New Vista PC

[Rob]

I am considering purchasing a new PC. The one that I am using now is just over three years old. Has anyone on here purchased a new Vista PC? What has your experience been like.

Please list the specs of your computer, mostly processor and the amount of memory as well as your thoughts on the performance of your new machine.

Have you experienced any gotchas or other items that you would want to share for those of us who have not yet made the jump to Vista.

[Alan]

Just built a machine with the following:

Sirtec/Chieftec GPS-450AA-101A 450W 120mm fan ATX2.0 12V 20/24-pin (AMD&P4 OK)
Asus P5B iP965 4DDR2-DIMM 3PCI 4PCIe SATA Raid Audio GB-LAN Socket775 ATX
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz 4MB FSB1066 Boxed (with cpu-cooler!) Socket 775
GoodRam Hi-Performance Platinum 2x1024MB DDR2 PC2-5300 667MHz CL5
Western Digital Caviar WD2500KS 250GB 7200rpm 16MB SATA2
NEC AD-5170A Dual-Layer DVD +RW/R -RW/R 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 18X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 48X CDR 32X CDRW BLACK/SVART bulk IDE
AXLe 3D Graphics xTreme GeForce 7950GT 512MB DDR3 TV-out HDTV DUAL DVI SLI-ready RETAIL PCI Express

The speed and smoothness of Vista is stunning. The sheer elegance of Vista's features on this machine makes me wonder why I built it for my son!

I also have a three year old Pavillion t150 which I upped the ram from 512mbit to 1gig and installed vista on it. I was quite suprised how well it ran all things considered. It seems to run smooth enough and some of the games appear to be a little more enhanced.
I think the major down side is that you have to hunt for patches and updated drivers for a lot of programs.
The security features are a little over the top but shouldnt be moaned at, they can be reduced to a workable level.
I have found a site which has links to hundreds of updated drivers for vista which I will post later.

[Rob]

Sounds like a nice PC Alan. I hope to move to something similar to that, but have been wondering if 2GB of mem is enough. Have you yet seen a need for memory on that PC?

I am pleasently surprised that the Pavillion runs Vista that well.

[Alan]

In all honesty Rob Both the machines sprint along with no major issues. The one I built for my son can take a max of 8gig Ram but we have no cause to add more at the moment and my old Pavillion is maxed out with 1gig, again running Vista I was very surprised at its performance. I was thinking to either upgrade my machine or just build another but as long as its running the way it is, them plans have been shelved. Apart from the Ram, the 80gig hard drive the only other thing I want to change is the graphics card. At the moment it has an old Nvidia 6200 in it, and I must admit, a little to say the least, jealous of the other machine.
But even with that card, still graphically good.

[shaxta]

Hi, Rob.
I have just purchased a new Vista Home Premium laptop. Memory Dual-Channel 1024MB (2x512) 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM. Hard Drive 80GB Serial ATA
(5400 RPM) As for the processor ????? Could it be Inspiron 1501 Turion 64x2 TL50 (1.6GHz, 256K ?
I am gradually getting to know Vista but still a bit nervous about it. At the moment I keep thinking that XP is better, but maybe that is because I'm more used to it. The 'old dog, new tricks' syndrome I suppose. otherwise, the machine is working okay so far, except for one hitch that I am trying to fathom out. If I can't sort it today I will get back to the forums later.

[Rob]

Thank for the information shaxta.

I think for many people XP may be the better choice, but it comes down to if you a buy a new machine, it is only going to have Vista on it.

Good luck with your problem, if we can be of any assistance, let us know.

Thanks,
Rob