Hardware requirements

[paulcap]

I need to build a very fast VW/Landmark Windows system. Where should I spend most of my money? i.e. processor, memory, graphics card, ? Does a 64 bit CPU or 64bit Windows help?

[Ray Libby]

IMHO 64 bit is the way to go.

Antec Sonata case, quiet, easy to work on, and well built.

ASUS Motherboard Socket 939, ASUS is all I have ever used, after 30 some computers built, very few problems.

Crucial memory, 1 GB

Two Western Digital Raptor 10,000 RPM SATA hard drives in a raid 0 (stripe) array. What a difference this setup makes in disk access and boot time.

Pick an NVidia Graphics card with at least 128 MB of memory, I usually stay around $100, this has plenty of horsepower for VW (if you play state of the art games that's another matter).

Pick an AMD 64 bit processor. Athlon 64 3000+ $150 to Athlon 64 FX55 $820, with other procs in between, pick your value point. The lower clocked processors are very overclockable, I have a 64 3000+ running at 2.4 GHz that smokes most Intel machines. If you have a large budget and go with the FX you will have one of the fastest consumer computers out there.

Go to www.newegg.com, click on Shop All Categories on the left side of the page. Best prices and best service out there.

Windows XP 64 is not really an option right now, most harware is not supported yet. At least with this system you are ready to make the move when the time comes.

[ 05-26-2005, 10:32 AM: Message edited by: Ray Libby ]