I have become a NASA channel and activity fanatic....and now with my son building me a super computer, since he just built himself a "gamer" 3d one... and my current machine is really making more and more signs that things are not right and failing... so timing is good I think....

I am making the brave move to VISTA OS, but only the 32 bit one, as he says the 64 is still buggy .... I wonder if that is why some folks get mad and go back to XP? He has been using Vista for 3 years and is a wizard with computers, software and hardware...so I trust him...and VISTA allows me 4 GIGS OF RAM!!!  He says his older software works fine on Vista... sooo what I am getting, and why I may be off line for a while (I am also getting my friend's computer up to par - well not a gamer but have to help her install stuff) so double the work.... gladly done but will keep me pretty busy and I think I will miss being able to do a Thanksgiving card/picture that I already "see" in my head....

oh well...that and having to call the plumber for the THIRD time for a leaking under the sink problem... is gotten me more stressed than normal..hoping my super computer will help those blues... Anyway... it is:

PC- 32 bit Vista OS
A 500 GB fast hard drive! (wowowow! :)) 
AMD 6000+ Duel Core CPU running at 3.5 ghz THAT IS WATER COOLED!!!
and no not kidding...I thought he was, as I am gulible, but he showed me photos! Holy cow, I am going into the space age!!! Water cooled HOT machine?!?! whooo!!
4 Gigs of DDR2 800 MHz ram
and Video: a G Force 8800 GTS Super clocked 320 ghz DDR3 ram
AND..for the first time getting away from a CTR monitor:  a Samsung LCD 22 inch widescreen monitor that has a 3000:1 whatsis that will make it very very smooth and bright!!
2 DVD/CD burner/writers in it (good my current DVD reader/CD writer is dying now).
lots of USB ports... on board full duplex sound...and all warranties of course... :)

I can't think that Vue 6 Infinite with the latest patch (just downloaded) would not be happy with THIS machine over my older one (that vue 5 still loves).... I read the vue 6 specs to my son before we started on this.

I do have to buy a new scanner as my OLD umax one just will not go with Vista, but I found drivers for my DYMO label maker, my Logitech  trackball mouse...and even though my 1-2 year old HP REALLY NICE photosmart printer does not say the driver on the CD is vista, and there is no download, the HP site still sells the model and says it is Vista certified and says Vista OS as a pre-req besides the other windows versions....  OH and he is going to make it look like classic windows to lessen the shock...I will have to get used to IE 7....but at least Rendo and DAZ will stop telling me I have the wrong browser! ;)

Also getting a commercial version of a less invasive anti-virus/firewall, etc. program my son has tried out for 3 years too (the free version) so I bought a multiple use one for us all... feels so darn good to get out from under Norton and McAfee!!

I figure it's about time that I get a really nice art machine as I close my store and move on to other "retirement" art... besides still trying so hard to get Vue 6 Infinite to come to life and work with lots of imported objects! :))

SOoooo see you "on the other side" hopefully with a lot of people in a vue 6 scene! My son will make sure I get all the main important programs installed and make sure all is working.... ooooo if not for the infernal plumber thing, I am really pretty wired!! :)

Lyne

If you haven't already made your purchase, I strongly, strongly recommend you consider an Intel quad core processor e.g. the Q6600.  Vue 6 (and Poser 7 incidentally) will make use of all 4 cores when rendering, and will be dramatically faster when rendering than the AMD chip you're looking at.  You'll get more benefit by a long shot from the quad core than you will from the graphics card, so if you must change one of your other choices for money reasons, that's probably a good place to start.
PS: I encourage you to think about Windows XP Pro 64-bit Edition as well, it has all the power benefits of Vista 64 (unlimited memory addressing) but not the compatibility disadvantages.  That's what I use and it works well in both Vue 6 and Poser 7.

I would never hook it up online except to initially register. Get a cheap or used box for the web.

I'll second the Intel Q6600. It runs at 2.4GHz default but on water cooling it can easily clock to 4GHz+. Mine is at 3.2GHz on the air cooler that it comes with. And it's pretty cheap as well.

Also make doubly sure that Vista32 will run all 4GB of RAM. AFAIK, it does the same thing as XP, ie it will only let one app use 3GB at most. For 4GB, you need the 64 bit version (in which case you may as well get XP 64, which is a lot better)

The rest of your specs are fine IMO...

You're running Vue6Inf? Ditch Vista, go for XP 64 bit. Another tip: ditch the overly expensive super fast graphics card. Stick with the 8800 series, but go for one on the cheaper end. Invest the money you save in another 4 GB of RAM.

And I second the call for an Intel Q6600. I've got a system built around a Q6600, not overclocked, with 8 GB of DDR2-667 RAM, multiple hard drives (2 x WD Raptor 74 GB, 2 x Seagate Barracuda 320 GB) and an older, but still fast nVidia 7800GTX graphics card.

Vue 6 Infinite flies. Even non-overclocked this machine will easily run 60% faster than an overclocked AMD 6000+ dual core.

I imagine that Vue 6 Infinte is happy with the machine. But It won't be happy with Vista 32 bit. You've got the 64 bit hardware, you've got the 64 bit software, why cripple your system with a 32 bit OS?

Ditto Svdl.  My 4G x32 bit did not handle Vue6I well at all - constant OOM's.  I upgraded to XP x64/Q6600(quad)/8g Crucial Ram/XFX 8800 Ultra.  OUtside of regular bugs Vue handle much much better. Just fans in my case - no water cooling needed.

Don't see why you'd be water cooling a dual core :blink: 

IMO - I think you will very dissappointed.  If you read around you'll see most with 4g & x32 have gone to XP x64 or Vista64 & have 8g ram.

Lyne, I'm very happy for you getting a new PC. You will love the wide screen.
Hugs to you!

I seem to remember the original computer in the Apollo spaceships had 4k or memory...so I'd say you were there...;)

Just out of curiosity, do you really think you'll need 2 DVD/CD burners?

Congratulations :)
I recently got my dream machine custom built. 

My computer specs;
M/B ASUS S775 X38 DDR3 P5E3 Deluxe ATX
CPU, INTEL S775 C2Q QX6850 3.0G 1333 RTL
MEM OCZ DDR2-667 4GT KIT XTC OCZ2VU6674GK
PNY VCQFX3450-PCIE-PB QUADRO FX3450 PCIE
MS WINDOWS XP PRO 64 BIT W/CD & MED SP2C DSP
SNDCRD, CREATIVE 70SB079000000 X-FI AUDIO
LITEON 20X DBL LYR DVD +/-RW W/LS RTL
PS, TT TOUGH MODULAR 850W SLI W0131RU
HDD WD 1TB 7200 RPM 16M SATA2 WD10EACS ( 2 of these with RAID mirror done)
CASE TT NO PS ARMOR W/WIN BK VA8000BWS

I would definately reccomend the quad core, getting more RAM, and going with XP 64 bit. It makes a huge difference. With your son building it, you're going to save a lot of money on labor costs, so putting some of it into parts upgrades would be a really great investment.

You are going to have so much fun with your monster once it's done :)

oh yes...on the TWO burners....since in old machine one DIED just before we changed machines...this way I will not be without a burner and now can burn DVD's too...another step into the new age! :))  One thing I forgot to put in my "other side story" I will paste below, is that my son said he NEVER makes a machine where the main person is not the ADMINISTRATOR....I heard a lot of how you have to be that for some functions in vista...so aside from a couple of oldie but goodie programs installing twice - all things are fine...or I get a little note are you sure you want/can do this, - I go yes...and it will do the task... I am "king...er Queen" of my machine and it knows it! ROFL!! :))

"The Other Side".... I LIKE Vista, however I have found some nifty things to help my eye strain... found if I run it in the Windows Standard I can make the blinding white backgrounds of explorer, my mail program, note pad etc, all a nice muted white/gray color!! Nice on the eyeballs! :))  and of course on my 22 inch LCD...wooo hoooo!!! I was not used to wide screen... PUSH IT BACK FROM YOU....my son said... hee hee! Details I never dreamed of seeing... gosh my TV looks blurry and dull now... oh oh!!! ;)

We did take the extra 2 gigs of super ram OUT because good old Microsoft STILL has an OS that will not USE the 4 gigs of ram if you are using Vista 32 bit....and the 64 bit for the 4 gigs of ram is SO not backward compatible....so here I am with half my OLD programs installed....I mean REALLY old programs....and they are running fine... (got lot's more installing to do)...

AND!! Vue 5 Infinite runs in OPEN HARDWARE GL LIKE A BAT OUT OF ****.... rendering a pic that took 3-40 minutes on old machine took 6 minutes...been pushing and testing all over... and actually decided not to retrain myself or bother with vue 6 infinite as I am very relaxed with vue 5 (even more so now) and I have so much content, why deal with 6 when it will not use ALL the ton of 5 content (plants and objects mainly) I have all set up in 5.... I can't wait to see what the teeny bit glitchy eco system in vue 5 does now that I have this super fast "everything" ....and of course knowing my vue 5.11 LOVES my Poser 6.3 just fine.... my 4 window vue updates truly simultaneously in open gl!! :))

I don't care that I had to go to (display properties) - "windows standard" to get the "gray application background" enabled ....actually it's the bottom "window" choice to do this, - the a funky or rough looking explorer is no big deal...more important to save my eyes than "glitz" and everything else in programs and web sites looks BEYOND GORGEOUS AND 3D-ISH.... !!

I LOVE IE7.... it's pretty, easy to use and it's native pop up blocker is SO EASY to use, (now that google has gotten really nasty invasive - only my own opinion) and then there is the BUBBLES screen saver everyone likes... LOL!! Pretty... and hypnotizing!! :)

I find vista HELP really honestly helpful now, and things very visual and easy to find... even dyslexic.. of course my wizard son who is there to guide me through all the things with the new interface and also with the new anti-virus we use that is commercial, up and coming compitition to the two invasive main ones on the market - (boy does it find those spy cookies fast!!) program that covers every single thing for me.... and on and on...

I am HAPPY with my sleek black hot machine and I love learning to get around in it... Poser 6 now loads it's single 90 gig runtime (from a cold boot) in 3 minutes, that is sooo fast from before... vista LEARNS stuff like xp was supposed to....and when I had a major lock up of both poser (when I was test pushing it - third dressed lady was the killer- LOL) and task manager even locked up, the system recovered really easy with a restart...and funny... the poser ladies - all three of them NEVER "went white" like when poser says it can't handle the memory/texture stuff...just don't try rendering three...but that is poser's limits!

All in all this new ram is soooo advanced, my hard drive so fast, my video so hulking, my duel core cpu... it all helps shave hours off my "drumming fingers waiting on our fav software times!" My "Serial ATA" hard drive (greek to me, my son said just call it an SATA drive (not listed in my original post) of course helps all too....now to get a FIRE WIRE external for my back up - better and bigger than the usb external I have now....

I can not speak to any software above what I am using...I have no need for vue 6 nor poser 7, so am very happy where I am, with the added power and pretty LCD monitor... oh my GOSH, everyone's art looks 1000's times better even! LOL!!!

One happy Vista user! ;)

Lyne

Congratulations!!! You sound like you are having a blast :)

Yep, and thanks...have to share...just too exciting to see how my software responds!! 

I know there are a lot of very strong feelings on which OS with what hardware is best... but we all have to get what is best for us...and with my son being my super tech, he knows what I need... I WANT to use vue 5, not 6 anyway, it's still so STEADY and I have sooo much content, and it's plant maker is just fine as it is... and my poser 6 is resonding very well too!! :)  

Everything is so fast, and so pretty on LCD.... now just to finish istalling and get a new picture going!! LOL!!

Thanks for all your input! :)

Lyne

A dual core is plenty fast enough. I saved money by going with a dual core and my new machine is twice as fast as my old single core. 4 gigs is all XP will handle in RAM, but I did not want to install Vista until all the bugs are out. I can then upgrade to 8 gigs of RAM. NO need to jump on the "everyone is buying quad cores" wagon. By next year, quads will be dirt cheap and a lot faster.