Quote:
Originally Posted by Sidebyte
O.K., I owned a computer store for 5 years and imported systems from China to Colombia and have owned virtually all of them.
First off if you can afford it today BUY a 1366 mhz system with a quad core CPU otherwise it will be obsolete before you take it out of the box. I'm running an Intel board and quad core 800mhz and it's OK but not killer. I have 4 operating computers in my home and run different operating systems on them including Linux. I Beta Tested new Windows 7 and find it's just Vista with a diff, name and a couple small improvements. Had to remove it because all of my periphery systems won't work with it until the software manufactures update their systems. CS3 runs great on XP Pro so I will keep that for now. Use as much memory (ram) as your system will support and if possible buy a "BTX" motherboard system because they run much cooler and heat is the biggest enemy of PC's, the cooler the better.
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You are of course taking about the bus speed, not the CPU clock speed right? As for the memory, that may have been true years ago(2-6 years ago), but things have changed, a lot. We now have easily and affordably hit the limit of addressable space within a 32-bit OS, whether it is Windows, OS X, Linux, etc. The Maximum addresses the 32-bit OS can address or use is 4GB.With Windows, this is a little different, since the system "reserves" the first GB for caching and other system related functions. It will also reserved the first 640K (remember DOS) for 16-bit and legacy applications + it needs the space to address memory that is on your peripherals such as your 512MB video card, if you tweak the boot.ini you can force windows to address 4GB, but your true usable space will be 3.5GB max with a 512MB Video card. At least that's what will be available, your real usable memory will be around 3GB. So why buy as much RAM as you can afford, if you planning to run a 32-bit OS, like XP or 32-bit Vista? RAM is cheap( I just bought 4GB, 2X2GB DDR2 CAS 5-5-5-12 for $39.99), so you can always buy it later when and if you decide to upgrade to a 64-bit platform, but this may not be for awhile. Spend the money on the storage (HDD) and/or video and/or other peripherals instead. BTX form factor has been cancelled by Intel (
HEXUS.net - Beans :: HEXUS.beans :: Intel shuffles BTX in to its deep dark closest. : Page - 1/1) so it may not be an option, albeit Dell has been using it for years now, the newer boards may not be BTX. BTX also can not help AMD or Newer intels (i7) since the northbridge is located on the die, and not on the motherboard, so it will not help these systems.
BTW, saying Windows 7 is the same as Vista with a different name and some improvements is like saying Windows XP is like Windows '98 with a different name and some improvements. Windows 7, naturally would look like Vista, since it uses a lot of the same interfaces, Longhorn looked a lot like XP before it released and became vista. Windows 7 is a 64-bit OS (build 7000), uses a more familiar XP-like Start menu, has virtual hard disk support and other "improvements" over Vista. Windows 7 is still Beta, so it is way too soon to dismiss it. It is understandable that many of your peripherals didn't work in Windows 7, it is a 64-bit environment so you would need the 64-bit drivers. Of course you are entitled to your opinion, and I just want to caution everyone else from dismissing the next Windows, even before it becomes final.