Hi everyone...

So, I finally decided to build a new system and have chosen some really great parts (I think)

Old build:

Socket939 Opteron 185 nforce 4 with 3GB of ram and 8600GTS(non-SLI), 3 drives totalling roughly 900GB of storage (all full for the most part) running XP pro 32 bit.  (I've upgraded a few parts since I wrote my build signature).

New build:

Parts I have so far:

Asus P5E3 Premium w/wi/fi n, 4GB OCZ PC312800 DDR3, 1TB Seagate, Corsair 1000watt

Parts I am ordering in the next couple of days from the egg:

Wolfdale E8600(for the new E0 stepping), 1 HD4870x2

My gaming tastes are varied: I run the gambit from games as old as Heroes of Might and Magic 3, Star Wars Rebellion, Starcraft, Diablo 1 and 2  to Medieval TW2, Supreme Commander, Tiberium Wars, Dawn of War series...I don't do alot of gaming online (I'm not a big fan of 1stperson shooters..still haven't gotten wsda down yet)

I have a ton of music, movies, and photos that I store.  I don't really do a lot of encoding or editing.

Now based off of this, I have no idea what OS to get.  I know that VISTA has matured a lot.  I want to be able to use all 4GB, so I know I should probably go with 64bit, but I want to run my previously mentioned older games as well as Starcraft 2 and D3 when they come out.  I just don't want to run into compatibility issues.  At this point, should I consider a dual boot with Ulitmate 64 and XP Pro 32?  Or what?

Thanks in advance!!

Personaly i would recommend Vista 64. It's what i use and its very good these days.

Fold On!!!!!

trailblder:

At this point, should I consider a dual boot with Ulitmate 64 and XP Pro 32?  Or what?

I tried a Vista/XP dual-boot system and discovered that it is a real challenge, trailblder! In a nutshell, Vista and XP don't like each other (one tries to overwrite the other's boot.ini). If you want to go this route you will need to do some research first, as it is not like doing a Windows 98/XP dual-boot. If you do it I would be very interested to read how this is accomplished!

I say vista 64bit

Super Dave:

I tried a Vista/XP dual-boot system and discovered that it is a real challenge, trailblder! In a nutshell, Vista and XP don't like each other (one tries to overwrite the other's boot.ini). If you want to go this route you will need to do some research first, as it is not like doing a Windows 98/XP dual-boot. If you do it I would be very interested to read how this is accomplished!

If you install XP first boot.ini will behave.

bob_on_the_cob:

If you install XP first boot.ini will behave.

I did that, but then Vista wouldn't boot and I had to repair it (they are installed on different drives). Fortunately Vista is an easy repair!

That's wierd. I haven't tryed it since the longhorn beta but it did work then. Oh well. Vista boot loader is super easy to fix. I have killed it many times with random linux distros.

I second that.  Been running Vista 64-Bit with 4GB since it was first released.  It's been very good to me.

 Im now running Vista 64 ultimate and so far had good luck! Some software issues as far as compatability but have been working my way through them.I do like the fact that it reconizes my 4gigs of ram and looking forward later to going to 6- 8gigs!

amdcrankitup:

 Some software issues as far as compatability but have been working my way through them.

They are getting better though.

 Yeah just for example I was using latest version of Zone Alarm and had issues so for the time being switched to Comodo go back later to look for a fix.I,ve used Comoda before works great so comprimise is no problem!