Casper's New PC- Couple of Questions

[Casper]

First off, I'm building a new pc within the next couple of months. Here is what I am looking to build...

Antec 900 case
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L motherboard
Rosewill 600w power supply
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz
CORSAIR 4GB DDR2 800 memory
Seagate 250g hardrive
Evga 8800gt video card
Acer 22" widescreen monitor

If you guys don't mind, I have a couple of questions.

1. Should I get Vista for my new pc, or stick with XP pro?

2. If Vista, what really is the difference between vista 32 and 64? And which should I go with?

3. If you have any suggestions like something you would replace on my list , please feel free to let me know. I'm looking to spend a moderate amount.

Thank you for the help in advance.

[Pedro]

1.- Up to you, some ppl get the worst problem with it, others say it's the best OS so far, if you plan on playing DX10 games, then you need Vista, the new SP fixed a lot of things, and there's a rumor of a new windows next year, so completely up to you.

2.- The difference between 32bit and 64bit, which applies to Vista and XP (yes there's a XP 64bit) is that 32bit will only recognize 3gigs of RAM, no matter how much you put, what mobo you get, 32bit will always only see and use 3gigs, 64bit lets you use 4gigs and more.

3.- Besides brands that are well all up to the user's preference, I'd probably get a HD bigger than 250gb or a second one, leaving one for Windows and programs and the other for games, videos, etc.

4.- I didn't see but don't forget the DVD burner and floppy drive

[FluffyBunni]

There is no reason not to go with vista 64 bit at this point. Most of the bugs are worked out of it, device drivers are all up to date, most work perfectly fine. As pedro said, make sure you go with 64 bit if you plan to do 4 gigs of ram otherwise you are just wasting money.

Cough* Floppy drive? wtf? *cough* hehe =P I would be amazed if you even touched a floppy at this day and age.

Build looks good man, if you are looking to spend a good penny why not up that video card to one of the new 9800 series? =)

When you get a little closer to ordering post the exact parts here and we will give you the final OK on it.

[Gulquarn]

Completely agree with the other guys on 64 bit. My next box is planned as having 8 gigs of ram. I laughed when I saw the max ram for vista 64 ultimate is 128 gigs. Do they even make that kind of motherboard yet?

Windows Vista: 64-bit Editions

[Pedro]

Well I'm sorry for being protective Windows have a bad reputation of well, going kaputz when you least expect them, and a floppy drive comes in handy then or for BIOS updates that don't have windows based software

Anyway, the G9 series are not THAT big of a difference from the G8, heck some G9 are cheaper than G8's for that reason, the only G9 worth buying for better performance is the one with 2 cards in it, GX I think? but that's worth $500.

[Casper]

Awesome! Thanks for the fast responses guys! You guys really cleared up everything for me.

I think I'll give vista x64 a shot since I was shooting for 4gb ram. I think I'll take your advice and get a bigger hard drive too, probably 500gb.

Hehe, I hadn't even searched for a floppy drive, haven't used one of those since high school. I may just make a sticker that looks like a floppy drive and slap it on the front of my case for nostalgic purposes

[Zekal]

VR-Zone : Technology Beats - GeForce 9900 GTX & GTS Slated For July Launch

Might want to think about your video card choice, cause come July, it might come back to bite you hard. Rumors to why nvidia is pushing out the card in July is that they are afraid of Ati's 4800 video card.

[FluffyBunni]

DailyTech - Ballmer Says Customers Don't Want XP; Will Likely Be Discontinued in June

To further prove you should be getting vista =P

[FluffyBunni]

Originally Posted by Zekal

VR-Zone : Technology Beats - GeForce 9900 GTX & GTS Slated For July Launch

Might want to think about your video card choice, cause come July, it might come back to bite you hard. Rumors to why nvidia is pushing out the card in July is that they are afraid of Ati's 4800 video card.

Correct, 4800's are scheduled for May of this year. And since ATI/AMD have been making second rate products in comparison to Nvidia/Intel, i am guessing this card will be VERY decent. It has to be...for the company's sake.

[Zekal]

Ya I hope it does very well (I also want a 4800 for my next build!) If AMD/ATi was to fail, I fear that Intel processor and Nvidia GPU prices would go up because of little to no competition. A downside for the card doing very well is that ATi could become AMD's sole crutch keeping the company alive if AMD's CPU's do not bounce back.

edit: Nvidia's war of words with Intel might help AMD/ATi in the long run
NVIDIA VP joins the smack-talk fun, says the Intel CPU is "dead" - Engadget