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• Rather than add expensive bells and whistles to its $2,233 gaming machine, Digital Storm chose a few of the best parts it could fit within the system’s budget. That means there isn’t any Blu-ray capability, as a single 20x DVD burner occupies one of the Cooler Master 932’s six front bays. The minimalist theme with a mind to performance continues to the inside, where a single XFX GeForce GTX 295 graphics card uses its dual graphics processors with slightly better performance scaling than one might expect from expensive 3-way and quad-GPU configurations. For us, the poorly-concealed ribbon cable is the only distraction in an otherwise cleanly-assembled system. We have no clue why any company would use Ultra ATA rather than SATA, when prices are nearly identical. Choosing Ultra ATA doesn’t just make cables messier, it also forces users to leave the motherboard’s third-party controller enabled when they might otherwise deem it unneeded. Asetek’s LCLC (low-cost liquid-cooling) single 120 mm radiator cooler reduces leverage against the CPU socket area compared to tall cooper coolers, while also leaving extra room around the CPU socket for easier access to cables and RAM. Though Asetek-brand components aren’t normally available to retail customers, Corsair now sells the single-radiator design as its H50 model. RAID and SSD’s are out of the question when value focuses on gaming performance. Digital Storm uses a single Western Digital Black Edition 1 TB hard drive. With five expansion slots, three memory slots, five external bays, and four internal bays empty, the Gaming Dominator is ready to fill the future expansion needs of most buyers. A file folder contains a certificate of ownership, Windows Vista Home Premium booklet, Windows 7 upgrade code, warranty and service information, setup instructions, the original Windows OEM DVD, motherboard and graphics card driver/support disks, and a three-DVD set of restore DVDs. An accessory box provides the cables and hardware originally included with the motherboard, graphics card, case, and power supply. See more products MSI X58 Pro LGA 1366 Core I7... PC Connection $227.36 Amazon.com $169.87 Directron $184.99 ElectronicsPLUS $198.89 TriStateCamera.com $214.87

• There are four main editions available: Windows Vista Home Basic The elementary version is indeed very basic. It features the Vista OS core, but doesn't come with the fancy AeroGlass interface, nor lots of other features. It is, however, sufficient if you simply want the latest operating system and its security. Instant Search and the features described earlier in this article haven't been removed. At $199, this is the cheapest version of Vista. Windows Vista Home Premium The premium edition is $40 more expensive than the Basic edition and comes with AeroGlass and the Windows Media Center, but it lacks some features that only come with the Business, Ultimate and Enterprise editions. DVD authoring and HDTV video quality are supported, as well as Meeting Space (the successor to NetMeeting) and Remote Desktop Client capabilities. We consider the Vista Home Premium edition a nice mixture between a Home and a Media Center Edition. Windows Vista Business The business version is $299 and does not feature the multimedia capabilities of the Home edition. Instead, it comes with Internet Information Server (IIS) web server, fax support, offline file support, file system encryption and support for two processor sockets. Windows Vista Ultimate Ultimate has everything, but it is the most expensive edition at $399. It combines everything from the versions described above. In addition to these, there is a Vista Enterprise edition, which is available to Volume License customers (VL). In terms of capabilities, it lies between Vista Business and Ultimate. You will find a more detailed overview on the Vista editions on the Microsoft website. Should You Upgrade Now? Upgrading can be important if you care about Mac users not laughing at you anymore - after all, MacOS X (Tiger) has had lots of Vista's features for a long time. But let's be serious. Windows Vista certainly is the most significant Windows release ever. From a feature point of view, it implements lots of new items and additions to make use of today's technology, though this is something that we take for granted in a brand new operating system. We want indexed search, a decent interface with improved input/output options for interacting with the user and more. From an additions point of view - think of Windows Mail, Internet Explorer 7, Media Player 11 and Windows Gallery - there is not much that you cannot get from 3rd party software. Mozilla Thunderbird and Firefox, various media players or iTunes and Picasa will do the job about as well. So why upgrade? For old Windows hands, the improved security should be the strongest reason to switch, but it is the overall experience that makes Windows Vista so smooth. It installs quickly, it can easily be customized, it connects to other devices and networks much better, and finally, it just "feels good". This overall impression is likely due to performance features such as SuperFetch and ReadyBoost, which we will cover in greater detail in another article. If your PC is only average, or you hesitate to spend $199 to $399, think twice, because you may easily end up spending more money than that on hardware upgrades. Although Microsoft asks for 800 MHz and 512 MB RAM, realistically we consider 1 GB RAM and 1.2 GHz the minimum for a smooth Vista experience. If you care about good looks, be sure that your graphics card is no older than two years. Driver support can still be an issue if you need exotic hardware to work, too. For example, we are missing drivers for a webcam and a fingerprint reader. If you care about maximum system performance and responsiveness, you should try running Vista with its performance enhancement features on a decent machine and turn off all the visual goodies. Who Should Buy Windows Vista Right Away? Only you can decide if upgrading from Windows XP to Windows Vista right away makes sense for you. We do recommend, however, going for Windows Vista right away if you plan on buying a new system anyway. Five years after Windows XP, Windows Vista undoubtedly is the better operating system, period. For new systems, it isn't more expensive than Windows XP, but it gives you more comfort, better connectivity, more security and a future-proof software platform. We found it to be more accessible as well, so go for Vista if you are a beginner, rather than fighting with the difficulties of Windows XP when it comes to doing things. Join our discussion on this topic

• Analysis: Vista's Ready Boost is no match for RAM

  Chicago (IL) - There's a new way to enhance your cache in Vista - simply plug in your Flash memory stick. But how much performance gain can you really expect? TG Daily ran an average PC through a benchmark parcours and discovered that the old rules still apply: There is no substitute for an adequate amount of system memory. Period. Windows Vista was released almost two weeks ago, and it split users worldwide into two camps. There are those users who simply love the new look and feel and the operating system's broad spectrum of new features; all of these serving the purpose of making Windows Vista the smoothest, most accessible, user-friendly and most communicative Windows ever. For users looking for more performance, Vista includes SuperFetch and ReadyBoost - two features that promise a smooth performance experience. But other users complain about Vista; among the Vista downsides is the fact that application performance simply is not at the level of Windows XP (a result of the increased number of services and the fancy 3D Aero Glass interface). No matter how you slice it, one of the essential requirements of Vista is memory. Once you have upgraded to Vista - we recommend that your PC isn't older than two years and you make sure that all drivers for your hardware are available - we believe that Vista's SuperFetch and ReadyBoost will convince even the skeptics and XP hardliners that Windows Vista does more good than harm overall. Based on our test results, these two features can improve application launch time on Vista-appropriate computers by 50 to 70%. The subjective experience of SuperFetch proves to be more significant than any hardware upgrade could ever be, provided the processor and available RAM meet minimum requirements. Let's have a closer look. Basics 1: SuperFetch offers non-volatile application pre-caching You may have already heard of SuperFetch, as its benefits are indeed not bad. Facts first: The feature is available in all versions of Windows Vista: Most computers always have a certain amount of unused main memory capacity, which SuperFetch utilizes to automatically pre-load your favorite applications into these memory areas. Microsoft refers to this process as elimination of so-called cold memory states, where available RAM is unused. In order to pre-cache applications, the SuperFetch service keeps track of which applications are launched either regularly or most frequently. Provided that there is sufficient memory available, SuperFetch will populate the available space with as many applications as possible. The reason for pre-buffering application data into the main memory is very simple: If you launch an application in Windows XP it has to be fetched from the hard drive before it can be executed. Since hard drives are rather slow in comparison to RAM (60-90 MB/s disk transfer rate vs. 5-7 GB/s RAM throughput), RAM access is much faster than hard drive I/O operations. In effect, SuperFetch provides faster application launch times. Although this sounds similar to conventional Windows caching, the feature is more intelligent: Caching is ineffective as soon as you restart your system or the memory is flushed by anything else. SuperFetch will repopulate the application data once you boot your system during idle times. However, the feature does not come for free: You do need free memory for SuperFetch to work efficiently. Typically, 512 MB RAM is not enough to experience quicker application launches over time, as Windows Vista will require all the memory for itself and a limited amount of applications. At 1 and 2 GB RAM, SuperFetch makes quite an impact. Since a very large number of users works with 512 MB RAM today, Microsoft came up with a way to provide the SuperFetch benefits without having to upgrade your RAM: ReadyBoost. Basics 2: ReadyBoost swaps SuperFetch data onto USB Flash memory The only reasonable way to expand your memory capacity for the sake of assisting SuperFetch from the outside of any PC is the USB 2.0 interface. Virtually every PC out there has some USB ports, and a large number of users have USB Flash memory devices, so why not take advantage of these? ReadyBoost works with every Vista PC and every USB 2.0 Flash memory device that is at least somewhat fast (approx. 80X+). ReadyBoost works with every USB 2.0 Flash memory stick as long as it is fast enough. After plugging in a USB 2.0 Flash memory stick into an unused USB 2.0 port, Windows Vista recognizes the new mass storage device and wants to know what to do with it. One option is to select it to improve system performance. You may limit the capacity used by ReadyBoost, or you may use the full USB 2.0 Flash device. After successful installation, Windows Vista will use the additional storage capacity to flex its SuperFetch muscles and populate additional applications on the Flash drive. Although no USB 2.0 device offers the throughput of a fast hard drive (20-25 MB/s max for USB 2.0 Flash devices vs. 60-90 MB/s for hard drives), Flash storage shines with its literally nonexistent access times. Hard drives are slowed down considerably by the head movements required to access data. Also keep in mind the systems with little amounts of RAM: Vista can use the entire physical RAM for applications, while the ReadyBoost-enabled USB 2.0 Flash device will be used for application buffering. The idea of utilizing existing technology (and products that probably can be found almost anywhere today) sounds appealing. But what do you do with your Vista mainstream PC? Do you buy regular DRAM or do you buy Flash memory? And if you have an existing Flash drive sitting on your desk, how much additional performance will it bring? Let's check.