Niwashi

I'm planning on buying a new PC, and I'm trying to decide on the configuration specs for it. (This one, from iBuyPower: http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/configurator.aspx?mid=299) My biggest problem is in deciding on what to select for the power supply and processor cooling. There's quite a few options for both, and while their "Help me choose" link will give specs for each, it doesn't give any help for determining what specs I would need in order to power & cool the system as it's configured. Anyway, here's the specs I have so far. The features themselves from the configuration page are listed in black. (And I went ahead and listed all of them, whether they're relevant to my main questions or not.) My own comments are in blue, and my questions in red. Case: Thermaltake Xaser VI Gaming Case w/420W Power Supply Black/Red Case Lighting: None Power Supply: ???? Here's the first of my main questions. They offer 15 different power supplies for this system, ranging from 720 to 1250 Watts. (Prices differ by $200 between the cheapest and most expensive.) But I don't know how to determine how much power I need to run the system. ???? Processor: [=== Quad Core ===] Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core Processor QX9770 (4x 3.2GHz/12MB L2 Cache/1600FSB) Free Software/Game: Free Game - [scions of Fate] Free Game - [Anarchy Online] Free Game - [Halo 2] must purchase with Microsoft Windows Vista operation system Processor Cooling: ???? My second question is similar to the first. They're both about how do I determine what the system is going to need. In the case of cooling options, they offer eight options with a price range of $122. Here, although they provide some specs for each, they're different specs, and I can't even figure out which ones are better or worse than others. But even if I did know which systems did a better job of cooling, how would I know in advance how much cooling my machine is going to need? ???? Motherboard: Asus Striker II Extreme nForce® 790i Ultra SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394, Dual PCI-E MB Memory: 2048MB [1024MB X2] DDR3-1333 PC3 10666 Memory Module [Note: I will probably be upgrading this, but Newegg has it at better prices than iBuyPower.] Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX 512MB w/DVI + TV Out Video Video Card Brand: === High Performance === eVGA Brand Video Card Powered by NVIDIA Hard Drive: 500 GB HARD DRIVE [serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] 2nd Hard Drive: None [Note: I will be moving the hard drive from my old PC to be a secondary hard drive on the new PC. (It's the simplest way to transfer all my files.) Then I expect that in a few years (when the size of apps goes up another order of magnitude) I'll be adding a third hard drive as a space expansion. So the power supply needs to support several hard drives.] External Hard Drives [uSB 2.0/eSATA]: None CD/DVD Drive: None CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive: [** Special !!! ***] 20X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black Sound Card: Creative Lab Sound Blaster X-Fi ExtremeGamer Speaker System: 600W PMPO 3 PCS Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System Network Card: Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) Floppy Drive: Mitsumi 1.44 MB Internal Floppy Drive Black Monitor: None 2nd Monitor: None Keyboard: Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard Mouse: Logitech Optical Internet Mouse Black USB 2.0 Accessories: None Meter Display: Thermal Temperature LCD Display Black Flash Media Reader/Writer: 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer Black Extras: None Operation System: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate + [Free 60-Day !!!] Microsoft Office 2007(Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access ....) 64-Bit [Note: Actually, I'm still debating between Home Premium and Ultimate. Definitely 64-bit, though.] Media Center Remote Control & TV Tuner: None Additional Software: None Case Round Cable: ???? Just a minor question on this one. They offer a couple of $19 options that I don't really know what they're for. I could get rounded cables for all the drives. Why? What do rounded cables do for me? And for $19 I could get "Professional wiring for all cables inside the system tower". Professional wiring as opposed to what? I doubt they have amateurs to put these things together otherwise. ???? USB Flash Drive: None MP3 Player: None TV Tuner: None Video Camera: None Headset: === Gaming Headset === Zalman 5.1 Channel ZM-RS6F+M Headset w/Mic Power Protection: ** iBUYPOWER Recommended ** Opti-UPS SS1200-AVR Mighty Voltage Regulator External Wireless Network Adapter: None Wireless Network Access Point/Router: None Warranty: Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty + Lifetime Technical Support Rush Service: No Rush, Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days Well, as you could probably guess from some of those specs, one of the purposes for the system is gaming. It's also for bookkeeping, drawing/artwork, language study, programming, and a number of other things, but gaming is the most demanding on the system, so it's what I look at for choosing specs. I'm planning on keeping the system for quite a while (at least 5 or 6 years - or hopefully just some minor component upgrades can stretch that out even longer). That means that I want to get a system that will be able to play whatever games will be coming out 4 or 5 years from now. Given the rate of change in computers, that's a challenge, and the only way I can think to do it is to buy a system that's deliberately overpowered for my current needs. (The computer I'm using now was Dell's highest-end top-of-the-line system five years ago when I bought it, and I upgraded the memory a couple years later. Now, even at minimum graphics settings, it really struggles to get through Lord of the Rings Online.) Any comments/suggestions would be welcome regarding which components really need to be maxed out in order to get that longevity versus which ones I could go a bit cheaper on and easily upgrade later. (My experience with hardware upgrades is limited to adding hard drives and upgrading memory. I could upgrade other components, but wouldn't want the hassle of dealing with ones that have a lot of compatability issues with the rest of the system.) I'm figuring the case and the motherboard have the most to do with how readily upgradable the system will be later. So those and the processor itself would determine how long the system as a whole would last me before needing to replace it completely. Does that sound right? But then I also wanted significant components like the video card to last a while before needing an upgrade, so I went fairly high-end there, too. (And a few extras I threw in just for fun - I don't really need that headset.)

But it's dividing the install of the same program into two different places. Do you get to choose each of them? Will every installer know to ask both where do you want the 32bit copy of the program to go and also where do you want the 64bit copy of the program to go? Because I'm going to want to set both of those up into my own file structure and not use either "Program Files" or "Program Files (x86)".

I think all my hardware is fairly mainstream stuff. What's more, I'm buying a new PC rather than upgrading my old one, so all the internal hardware will be new. My main external hardware is my printer and graphics tablet and I've already checked that the later is supported. I suppose the worst case scenario if my printer isn't supported is that instead of getting rid of my old computer once I have its replacement, I relegate the old one to acting as a print server while I primarily use the new PC. I like XP Pro, but I'm a bit worried that third-party support for it may begin to wane after MS stops selling it. Moving to Vista looks like the safer bet right now (at least until Windows 7 comes out). Yep. All right. Looks like I'll be spending a bit of this weekend looking into emulator software.Thanks for your help.

(I don't have Vista yet, so I'm just trying to get an idea of how it works while my frame of reference comes from the XP Pro that I'm currently using.) If Vista has to split installs between its two different "Program Files" folders, that sounds like it isn't supporting any ability to choose where you want to install applications. What if I want to install something somewhere else entirely, without using Windows' Program Files folder(s) at all? I'm planning on getting two hard drives, using the first one for the OS and basic utility applications and the second one for productivity software, games, and my own files and documents. Is Vista going to insist that every application on the computer must be installed under "C:\Program Files\" even if I want it installed under "D:\Games\" ? It just seems a bit too odd that a modern OS wouldn't support more than one hard drive.

The article only says that this applies to Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP Pro. Can anyone confirm whether the same is true in Vista? And if it is, is there any good workaround? (I've got some old 16 bit games I still like.) Also, I've read some mixed reports on driver compatability and don't know which to believe. I've seen some places saying that it's hard to get device drivers that work with 64-bit Vista, and other places saying that there used to be a lot of driver incompatability problems with the 64-bit versions of XP, but that those problems went away with 64-bit Vista. How likely is it that I'd have problems with my existing printer or graphics tablet if I bought my new computer with Vista Home Premium 64-bit? [ Edit: ] OK, I've found the answer to at least one of my own questions. My graphics tablet is supported. I found the Vista 64-bit driver for it on Wacom's site. My other questions remain. How likely is it that I'll run into other driver incompatability problems? And is there a way to keep my 16-bit applications?