hi! i have assembled yet another computer system with some spare parts, and now i'm deciding what operating system to put on it. my main question would be what operating system will utilize my hardware in a manner such that performance would be at its best? hardware specs: sempron 2200+ (1.5 ghz) 512MB DDR RAM (333mhz) 20GB hard drive 32X cd burner

You post a question like that on the windows 98 forum! I guess the best recommendation would be Fedora. More seriously, you seem to have specked the machime for Windows XP, but 98SE will run like a dream.

windows 2000 looks about right for those specs, ....there is no right answer?

thanx for the info! i mostly post in the 98 forum because i think that more people use windows 98(se) than anything else (in my opinion). :] i really never did like windows xp, too much eye candy, not enough features some one who surfs the net ant types up homework would use. but i have noticed one thing: i saw windows 98se on an older system (pentium one, 64mb ram, etc), and it ran great. I also saw windows 98se running on a more up to date system (pentium III, 128mb ram), but it didn't seem to be that much faster than the older system. will this be the same case for my computer?

"because i think that more people use windows 98(se) than anything else (in my opinion). :]" It's not really a matter of opinion - the WinXP forum is far (far) busier than this one Quite a number of factors involved when gauging performance, not much point in generalizing - although any Pentium class machine with 64+Mb should run fairly well. "what operating system will utilize my hardware in a manner such that performance would be at its best?" Your question lacks meaning Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

for my question, i meant to say "which operating system will use my computer hardware to it's full capabilities?" i don't think it gets more simple than that! but why wouldn't a computer with better hardware run windows 98se not much faster than a computer with older hardware? thanx in advance!

That's just it - your question is overly simplistic. What operating system wouldn't "use my computer hardware to it's full capabilities"????? (DOS 622 or earlier, I suppose.) At the risk of repeating myself - there are many factors that affect system performance - hardware, software & maintenance. Can't really compare systems based solely on your vague remembrance of a machine that 'seemed' slower Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.