What is the best Operating System for the hardcore gamer, and why?

Sadly, it seems that Windows XP/2000 is the best OS because they are the only ones which more or less effectively use high-end hardware. They also have the the best usage of this hardware because most games/software/drivers are programmed for these systems

Linux is really good for running anything except that it is a bitch to set up games that are meant to run on Windows. I think that XP Pro with a little tweaking (like my XP pro on my desktop, i'll have to put it on my laptop, but I am too lazy) can work great. Make sure you get rid of all the useless crap that Windows comes with and just us e the skeleton system. It also depends on how good your computer and video card are. It depends on how much you hardware enjoys the software. I ahev had problems where the hardware and software on my computer "argue". Really, if you are looking for performance, any OS that is half-decent would work. It depends more on you hardware configuration.

without doubt: WinXP
I use it as my gaming station :p
and graphics development platform
Linux Mandrake 10 for everything else

I'm gonna be a sheep and say XP. It doesn't hog (my) RAM and if a game crashes, usually it'll go to the desktop instead of freezing up all together.

XP, obviously. It used to be 98, but now its XP for sure.

If you prefer linux, there are a lot of games being made that run native to it - very well. So it depends on whether you want selection with slightly decreased performance, or the other way around?

I use XP for Quake-III Arena...And i love it...

bye!

Win98 for max FPS :) if thats to old school then Win2k, XP has to much crap.

It would be sweet if there where more games supporting Linux, but for that to happen a few cross distro standards have to be made, and before that happens you can proberly reach a few laps around the globe running backwards.
With that being say i never attempted the game on a linux box.

if your hands are straight enough you can clean out all the unneeded "crap" as you call it from WinXP anyways
W2K has a bad reputation for not supporting some games.

the NT range had the worst support for games considering they only went up to Directx 6 when all the other OS's were up to 7 or 8. Then again the NT# OS's weren't meant for Gaming, they were meant to be network machines, however with the games revolution increasing the need for compatibility between hardware and software, you now find that DirectX is used in places it wasn't originally designed for, like business software etc.

Pretty cool really, considering the usual comments back in the days of playing frogger or Pacman would have been "Playing all those games all day, you'll never get anywhere, I mean what are you going to be able to do in the future if all you can do is game"...

Apparently the answer is to be apart of shaping the world today :D

W2K has a bad reputation for not supporting some games.


I been running W2K since it came out, never had any problems running anything.
XP in my eyes is a W2k but with even more babysitting features, so why should should i install a OS where i need to remove half of it when i can get a "clean" install from W2K

I would have to agree XP is the best, and will people please stop shitting on Microsoft like it's a shame that they are the best.

It's not a shame it's a fact. Microsoft f#cking rule! they provide us with the most user friendly computer software available on this planet. If there is another programmer out there who can create something better, then DO IT. Otherwise, minions of the computer world, be grateful for what you get, an altogether user friendly and productive OS, which is awsome for playing games.

Microsoft is king, and deserves the title.

actually I ran Win2K for 6 months and liked it much, then got WinXP and ran it for about 1.5 years, removed all the shit (consider deshitting as sport). then, a few months ago, switched completely to linux mdk 10 community (pre mdk 10 I didn't like enough) and been happy ever since :D
WinXp nonthereless is a good gaming station. and I don't see a reason to switch back to w2k.

Nebuchadnezzaar, they provide us with the most user friendly computer software available on this planet
actually it should say most idiot friendly software
If there is another programmer out there who can create something better, then DO IT.
if you think in OS terms, consider linux Mandrake, SUSE, Slackware

I have been using windows 98 second edition with all of my games and it hasn't affected them in any way that I can actually tell. There are new 64 bit games that will be coming online soon so I will have to change over to an OS that will handle them but as of now I'm very happy with Win98 second ed.

cosmictraveler, note that there is a special WinXP64 , simple WinXP doesn't have support for 64.
by any chance any news when Longhorn final will be out? I'm eager to check out their promised new filesystem, billware*, etc

* I prefer to call so ms os embeded spyware reporting everything you do to borg.

The main problem with windows is that the GUI and base OS are fused together.... This can cause tonnes of problems and instability. Its a stupid design choice, and the sad thing is that people think its better.

With linux, you can opt for that kind of an idiot-friendly system(much more stable), but I don't know a single user that hasn't evenutally switched. If projects like 'David' are successful, we could see some real changes...

I would have to agree XP is the best, and will people please stop shitting on Microsoft like it's a shame that they are the best.
No.
There just the most popular.

Look at the music scene right now and tell me who the best 'musician' is.
Brittiny?
Dee Cee

If projects like 'David' are successful, we could see some real changes... Please tell me about the David project, Xerxes. A link should be enough.

A project from the phillipines. They're probably lying:
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/26/1048212&mode=thread&tid=125&tid=185&tid=190&tid=201