There is an increase in memory footprint, but like said before definitely not double. If you have 4 or more gigs of RAM it's worth it IMO, but more is better of course. A processor that works in quad words is rapidly becoming standard, if you have the memory it's silly limiting yourself to 4 bytes a register and a maximum of 2-3 GB of data in memory. Reading data from a hard drive into memory is super expensive performance wise.

PD

What I wanted to say is that if you have 4 GB of ram a 32 bit os will be just as well as a 64 bit one. To gain a definite advantage with a 64 bit os you really have to go beyond 4 GB ram even if you use 32 bit programs. Otherwise its just not worth the cost.
As far as disk drives, if you have an ssd wether you're using a 32 bit os or 64 bit os you'll see the computer fly.
Buying a top of the line ssd (slc mostly) but also mlc ssd's will give you an enormous advantage that no upgrading video card, processor or memory could ever give you.

In the age of fast reliable terrabyte drives those 320gig drives seem small :salute:

Well of course if you have a p0rn collection then yes 320 GB is small. :haha:

I've got 400GB worth of game-installs. Don't even get me started on the pr0n collection. :lol:
Not to mention ridiculously expensive. As in: over 10x more expensive. :shifty:

:o damn I don't even keep 5 games installed simultaneously.

The thing is you can keep old games installed and "hey I havent played that in ages" and just start the game insted of installing a game.

Another thing is ... Steam... Steam is like a pregnant rabbit or something it just grows and grows and grows next thing you know it has 1/4 your hard drive.

Also games... new ones.. they keep getting bigger. Dragon Age is a freakin huge install. Future titles will be bigger.

All Im saying is these fast big drives are relatively inexpensive and should be considered if building up a new rig.

:yep:

I've managed to keep Steam under control, probably because I prefer boxed copies. I just go for the special offers. Got stuff like the Oddworld games, Secret of Monkey Island, Portal, a number of indie games, etc. Only "big" titles are Empire TW (didn't have a choice there) and Dragon Age because I prefered the Digital Dekuxe over boxed.

It's indeed these latest games that eat away at available space like there's no tomorrow; 15GB just for Dragon Age. :o

If I start running out of space Ill probably just get an external drive. I doubt Ill have that many games installed at one time.

Yeah, I can't wait till SSD drives are more standard. I think the success of netbooks with limited processors/memory will help speed the adoption of SSD drives and drive (get it...? drive) down prices.

PD

It looks like Im going to go with either a Sony Vaio with a 2.8ghz Intel 2 Duo or a HP with a 2.66 Intel 2 Duo. Both will have 4 gigs of ram, an 1gb ATI 4650 graphics card and a 500gig Hard drive.

So here's what I ordered. I'll get it on the 5th :D.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...=VR108UA%23ABA

• Experience genuine Windows 7 Professional§§§ 64-bit
• Get great performance with the 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 processor
• Instantly access the included HP Small Business Essentials programs and services
• Go in style with the sleek Espresso Black design
• See clearly on the 15.6" (diagonal) BrightView LED high-definition1 display (1366 x 768) with 16:9 image ratio
• Run several apps at once with the 4096MB DDR3 SDRAM (2 DIMM)
• Go wireless2 with the Intel Wi-Fi Link 5100AGN and Bluetooth
• Get stunning visuals with the discrete ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 graphics (1024MB dedicated)
• Store data on the 320GB (7200 rpm) hard drive
• Chat face to face, or take pictures and video clips with the webcam and integrated microphone
• Type fast using the color-matched 101-key-compatible, full-size keyboard with separate numeric keypad

Specs:
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo Processor P8700(2c) 2.53GHZ
Memory: 4gb DDR3 Ram
Video Card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 (M96) 1024MB dedicated memory
HDD: 320GB (7200RPM)
Broadband: Intel WiFi Link 5100AGN & Bluetooth
Disk Drive: DVD/RW


Extras: HP Espresso Imprint finish, HP Webcam with integrated digital microphone & integrated Fingerprint Reader. HDMI port.

It also has this remote control
http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01...e/remote_2.jpg



Total I spent: $1105.29
:rock:

I also got a Wireless microsoft keyboard with mouse for 39.99 Today.

P.S. I know I could of gotten a desktop with better specs for cheaper, but I can use this at school.

That should be a sweet machine! :yeah:

I know. :D I'm jonsing for it so, I can finally play Silent Hunter IV, Tropico 3, DCS: Black Shark and fiinally play games like Company of Hereos on High! :D


This will be the first time in my life that I actually have a computer that's actually pretty good.

To give you an idea of how your machine will perform, I have 2.5GHz AMD X4 9850 processors and 8 gig DDR2 RAM. Everything else is about the same in your system as mine. I rund COD4 at full graphics. SH4 is played at full graphics. I just got Fallout 3 and I run that just about full tilt. Your machine will perform very well and the days of worrying if your machine will run game is now over for a very long time. Just load the game and push all the graphic to max. Have fun! :D