I would avoid it for the first year or so. XP is a (relatively) stable O/S for a Microsoft product, and nothing they release is worth the money in the first year or so. You spend more time d/l patches and security updates than anything else. Just my opinion, YMMV.
I have the final pre release version. I thought XP was a memory hog. Vista is absolutely glutonous. I have 1 gig memory and XP runs like a champ with a demanding online game like EVE. But Vista runs slower because of the constant swapping of virtual memory on the HD.
As for vid cards, top end card here. Vista still runs like a pig. 2 gig ram is probably the minimum you should have if you run a graphics intensive online game program like EVE.
Also, be sure to have a power supply with lots of excess. That will help the machine run smoothly with less heat buildup.
BTW, I build my own machines. Only one I ever bought was my first. Had it strewn all over the living room by the third day seeing what made it tick. :chainsaw:
A word of caution on Vista. If you connect to a Windows domain network at work and a peer network at home you will need to buy the Ultimate edition, which seem to be able to do everything. My PC's at home run on a Windows Domain network so if I were to upgrade I would go for the Ultimate Edition.
My take on Vista at this point is that I'm in no rush to upgrade when it comes out. Most of the reviews I have read don't give it very high marks, and in many cases will require you to upgrade your hardware to use it. If you are considering a new PC within the next year or two I would consider holding off upgrading to Vista.
Sounds to me Bootie you have WAAAY too much money!!
How about buying us all a pint? :)
Well lads, if Bootie is going to be our guinea pig for Vista, we insist he posts on a regular basis telling us if the CM games installs and plays ok :)
Just imagine if there are problems like the Talonsoft CS games and XP
Only takes 25 minutes..... installing CM will be the main hurdle.... Im gonna start transferring all my mods to dvd so I can just throw them on instead of re-downloading them all.