XP Media Center and Gaming

[jahickel]

Is gaming any different under XP Media Center versus XP Pro? I have an SLI rig with a TV tuner. Should I stick with 3rd party PVR software and go XP Pro or stick with XP Media Center?

Thanks for the info

 

[sturm]

What are you using right now? If media center I would just disable alot of the extra stuff used for media playback. You can also setup profiles at boot that will let you select a gaming profile or a full media profile.
Other than the exta media programs, media center isnt much different from pro when it comes to games.

 

[exit2dos]

I admit to being a MCE fanboy, but watch for a few things such as:

I get random video lock-ups, system freezes and reboots within 2 weeks whenever I upgrade my nvidia drivers with the MCE certified ones. This has been going on since my first MCE 2004 system with a 5200 straight through my current MCE2005 system with a 7800 (non SLI). The problems go away when I install the regular XP drivers instead. (Why do I keep trying the MCE drivers? I don't know, I guess I'm a masochist. 8O )

In Oblivion, I got my character stuck in a corner. Even reloading, he would still be unable to move out of it. I tried for help on a gaming forum and everyone told me to bring up the console and type such & such commands. The console wouldn't come up no matter how many times I pressed the "~" or looked at my oblivion.ini file. I found the problem, you have to unplug the IR receiver from the usb port. Soon as I did that, the console came up right away. (Too late, of course. I had already loaded the saved game before that - lost about 3.5 hrs - taught me to save more often and not rely on autsaves :x )
I'm not sure why the IR receiver being plugged in caused the console not to work, nor am I sure if this affects other games. I found this solution mentioned on just one site out of the scores of Oblivion sites I checked at the time (hopefully it's better documented out there now).

I haven't heard of this problem in any other game, but if you do run into any keyboard response problems - I'd try unplugging the IR receiver.

 

[INeedCache]

To answer your question, no. However, depending on what other things one may be doing with Media Center, one may need more RAM than with XP Pro. Media Center is XP Pro without domain registration, and some added multimedia capabilities.

 

[jahickel]

Well, the only fetuares i would use from media center is the TV functionality. I dont know if that justifies spending $100+ on an OS if I can use a third party software. The TV viewing and fuctions through MCE are pretty good.