Ah, the wonderfull world of Vista. For the first time in my life I have purchased an OS within the first year. I raged against XP for years before, finally, giving in in order to play more recent games at the time. I like XP, I have no problems with it. What got me for Vista was DirectX 10. I fell victim to the classic media ploy. I got Vista Home Premium (64-bit) OEM really cheap from Newegg.com, which also fueled the fire. A new OS so cheap? How could it be?
Since I have a dual core AMD 64, I thought Vista Home 64-bit would really bring out the speed, basically, let the computer do what I built it for: Games!! Installation was much easier then I could imagine, everything worked, nothing like the horror story reviews I read about hardware incombatibilities, etc. All drivers were updated without a hitch. Computer is running faster and better since I installed the software, hard to believe.
Of course, with any one upgrade, several must follow. It is the natural order of all things gaming. So, I have--currently on the way from Newegg--an upgraded video card from EVGA. I went with the GeForce 8600 GTS superclocked instead of the 8800 models based mostly on the fact that I'm not a die-hard gamer. I just wanted DirectX 10 and an upgrade from my old video card. From what I read the 8800 run a little hot and are monster sized cards. The 8600 is still 9 inches long (as is the 8800) however, it is not nearly as wide. I did not want to have to buy a new, larger tower for a video card. The 8800 were a little too pricey for me, and-like I mentioned earlier-I'm not a gamer that needs all that extra stuff on a video card. The only thing I really don't like about the 8600 is the 128-bit memory interface. It is a step down from my 7900 which was 256-bit. Not sure why Nvidia has done this, considering that the 8600 is supposed to be an upgrade from a 7900. The really weird thing is that the 8600 is cheaper then my 7900 when I purchased it last year-another reason to buy a new card!
I know the whole debate between ATI and Nvidia, I looked at ATI cards as well--then I remembered something. I purchased an ATI last year, when I was looking for an upgrade, to replace a Nvidia 6200. It was supposed to be better then the Nvidia at the time, however, I noticed a clear difference in the graphics. That was when I went back to Nvidia and the 7900 model. I know people swear by ATI, and I don't disbute them in the least. However, in my opinion the Nvidia is just plane better. I have seen it, it is better. I guess the same could be made about ADM vs Intel. I had a computer with an Intel Celeron (back in the day) and then purchased an HP with an AMD, back when AMD was not the name it is now and it made the computer much cheaper. Needless to say, AMD sold me. Same as ATI, I realize some people swear by Intel. That is fine with me, neither of us is right or wrong, only opinion.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand of upgrading. I am also adding another gig of memory. I have read reviews where 2gigs wasn't enough for Vista. Mine works just fine with no problems. I am adding another gig because it was on sale and I couldn't pass it up. Besides, I figure if I'm going to spend $200 for a video card, what's another $40 for memory?