hey everyone,

i was just thinking to upgrade my pc.. currently, its specification are

- E6750 2.66GHz core 2 duo processor
- 2 GB crosair ddr2-800 ram
- 290 GB harddisk
- Asus P5B motherboard
- 8600GTS i-Chill series GPU
- Windows XP pro 32bit

i am hardcore gamer and love to multitask and i recently got some cash so i was thinking to upgrade my pc.. i am gonna upgrade my ram to 6gb so please advise me if it would be feasible.. i have heard that XP 32bit cannot work with more than 3 GB ram so i was also thinking to dual boot my pc with windows Vista ultimate x64 edition... for vista, i will be buying another 250GB harddisk and i will also replace my graphic card with
ATI 4850...

NOW THE QUESTIONS????
1. how much RAM would be ideal for dualbooting my pc??
2. can i dualboot my pc with xp pro 32bit and Vista Ultimate 64bit??
3. Is XP 32bit faster than Vista 64bit with 6GB ram and 2.66GHz core 2 duo processor??
4. which GPU should i buy, ATI 4850 or Nvidia 9800GTX?? which one would be better for VISTA??


i have 4 DDR2 slots on my motherboard and right now, i have 2 1GB ddr2 800 corsairs rams in two slots.. am thinking to buy 2x2GB(=4GB) ddr2 800 corsair rams for other 2 slots...

RAM questions???

5. would it be fruitfull to buy all this stuff to gain performance??
6. would it activate Dual Channel??
7. will Vista and XP be able to handle this much amount of RAM??



i need answers urgently so please reply as soon as possible and please give details for your opinion which compelled u to go for that option... while giving answers, specify the question number u are referring to..


THANKS in advance...

Why keep XP if you're going to have more RAM than it can support? I'm using Vista Ultimate 64-bit and have no problems with it whatsoever.

1) The amount of RAM that's 'ideal' for dualbooting is the exact same as for single OS booting... as much as is supported. I'm running 8GB here, and while I've never actually managed to fill it, it still ensures that I have much more than is required. With lots of RAM you can disable your windows page file which will improve performance. There's a slight risk of massive slowdown if you do manage to fill your RAM but that's unlikely with 6-8 GB.

2) You can dual boot those 2 operating systems but why would you want to? Dump the old for the new. Vista's SP1 update pretty much fixed all the major issues that I had with it.

3) In terms of which is faster, I personally thing Vista is faster in the long run thanks to Superfetch. Superfetch pre-loads your commonly used programs to RAM so they load up faster when you launch them. Things like your internet browser, media player, things like that. If you're really concerned about speed, disable Vista's Aero. It removes some of the eye candy but speeds things up a bit in initial loading and reduces graphics load.

4) If you have the cash to consider a 9800GTX, get an ATI 4870. No card is better for VISTA specifically, though Nvidia tend to have more stable drivers. That said, ATI seem to have improved in that area over the last 18 months and I'd expect they'll be pretty much level with Nvidia in terms of driver stability soon.

5) More RAM is always better if it's supported, and with the price of PC2-6400 being what it is, I'd say dump your 2x 1GB sticks, and get 4x 2GB. Of course that's just what I'd do. You're free to get a pair of 2s and slap them in with your 1s.

6) Yup.

7) Vista, yes, since you said you're looking at 64-bit. XP, no, because it's 32-bit. Simple as that.

Article to read: http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,1775.html
Should answer some of your questions.

If you're really a hard core gamer and that is your priority, I think you should upgrade graphics card to the 4870 before doing anything else - that is where you will get the most bang for the buck.

After that, maybe install 2 more GB of RAM = 2 x 1 GB. You will only be able to use a little over 3 GB - but you will max out XP. And there really is little reason to move to Vista at this point.

Also, with two sticks of memory you should already have dual channel memory if the sticks match. If you are not sure- download CPUz and check.