I have never payed attention to Vista since it came out. Everything is running fine in XP. But since my current audio Desktop is maxed out and cannot keep up with my editing needs its time to finally buy a new machine.

Why is there 4 versions of vista???? (ultimate/ business/ home premium etc) Why???? Most machines are coming bundled w/ home premium but it is not supported w/ PTLE (only ultimate and biz versions are) I just also learned that I cant use a 64 bit vista or SP1 either, only 32 bit is supported. bla bla bla. Most of this because I choose to use Pro stools LE as my editing software. It must be the most anal AE program on the market.

I am having a hard time finding an already built machine that has:
~Vista 32 bit w/ ultimate or business without SP1 installed.
~Quad core 2.0 or higher (perhaps the Q6600)
~Ram expandable up to at least 4GB minimum.
~SATA II drive (s)
~800mhz minimum FSB
~ A non SIS chipset mobo
~ on board FW400/800
~3 open PCI card slots (at least 1 PCI express)
~ Non integrated Video card (256mb)

I was excited today when I found a gateway w/ Phenom X4 9550, 6GB memory, 256 video card for $750, but after checking out all the spec's it isn't compatible..............fuck me with a frying pan.

there are really 8 main and over 12 versions of vista. there are also probably 10 version of xp.

For a small price I could build you anything you want. I even accept gear trades for my services. Me and a few buds have been building and fixing PC's for years. We are contemplating opening a shop. Total price will be cheaper than a store bought computer also. We will fix any hardware defects free of charge for the first 6 months too. I am serious about this too, not just yanking your chain.

and aside from ram caps I recomend a stripped down version of XP pro over vista for recording too.

after so many years of making my own machines there is always some issue with them. you can buy everything together cheaper from dell.

the more I didn't use vista, the more I disliked it. then I used it and liked it ok.
final the more I used it, the more I disliked it. everything I wanted to do I would think "but xp is easy" so go with xp.

I don' seem to have any issues, but I do loads of homework on what hardware to stick together. It is easy to get bugs on a DIY machine though I will admit that.

yeah, I no longer have the time for bugs. and I always built my own systems and allways have bugs.

I don't have time for bugs either, thats why I don't slap together the cheapest high spec computer I can anymore. We actually make decent systems now.

I have vista and I love it.

Got my pc for 330 bucks from dell. Gig of ram, 2.2 dual core processor, firewire, dvd burner, it's bitchin.

I use XP currently, but since XP is dying on 6-30 maybe its time to take the Vista leap. I was also thinking of just installing XP on the new machine, but I read somewhere that XP will only recognize up to 2.5GB of ram, that would defeat the purpose of having 4GB of ram.

XP pro lets me run up to 4gb of ram total. No more than that though. With vista you can get a lot more (not sure what the cap is) ram than XP. A nice stripped down version of XP pro also uses a LOT less resources than any version of vista and seems to be more stable in a recording enviorment. That makes it so you get the same performance with less ram. Of course there IS the limit though so it is all in choice + what you think you are going to get in the near future.

I did a quad core computer for a guy that runs tons of symphony and other VST's. Edirol orchestral, philharmonik, some of the east west collections, korg legacy collection, waves diamond, storm drum, addictive drums, guitar rig 3, Nuendo and he had me install a few others for him too. He is firewire to a firepod and has an M audio midi controller (think it is in the radium series). He is 100% happy with the 3 gig XP system I built him. Quad core intel, 3gig ram, 750 gig slave hd and 250 primary, budget PCI express video card, dual layer dvd burner, and silent air cooled case.


Vista will be the way to go probably, but XP is still bad ass in the music production world if done right! Not to mention XP rarely ever has driver troubles that I have bumped into with the whole vista/interface issues.

I've heard you can run more then 4 gigs with vista, but you won't notice anything past that.

that all depends if you are running 32 bit or 64 bit.

3gb max for 32bit