The thing that I've noticed with Memtest is that you better let it run for a good 12 hours to actually get some sort of definitive answer from it. I've tried to short change things by only running it for like 4 hours, not getting any errors and assuming the memory is good, only to come back to replacing the memory in the end to solve the problem.
So for someone that earns their living working with computers I really should know this, will windows vista recognize more than 4 gigs of memory? Is it a completely 64-bit OS? I don't remember thinking it was but for personal and practical reasons I decided that XP would be the last operating system I would ever pay Microsoft for. So I generally run Ubuntu except when I need to use the dial up modem or some truly truly windows-only software I can't make work any other way. Thats my excuse for being clueless. Also, the bank where I work seems fairly committed to not running vista at all and would probably jump on an alternative, should a workaround for running highly propriaty banking software come about.

Good luck with the computer. I used to get a real kick out of what you're doing, but now my money goes towards my education and my honda. I just stick with my inspirion 8600 circa 2004 and forgo the games. Such is life.

 

Nice list. Those all seem to be good parts. And think that cheap $1100 = roughly a $2k - $3k Dell etc :lol:

 

Vista 32-bit only recognizes 3 GB of ram max. vista 64-bit recognizes up to 6 i think, not sure on the max for 64-bit. I was thinking of running linux, but i have never done anything with it so i will need vista for now until i get the system running and mess with linux after its up and running.

yea my money goes towards my bike too...i dont start paying for my education until im done with college so im going to enjoy it while i can.
bike, car, computer = my life....and i love my life


and i dont even think they put this good of stuff in a dell, hp, or gateway unless maybe its an XPS, voodoo, blackbird, of fx540 and those are more than 3k...so im turnin out good...

ive got one question...if i get vista 64-bit, can i run 32 bit apps like BF2, BF2142, ect, all the old games??? Ive heard you need to buy 64-bit versions of the games...

 

A 32-bit OS will support up to 4GB of total addressable memory, meaning my 3GB RAM and 1 GB graphics card are right at the limit. Red, I'm not really sure about the applications, but need to look into it myself before I make the jump. I also wanted to upgrade because I'm gonna bump my system memory up to 4GB, ****, I know my board supports 8GB. However, along with 64-bit OS comes poor driver support. I think most newer applications have a 32-bit and 64-bit version in one, but IDK for sure.

Okay, a few details I found:

[quote]ORIGINAL: Wikipedia

A change from a 32-bit to a 64-bit architecture is a fundamental alteration, as most operating systems must be extensively modified to take advantage of the new architecture. Other software must also be ported to use the new capabilities; older software is usually supported through either a hardware compatibility mode (in which the new processors support the older 32-bit version of the instruction set as well as the 64-bit version), through software emulation, or by the actual implementation of a 32-bit processor core within the 64-bit processor (as with the Itanium processors from Intel, which include an x86 processor core to run 32-bit x86 applications). The operating systems for those 64-bit architectures generally support both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

Software Availability

64-bit systems sometimes lack equivalents to software that is written for 32-bit architectures. The most severe problem is incompatible device drivers. Although most software can run in a 32-bit compatibility mode (also known as an emulation mode, e.g. Microsoft WoW64 Technology), it is usually impossible to run a driver (or similar software) in that mode since such a program usually runs in between the [URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_

 

rrasco and his great wiki-foo beat me to it

On the games thing, I'm thinking you'll be able to run them via some sort of compatibility layer that would be included with vista. Now, obviously in my last post I just said how little I know about vista, so in no way take that as gospel, but I'm pretty sure people could do something like that with the 64 bit version of XP. Definitely wait for someone who's already running the gear to give their input.

Also, I can't sing the praises of Ubuntu enough, I find it far more useful and functional than my limited usage of vista, and even XP. Obviously if you are interested primarily in games, linux has very little to offer you in that way. But its something I just started tinkering with a few years ago and now use almost exclusively. If nothing else, download it and use the live-cd feature to poke around and familiarize yourself with it without having to commit to a full install. Myself and several others will be around here to answer any questions you might have, should you decide to explore that route.

 

ok..i think this is what i will do. I'll buy vista 32-bit. And download ubuntu 64-bit. and run it on a different HDD. or a different partition. havent decided if i want to partition or have 2 HDD's.

 

Just buy 1 big one and partition it in half. Your not gona OC so theres no reason you'll need to do a RAID setup.

 

32 bit OS's support 4gigs of RAM, video memory is completely seperate. I am running XP64 and the only driver issues I have had are for printers, specifically HP's. They don't have much 64 bit support yet. I had vista 64 running for like a week and my 64 bit version of SAV Corp would not install on it but works great on XP.

All 32 bit apps run on 64 bit. The only time 64 bit apps are needed is if it interacts with the hardware/drivers like anti-virus, some backup apps...

I run 2 gigs of RAM and have the pagefile turned off. My peak usage has only been like 1.4 gigs. When I was runing vista ult it used 700-800 MB for just the OS which is more than I use now with OS, anti-virus, AIM, Thunderbird, and FireFox/IE7 open.

 

Overclocking and RAID or even CPU speed have no relation what so ever...

 

Thats what you know.