I built my own system a couple of years ago and now it's time to upgrade in prep for Vista. I understand that there are only two systems on the market - the experimental and the obsolete but I would like to build a system that will be good enough performance-wise for the next 2-3 years.
Question:
(1) What specs would I look for in a motherboard?
(2) Is Dual-core worth the money?
(3) I've got good service from my MD processor. Shall I go Intel or AMD?
(4) What do you of the Western Digital 10K RPM, 16M Buffer SATA HD?
(5) Would it be a prudent move to keep the OS in a separate HD from the rest of the installed or downloaded programs?

ThanksWhy bother ? Stay with XP*. As for the other stuff, go to Gates website and "read" windows vista requirements or take all those questions and go to ask.com and have a ball. Thats a long list for quick computer help* Also, what's your budget for this new rig?
We can't advise you if we don't have enough INFO to work with.
Also, what are your current specs?
You may not need to upgrade EVERYTHING for Vista.
As honvetops said though, think about whether you really want it, or whether you want to use XP or 2K instead.I thought that those were pretty mundane type questions. I simply wanted some OPINIONS. Presently I have an Asustek A7N8X2 deluxe, Busclock 133MHz, 2.2 GHz AMD Athlon XP, 1.5 Gig RAM, NVIDIA 6800GT video and sufficient HDs and of course WinXP HomeEd.

I'm a flight simmer and when loaded the MS FSX, I couldn't achieve the performance expected of the software. I tried all the tweaking and listened to the advice of many but no joy. I cannot upgrade my video to a PCIE because my mobo has only AGP slots.

I priced out an Asus M2 Crosshair mobo with lots of available slots and an FSB of up to 800. It supports the AM2 Athlon 64. I have enough to get the necessary case (500W PSU). 1 G RAM to start and Nvidia 9600GT 256M video. I don't have to have Vista now. I have the license for the WINxp but I don't know if I can load it in the new PC without problem with activation.Below is the most comprehensive instructions for swapping out your MBoard without re-installing XP...
I suggest printing it out and reading it completely prior to the new build.

Here Ya Go...

patio. 8-)