Re: Upgrade Business Machine Recommendation Please

In article news:<B5SdnYCaT9OfhtbanZ2dnUVZ8sqjnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Davy
wrote:
I have a PC I built in 2002; 1.7GHz Intel P4 CPU, Intel motherboard,
Windows 2000 I need to upgrade to something a bit faster and that
will run Vista.
[snip]
I need a fast business PC - reliability and quietness is everything.

Do you have a specific need to run Vista, or are you just trying to
make sure that your system will support the latest OS? I ask because if
what you're trying to achieve is "a business PC" there are no reasons I
can think of to choose Vista over XP or Win2k (or linux, much of the
time).

If the latter, I shouldn't worry too much. Almost any system you buy or
build today will run Vista -- though you may need to add RAM to make it
run as well as XP or Win2k. The only thing to watch out for is that
Vista's "Aero" interface (which is optional) requires a certain level
of graphics performance.

I agree that if you're looking at upgrading or replacing a system it's
important to be sure that you aren't heading down a technological
backwater ... but I wouldn't recommend actually using Vista -- not yet,
anyway -- unless you have an actual specific need to do so.

So: what do you actually want to do with this "business PC", and how
fast is fast?

Do I really need duo or quad core?

No ... but multi-core is the way that mainstream CPU development is
heading. The manufacturers can't make CPU cores that run significantly
faster, so they increase the overall chip performance by putting
multiple CPU cores on one chip instead. This means that more and more
software is being written to run multiple threads to take advantage of
those cores.

If you want a "fast PC", by today's standards, it WILL have a dual-core
CPU.

Faster tweaked motherboards mean more system crashes?

Any motherboard running at its designed speed should not crash.
Tweaking a motherboard to run faster than its designed speed
(overclocking) can reduce stability, and I would not recommend that you
do that.

Note that multiple-core CPUs do not require faster motherboards to give
an increase in performance.

Cheers,
Daniel.





.

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