what O.S?

#1
asus A7N8X Deluxe
"Barton" Xp2500
2x 256meg
Radeon 9800pro
soundstorm audio(onboard)
WDse 80gig
viewsonic pf810

#2
Xp1800
MSI KT266a
256meg ddr
Radeon 9100
SB live 5.1
WD 40gig/Maxtor 30gig
viewsonic E70F+SB 17"

#3
p-3 1000mhz
older MoBo
256meg pc133
GeForce2 Ultra
Aureal Vortex2
30 gig Maxtor
Viewsonic E70F+SB 17"

these three computers will be used almost exclusively for gaming...
should one system use a different O.S from the others?...
whitch one will offer the most framerate and smoothness of gameplay,and compatibility?
i have win95,win98,win98se,win2k,winxp corporate...
these systems have thier hard drives slicked and i was wanting some opinions on whitch O.S to install,and why...
we play mainly shooter and flight sims...thx in advance...

#1 - XP

#2 - 2k

#3 - 2k

Providing explanations for iantaylor's recommendations:

XP and 2k are both far superior to anything on the 9x kernel; they're both much more stable and much easier to recover from major errors.. XP tends to use up a bit more memory, with 256 being absolutely necessary IMHO and 512 being good (hence system number1). With systems 2 and 3, having less ram, 2k would be preferable.

Or you could just put 2000 on all 3 machines...

win2k or XP
DO NOT use win9.x on those, win2k and xp are a world difference. stability one of them and MS support another reason

2k all the way, despite what you may think 2k has better backwards game compatability than XP. So you can play classics like homeworld without a problem.

#1 Linux

#2 Linux

#3 linux

I say that because I am completely windows free now. I game just like everyone else. My office suite is M$ compatible. My browser is faster. My servers are faster and easier to secure. I don't get Virus's. My memory managment is better. My SMP support is better. I don't crash.
I rip music,dvd's, and any video. and most of all its all

FREEEEEEEEEE!