-001, with the exact same fan. GO FIGURE!!!
Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.