ACPI vs Standard PC on OS install

[Karl Engel]

Does anyone bother doing a clean OS install and going through the procedure of selecting Standard PC rather than ACPI to allow IRQ resource steering?

Shared resources were a problem on my laptop and I've just bought a new desktop system and don't know whether to bother re-installing the OS and selecting the Standard PC option, a slightly convoluted procedure which is far from obvious*

Digi doesn't mention this (as far as I can see) on their site, whereas from memory Steinberg recommends this. There's conflicting advice on the net. http://www.musicxp.net/installing_xp.php
says most of the time it's better to use ACPI and that installing as Standard PC will probably result in reduced performance and a reduction of overall reliability.

I did ask Digi support but their response did not satisfy me that they knew what I was actually asking.
"Pro Tools LE / Mbox 2 system only supports Standard Windows XP (either
Home edition or Professional) SP2. Please select standard when you
install the OS.
Following is the URL for more info regarding compatibility issue.
http://www.digidesign.com/compato/xp/mbox2/"

That link doesn't mention anything about the ACPI vs Standard PC choice - and a regular install of XP does not give an option to "select standard" as such, I gather it can be done only by following the procedure below. So a "standard" install of XP will select ACPI by default.


*(from musicxp.net):
During installation of the XP operating system, you will see a screen displaying the message - "Press F6 if you need to install a third-party SCSI or RAID driver". At this point, press the F5 key (this won't be supplied as an option on the screen and the installation won't wait, so you'll need to babysit the installation process and hit the key at the right moment). A few seconds after pressing F5, you will be presented with an option to select either "Standard PC" or "Other (ACPI) PC".
At this point, select "Standard PC".

[Captain_Pants]

Karl, ill be honest, i didnt have time to read your entire post, but i will say i have had no problems iwth ACPI on desktops, only had the power options problems on laptops..

My vote is to go for ACPI on desktop, they arent nearly as...unforgiving as Laptops, when it comes to system usage, expansion, upgrades, and performance.