ATI All in Wonder: XP SP1 or SP2 or SP3?
 

Hello,

As I understand it there are issues with some of the ATI AIW cards and Service Pack 3 in Windows XP.

So installing XP with SP2 is much preferred for a stand alone Video Capture System.

However, I have access to XP CDs for all the major releases including SP2, SP1 and the original RTM released in 2001.

Would it make any difference which of these I used? I have a genuine key which would work with any of them.

I am talking specifically about the 9600 AGP version but I guess it would be useful to know in general as well.

Cheers,

Padawan Learner

The issue is not just ATI, but all capture cards. SP3 added "security" junk to Windows. It really did nothing for security, aside from annoy users without useless pop-up warnings and new Windows sub-programs running by default. It messes with capture, by interrupting everything from HDD I/O to RAM to CPU to even graphics (which can affect video capture).

SP3 is only okay if you find all that default-on junk and turn it off.

SP3 is just SP2 with annoyances. You can use non-SP, SP1 or SP2 for ATI AIW capturing. Some other useful XP tools and video tools can only use SP1 or SP2, so that's why it's suggested. I'm not sure what ATI MMC and driver requirements are anymore, but SP1 is minimum safe. I use SP2 for all my ATI capture boxes.

Keep in mind that many Avisynth plugins released today require the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 runtime support package, which requires SP3 for XP.

True.

Question is, how many people will be using old XP box for more than capturing?

I know that I quit doing any editing, restoring, or encoding when I built my Skylake systems. The XP boxes were relegated to capturing only, nothing more. Noting that they could do more if I wanted, since I'm using dual-core setups based on Asrocks. But still slower and hotter than the new build.