An OS question.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

[hijack]
Don, Q6600 still good if not overclocked? I don't dare fuck with overclocking things but that's the processor I'm eyeing for my upgrades atm; and what's a good model mobo to go with it? I've only really used AMD setups before so intel models and socket names are newish territory :P
[/hijack]

Yep, it's a solid performer and currently outperforms the Phenoms in most non-synthetic benchmarks that I've seen. YMMV for specific models. OC'ing a Q6600 is dirt simple and requires nothing more than a mobo that can do it and a CPU fan/heatsink that's not the cheap-shit one that comes with the retail processors (the Zalman 9500/9600 series are excellent).

For motherboards, I'm using a Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4 with zero issues. Excellent heat-pipe chipset cooling support, SLI support, Socket 775, on-board RAID/eSATA/1394/etc. and fail-over redundant BIOS support = WIN. And the BIOS support for tweaking memory timings is superb. If you did decide to go this route, I can walk you through tweaking it up to snuff quickly.

[Eteocles]

Mkay then...I'll see about oc'ing if I feel up to it when I get to that bridge...till then, go take a look at my hardware forum thread if you don't mind Don, made a reply with the gear I'm eyeing ;p

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Vista 64. Do not listen to any Vista naysayers.

I had this big rant typed up about reasonable consumer expectations but half of it is stuff I can't talk about yet and the other half should be obvious. I'll simply leave you with the suggestion that you post a list of your recommended fully-compatible hardware and driver versions so people aren't disappointed when Vista64 doesn't magically make them coffee the next morning after installation.

[d0z3rr]

I'm not sure why people are experiencing so many headaches with Vista64. I have used many different peripherals with Vista64 with no issues. 3 different keyboards, 1 steering wheel, 3 different mice, many different games, many different apps, etc.

Also Microsoft is not in control of manufacturer's drivers. Vista has been out for about 2 years, so the manufacturers have had enough time to develop drivers for Vista. So if your Super Fragger Keyboard Xtreme from Acme Company doesn't work in Vista64, blame Acme Company.

I guess it helps to not be a total retard too. So basically it goes like this:

if Total Retard=1
then XP;
end if

if Total Retard=0
then Vista64;
end if

:|

[Maz]

It's not a question of being retarded, it's a question of why bother?

Vista 64 runs WoW in a 32 bit sandbox through a thunking layer and uses 64 bits per pointer.

Vista 32 runs WoW in 32 bit mode natively with no thunking layer and uses 32 bits per pointer.

So Vista 32 runs WoW faster and is less memory hungry.

So unless you have more than 4GB of RAM there is NO reason to go Vista 64.

[BobGnarly]

I'm not sure why people are experiencing so many headaches with Vista64. I have used many different peripherals with Vista64 with no issues. 3 different keyboards, 1 steering wheel, 3 different mice, many different games, many different apps, etc.

Also Microsoft is not in control of manufacturer's drivers. Vista has been out for about 2 years, so the manufacturers have had enough time to develop drivers for Vista. So if your Super Fragger Keyboard Xtreme from Acme Company doesn't work in Vista64, blame Acme Company.

I guess it helps to not be a total retard too. So basically it goes like this:

if Total Retard=1
then XP;
end if

if Total Retard=0
then Vista64;
end if

:|

I'm sure I won't be alone in taking a little umbrage at your assertion, even given its clever form. I suppose I could respond with something like:

If VistaFanboi=1 then
Vista;
else
XP;
endif

or

If MyPersonalExperienceLeadsMeToBelieveXPIsSuperiorFo rGaming=1 then
XP;
else
WhoKnows?;
endif

but instead I will just suggest to you that perhaps your 3 mice and a steering wheel aren't the final metric by which everybody measures driver stability, or ultimately, OS desirability.

Lastly, if I've personally had a lesser experience with Vista than XP, I don't care who's at fault, I'm going with XP. It's not a matter of blame, it's a matter of which is going to work better for me. Right now, that's XP. When Vista works as well, I'm there.

[OzPhoenix]

XP64 for me.

64 because the addressable memory space limitations in ANY 32-bit operating system make it hard for this little multiboxer to deal with lag in major cities and such.

XP because like many others, I've had issues with Vista and plan to avoid it for the time being until it --- for whatever reason --- works better.

[Chorizotarian]

Intel has been kind in not changing they're Socket 775 in a number of generations. 99% of the Intel processors out there will use this socket. Don't be scered.

There is an issue with the nVidia 6 series mobos and the latest Intel 45 nm CPUs though. For the greatest future potential be sure to get a 7 series board.

[Rakadazan]

I think AMD is ahead of Intel in the quad department, check this video......
http://link.brightcove.com/services/...ctid1443714282

[Ken]

Vista 64. Do not listen to any Vista naysayers.

Oh come on! Do you really believe that people are going to listen to someone who says "ignore them! but i give you no arguments why to ignore them!"
There's tons of reasons why not to use Vista. And poor WoW performance is definitely one of them. Since this topic is almost only about performance, it's the single greatest reason why XP is a better choice at this moment.
XP (with an nVidia geforce card) performs far better than Vista(more than 30% in my case). Even Linux runs WoW faster than Vista, while WoW is a Windows program.