My proposed new system

[Wraith556]

My current PCs are getting a bit long in tooth, but are still operational. I often plan my next system even though I won't be able to buy/build it for a while. A baby and a recent new(er) car have probably pushed my budget to it's limits, but it's nice to dream a little.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
MB: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS4P
RAM: Corsair 4GB KIT TWIN2X4096 PC-8500
Video Card: SAPPHIRE HD4870 1GB
HD: 750 GB Samsung (and probably another drive later)
DVD: Pioneer DVR-212 (SATA)
Case: I would like the Lian Li PC-7S, but they don't seem to be available any more. I'll have to look around for another option.
PSU: Enermax Galaxy 850 preferred.
Monitor: 22" LG monitor (can't find the model number at the moment), but will use an existing 19" VX922 in the meantime.
O/S: Here's the difficult decision. Do I stick with what I know and get Windows XP, or embrace the new with Windows Vista (probably 32-bit Home Premium)? It is going to sound funny, but I'm thinking Vista is probably the preferred option.

The video card is a major change for me because I've used nVidia exclusively for the last 6 years. But, I go where the price/performance gives the best ratio, and currently the HD4870 is giving the best bang-for-buck at the moment.

The fun part is I can claim the parts back on my tax as a professional expense. But, if I buy a complete system, I have to depreciate it over 3+ years. Weird or what?

[Florida-G8tor]

Hey Wraith,
I upgraded a few months ago with similar components and it all went together well (see link below in sig). The E8400 overclocks easily to 3.6 GHz without any extra voltage. I changed it to 9x400 in the BIOS and its been rock-solid with my Asus-P45.

The HD4870 is definitely a great bang for the buck. The 1GB version is overkill for monitors 22" and smaller. Only get it if you plan to use a 24" LCD or larger in the future.

I installed Vista-64 Home Premium on a Velociraptor drive and I'm enjoying the OS the more I use it. I also use XP on a Samsung 500GB (F1-series) that I can dual-boot. The F1 series Samsung drives are speedy enough and very quiet which impressed me.

On the other hand, Intel core I7s (Nehalems) are just about to be released. In my opinion, dual core CPUs are adequate now for gaming and general purpose home computing. Multi-threading applications are still too few to really utilize an X58 platform.

[7thSeal]

The only thing with your choice of OS to consider is in addition with the amount of memory you're looking to get. You may regret not going with 64-bit Vista if you decide to go that route. With Microsoft mentioning that they will add DX11 support to Vista in the future, Vista would give you a better 'time scale' of operating use before having to upgrade again.

Choosing to go with 64-bit or 32-bit was one of the hardest decisions I had to make during my build. After using Vista 64-bit for several months now, I can't provide any reasons as to why I shouldn't have gone this route sooner.

[framaris]

Originally Posted by 7thSeal

The only thing with your choice of OS to consider is in addition with the amount of memory you're looking to get. You may regret not going with 64-bit Vista if you decide to go that route. With Microsoft mentioning that they will add DX11 support to Vista in the future, Vista would give you a better 'time scale' of operating use before having to upgrade again.

Choosing to go with 64-bit or 32-bit was one of the hardest decisions I had to make during my build. After using Vista 64-bit for several months now, I can't provide any reasons as to why I shouldn't have gone this route sooner.

I agree with your analyse and I had the same feeling after finely making the step to 64bit, why haven't I done it sooner???
Even if in theory a 32bit application shouldn't be faster in an 64bit OS, I can say that in my experience they are....
I'm even seriously thinking about removing XP definitively from my PC since I hardly go back to it, and when I do it feels like the old timer .

[footmaster]

Indeed, I haven't looked back either since installing Vista x64 - I was weary of doing so at the time, and made a small partition with an XP installation. I've never booted into this since and I'm intending to remove it now.

The only issue I can think of (gaming wise) was that that I've had running a 64bit OS was with Half-life 2 (the AI kept getting disabled so characters wouldn't do anything), however running in Windows XP compatibility mode soon fixed that.