Windows xp sp1 or sp2

Does service pack 1 or the leaked two improve overall system performance? I know it fixes a lot of security stuff in the OS, but from what I have heard, they cost a lot of trouble in stability or even degrade gaming performance. Then again, almost every hardware review on the net I see sp1 installed. Pls post your comments, opinion, and improvements if there are any. Thx

 

NOT RIGHT NOW SP2 WILL SLOW YOUR SYSTEM DOWN ALOT AT THIS TIME ... I'D LET SOME ONE ELSE WORK OUT THE BUGS TILL THEY GET A LITTLE FARTHER ALONG .... I'D WAIT

 

I personally found that SP 1 slowed up my system somewhat. I have, during various formats, tried XP with and without SP1.

I am currently running XP without SP1 and my system really does seem faster and less buggy. Thats my opinion but i am sure there will be many different ones.

I for one will not touch SP2 for sometime to come..

 

This kind of echos what highwayman said but I have found that things are better if I only install the seperate updates and not SP1. When I install SP1 things seem slower, and I have a hell of a time getting my Audigy drivers updated.

 

What about a XP install with SP1 slipstreamed? Do you still get slowdowns?

 

I've seen nothing but improvements with systems running SP1 over the RTM.

Stability has always been perfect, and performance *seems* snappier with SP1 on many machines.

 

Agreed, it may destabilize your system a lot.

 

Some people have problems with the service pack and some don't.Mine runs fine with it and my brothers new computer crashes with it installed.Can't say if its any faster with it since I installed it right after I installed Xp.

 

I noticed no real performance differences after loading SP1 or any of the subsequent hotfixes, but a few weeks ago noticed that doing various things would cause 'hangs' for a second or so, like right-clicking in windows explorer, etc... After doing a lot of experimental uninstalling and poking around to find out what was wrong, I noticed on a tech site that hotfix 811493 at Windows Update was causing major slowdowns for some people. Uninstalled it and the hangs were gone and speed was back up. MS itself confirmed there was a problem for some people and are planning to replace the current one available from Winupdate shortly. The one currently available I would recommend avoiding and obviously uninstalling if you've already got it and are noticing problems.

Figured to pass this along where it's relevant. Hope this helps...

(Edit: My bad, this issue is discussed in a thread below.. Sorry)

 

I installed SP1 over RTM and there doesn't seem to be any performance differences. But having said that it would be better to install a slipstreamed SP1 over RTM just so you don't need to re-download the dozens of patches!