Bootcamp gaming Q's

[irishgrizzly]

I'm going to get a Mac Pro soon and was thinking of installing an extra HD for windows to play games in bootcamp.

1. Which version of XP is good for this, pro/home? is there a difference?
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2. Where is best to buy Xp online, ebay on the marketplace?
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3. Is it a good idea to have a HD just for windows booting to stop corrupting my mac side? and which HD would you recommend?​

 

[displaced]

I'm going to get a Mac Pro soon and was thinking of installing an extra HD for windows to play games in bootcamp.

1. Which version of XP is good for this, pro/home? is there a difference?
​

2. Where is best to buy Xp online, ebay on the marketplace?
​

3. Is it a good idea to have a HD just for windows booting to stop corrupting my mac side? and which HD would you recommend?​

1) Home or Pro will do for gaming. You only really hit Home's limitations if you're trying to connect to a corporate domain (which Home can't do).

2) Wherever you can get it legally cheapest! Beware: there are different kinds of XP licence (determined by the CD itself and by the product code). Make sure you get a Retail or possibly an OEM licence. Retail's unrestricted (other than activations) and OEM has to be purchased with hardware.

3) Sharing the 1 HD is fine. XP, nor any Windows application can read the OS X partition by default, so Windows viruses won't hurt your OS X install. However, there's nothing to prevent you nuking your OS X install by formatting or repartitioning the HD within Windows. In this case, having a second drive wouldn't help anyway, since you could still reformat the OS X disk anyway. So don't do that

 

[seanf]

Which version of XP is good for this, pro/home? is there a difference?

Home will only support one physical processor, so If you want to take advantage of both physical processors within your Mac then you will need XP Professional

Sean

 

[Eidorian]

Home will only support one physical processor, so If you want to take advantage of both physical processors within your Mac then you will need XP Professional

Sean

Home will support a single socket. It doesn't matter how many cores are on that single socket processor.

 

[irishgrizzly]

Thanks for your reply. I've heard OEMs come with no manual or box, and some companes ship a cheap cable to count as shipping with hardware. But are they ok to use?

I'd like to use a 2nd HD so I can easily wipe and reinstall XP often. So are you saying it's not a good idea or just that I don't have to bother?

Oh, and is SP2 needed for bootcamp?

 

[Eidorian]

An OEM disc is fine to use. Just make sure it has Service Pack 2.

 

[barryd]

Home will support a single socket. It doesn't matter how many cores are on that single socket processor.

Great questions btw.

whoa whoa whoa.... I'm gonna have to buy Win Pro just so it "sees" both processors? Ugh.

I'm planning on a new Mac Pro whhen updated with a HD just for WIndows, Pro version apparently.

 

[Eidorian]

Great questions btw.

whoa whoa whoa.... I'm gonna have to buy Win Pro just so it "sees" both processors? Ugh.

I'm planning on a new Mac Pro whhen updated with a HD just for WIndows, Pro version apparently.

I heard of several cases where users on this forum have successfully used Windows XP Home on the Mac Pro. I don't remember if it saw both sockets or not.

 

[seanf]

Home will support a single socket. It doesn't matter how many cores are on that single socket processor.

Yes, as I stated above to take advantage of all cores (i.e. both physical processors of the Mac Pro) the original poster will need XP Pro

Sean

 

[padré]

pro

hy guys

i'm a mac pro owner anoyeb by windows home only reading 1 core, and i don't feel like putting money in a upgrade to win pro or vista...

is there a way to make windows home read all the cores ?

thx in advance

 

[displaced]

Yes, as I stated above to take advantage of all cores (i.e. both physical processors of the Mac Pro) the original poster will need XP Pro

Sean

Googling around a bit seems to indicate this is incorrect.

Home will not support two sockets, but it will support dual-core CPUs.

See
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Weblets/0,,7832_8366_7595~95364,00.html
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=63251

This would also marry with the fact that I've seen dual-core machines from the likes of Dell and Fujitsu-Siemens bundled with XP Home.

(that second link even includes screenshots of Home's task manager showing that both cores are indeed utilised).

 

[Mackilroy]

From what I see, you said the exact same thing as he did, just differently.

 

[displaced]

From what I see, you said the exact same thing as he did, just differently.

Quite right

Pardon me whilst I go misunderstand some other thread

(d'oh!)

 

[barryd]

So does any version of Vista support multiple sockets or is it just Vista Extreme perhaps?

Also, does it make sense to put Vista 64 on a Mac Pro or will the 32-bit version work just as well?

Thanks!

 

[aly]

I notice someone pointed out the fact you need XP with service pack 2. Although this is true it is possible to buy XP without serrvice pack two which can be cheaper and do what is called slipstreaming. This involves downloading service pack 2 which is free, combining it with the data on the XP cd and creating a new CD. It is easy enough to do, and has worked fine for me on a MacBook Pro. Though you will need a windows pc to do the slipstream. Instrtuctions can be found here. These are the ones I used.

Hope this helps, Aly.

 

[Sp3shl K]

using an old laptop install disc

hey, i was wondering if anyone knew if would be able to install xp sp2 in bootcamp using the install disc from my old compaq laptop?

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

hey, i was wondering if anyone knew if would be able to install xp sp2 in bootcamp using the install disc from my old compaq laptop?

Good question Im wondering if I can do the same with my Dell xp sp2.

 

[hankolerd]

If you are not using the key on your other computer you should be able to install xp sp2 no problem, but if you are gonna keep it installed on your other computer you might have trouble registering it with microsoft.

When you go through the bootcamp installed you can set whether your windows partition can see your osx partition. So it is safe to install both operating systems on the same hd. As long as you have enough space that you won't regret having smaller partitions. I have a 500Gb hd, and i partition 60Gb to vista. now that i am down to 70Gb on my osx partition I kinda wish I would have got an external drive for windows. but I heard windows has alot of trouble when trying to install it on an external. oh well i guess.

One thing to keep in mine when running on a dual core processor, is that some games don't do well with two cores, so you have to go to your task manager, right-click on the process, and click on set affinity..., then just click one of the cores off. This is the case for UT2004. I am sure there are more games, this is just the only game I had that was having trouble.

 

[Eidorian]

hey, i was wondering if anyone knew if would be able to install xp sp2 in bootcamp using the install disc from my old compaq laptop?

Good question Im wondering if I can do the same with my Dell xp sp2.

No, the Windows license is tied to the original hardware.

 

[JLN]

No, the Windows license is tied to the original hardware.

I haven't had any problems using my XP license on various computers (installed only on one computer at a time; had several PCs over the years and now on Boot Camp)

Simply reactivate it by calling the Windows support number and tell them you bought new hardware and installing on one computer only (which you should).
They will supply you with a new key if need be and that's it.

 

[Eidorian]

I haven't had any problems using my XP license on various computers (installed only on one computer at a time; had several PCs over the years and now on Boot Camp)

Simply reactivate it by calling the Windows support number and tell them you bought new hardware and installing on one computer only (which you should).
They will supply you with a new key if need be and that's it.

I never said you couldn't use it. I just said the license is tied to the hardware for an OEM copy of Windows.

Your mileage may vary.

 

[displaced]

I never said you couldn't use it. I just said the license is tied to the hardware for an OEM copy of Windows.

Your mileage may vary.

In fact, some editions of the XP install CD are locked to a particular manufacturer's BIOS. I know certain Dell discs work this way.

See:
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/ProductActivation.htm

 

[redsteven]

If you're gonna BUY xp, you might just wanna buy vista instead. I mean, are you gonna use it for anything other than games? If not, then the OS shouldn't matter that much except for the fact that some games are going to require vista (right now most of them don't, but in the future i'm thinking they will)

Although except for the ******** excuses about halo 2 only being able to run on vista, plenty of other NEWER games run fine in xp.

 

[irishgrizzly]

Good point, I just thought XP would be in use for the next 3-4 years with the slow uptake of Vista.