At 20:30 06/12/06, daniel wrote:
>I am looking to build a computer around the AM2 processor.
>I do not really know which components would serve my needs.
>My needs are as follows....Ready for Microsoft Vista.
Hi Daniel
I "snipped" your needs list to just include Microsoft Vista.
<http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/capable.mspx>
states that a "Windows Vista Premium Ready PC" should include:
1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor.
1 GB of system memory.
A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero2.
128 MB of graphics memory.
40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
DVD-ROM Drive.
Audio output capability.
Internet access capability.
This hardware is what Microsoft recommends.
The minimum hardware for Vista, what Microsoft calls a "Windows
Vista Capable PC" calls for just an 800 MHz processor, 512 MB
of RAM, and a DirectX capable video card. If you settle for
this, parts of Vista won't be able to run. I'd think that if
you want to run Vista, you'd want to be able to decide for
yourself whether to run Areo2 (Aeroglass, Vista's new 3D desktop
interface).
I'd suggest at least a 3 GHz processor (common to most store
bought PCs sold today), a PCIe video card (it's not easy to
find a decent video card that's *not* Enhanced PCI), maybe
1.5 or 2 GB of RAM (remember how people found that XP ran much
better when you doubled the recommended 256 MB of RAM?), at least
a 150 GB hard drive (and get a fast one so that the hard drive
doesn't end up being your system's bottleneck), and a good 550
Watt power supply. (The power supply should be of good enough
quality and capacity that if you have to troubleshoot your new
system, you'll know it's probably not because you bought a cheap
power supply.) With today's processors, video cards, and
disk drives, I think that gone are the days where a 300 Watt
power supply is enough. And do you really want to end up with the
cheapest power supply that the case manufacturer could find?
By the way, don't forget to get plenty of cooling fans for your
PC...and maybe a good UPS unit. And a DVD-Rom drive. Better
would be a DVD writable drive. It would help you make backups of
your system. (If your Windows installation gets screwed up, it's
nice to be back up running a completely custom configured copy of
Windows in just half an hour.)
If the parts I mention are too expensive, maybe you could consider
buying a name brand computer with similar specs. I suspect you
could get something good for around $1000.
You can freely download (or order a DVD copy of) Vista's public
release beta. You can run it until the final version is released
in January. <http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/preview.mspx>
Another reason to have a DVDRW drive is because the free copy of
Vista comes (downloads) as a DVD (or CD?) image file.
Regards,
Bill
PCBUILD's List Owners:
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Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>
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