After doing some research for a server I'm thinking about renting, I heard that Windows Server 2003 only has necessary services running by default for security reasons. Considering Windows XP can have plenty of useless services running, do you think Windows Server 2003 could be better for gaming because it has less bloat?

well i own winblows server 2003, so ill have to install it and fiddle with it a bit. gimme a few days and ill see what i can turn up.


even if it is better for gaming, the OS itself is prohibitivly expensive. my serevr 03 keys are worth 600+ bucks a pop.

VERY UNLIKELY! I believe that it does not support 3d acceleration...or something to that effect...

Ok, so I'm wrong.

It's possible it may be a little better, I've ran games under it and it did fine. But a lot of the top notch overclockers and world record breakers run 2003 for some reason, I never really caught onto why this is.

By default, it turns down hardware acceleration. Also, I know ATI doesn't support '03. However, you can install the drivers for WinXP, and remember to turn hardware acceleration up in order to run games. So far I have only tried the original Unreal Tournament.

I can see why they use it for overclocking! I can get much better memory speeds running on my server. Then again it is probably the extra bandwidth available on the machine. Can't get any benchmark programs to work yet, but I have used it to play and it is pretty decent.

However, I think I'm going back to XP when UT2K7 comes out. Need to wipe the system anyway, and I have been finding '03 to be just a bit annoying.

2003 runs gaming fine... you need to turn off some of the services to get some better preformance out of it...


adn i am pretty sure 2k3 supports ati cards for gaming...

the only issue u will run into, is lack of printer and scanner drivers...

but by all means go ahead and try it ....
just dont be surprised if your game suddenly shuts off and there's nothing on the error logs

not to mention some games wont even install, some will but wont run and R2 and SP1 made compatibility even worse ....

i ran 2003 for a long time.... but not for braging rights.... i needed it for school...

2003 has much better resource managment and better mutiprocessor support.

it is not ment for home useage.. so you will find a lack in support for cameras and other things...


cureently i am back to running swiss cheese... i mean xp

Quote: Originally Posted by Fortran most people running 2k3 server do it for the bragging rights .

What do you mean?

Quote: Originally Posted by THRiLL KiLL it is not ment for home useage..

precisely my point ....

firewire is completely not supported ...

nvidia drivers come with several restrictions .... ( not to mention they're not up to date with the XP ones )

i only have it because 3dmark and superPi love it for some reazon .... but having a hi-end system with just 2 applications installed is not quite useful ....

Quote: Originally Posted by killert What do you mean?

i mean that most people just get it because they think installing it and telling others they run it makes them look more |337 but it only makes them look as smart as if IBM were running WinME in their Blue Gene

"Sir, the weather pattern simulation for the northeastern region halted after our system got a BSD, we couldnt write down the error code but seems like our 3 petabytes of ECC ram are not WinMe compatible"


im not claiming to be a 2k3 server guru but i think theres a reazon why big corporations tend to use this OS for their datacenters and such instead of XP ....
which could be the same reazon why home users should use XP and not 2k3 ....

2k3 does not turn on alot of services by default. such as sound, hardware acceleration, direct2d is not installed. mostly do to the fact that people that use server editions, ie companies dont need it. its great for running game servers, but not the best for actually running games.

dont get me wrong, it is still possible to run games. but if you are looking for performance, home users should stay with XP.

i have recently aquired server 2003 and i have used nLite to remove as much crap (that i could understand anyway) and hav cut the os size from 580mb to 333 mbs.i have raid support (on-board nvidia) and sli support.the only prob i have now is that when i install i get the letter H assigned to the boot drive.dont know how to stop this.any body got any ideas on this.once i get this sorted then i can see what it can do.

Quote: Originally Posted by keepaf1 i have recently aquired server 2003 and i have used nLite to remove as much crap (that i could understand anyway) and hav cut the os size from 580mb to 333 mbs.i have raid support (on-board nvidia) and sli support.the only prob i have now is that when i install i get the letter H assigned to the boot drive.dont know how to stop this.any body got any ideas on this.once i get this sorted then i can see what it can do.

get partition magic .... assign the letter change upon reboot
after the restart, the OS will analyze the drive letter and rename it as desired by the user ....
the system will restart ( sometimes with or without a boot error, just ignore if you do) after that your system will be normal with the proper lettering .... this cannot be done via "Administrative Tools" since windows cant modify the boot volume ...

Quote: Originally Posted by Fortran get partition magic .... assign the letter change upon reboot after the restart, the OS will analyze the drive letter and rename it as desired by the user .... the system will restart ( sometimes with or without a boot error, just ignore if you do) after that your system will be normal with the proper lettering .... this cannot be done via "Administrative Tools" since windows cant modify the boot volume ...

Thanks for that dude.
much appreciatted.will do it and post how this os works.(benchmarking anyway.)i have no games at the moment but have some arriving in the mail.
will post results

Quote: Originally Posted by EvilClown But a lot of the top notch overclockers and world record breakers run 2003 for some reason, I never really caught onto why this is.

It's best for SuperPI 1m apparently... never tested it though.

Quote: Originally Posted by Zaltan It's best for SuperPI 1m apparently... never tested it though.

eeejjjmmmm !!!!





i will try to upgrade within 2 weeks to the 960 ..... ( conroe is too much for me right now )

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do you really need sp 1 or is that just for security?

Quote: Originally Posted by keepaf1 do you really need sp 1 or is that just for security?

the only noticeable difference was the inclussion of Windows Media Player 10 ...
yea, there are some major security fixes but if you want it only for benchmarking ... the regular version should suffice .... no need to go all R2 or SP1 fancy