Is this Gateway a good option?

[DeusDeus22]

Ok, great thanks. It's almost guaranteed that the 8800GT should be compatible with Vista 64-bit you think?

 

[aevm]

"Almost". Yeah, it's supposed to use the same drivers that already work for 8800 GTS and GTX. We'll know for sure when the first Vista review is published.

 

[nukchebi0]

Get the Arctic Freezer 7, but not the compound. You effectively future proof yourself more by enabling a higher over clock.

Also, get an Evga card.

 

[Zorg]

Lining up those two boards for comparison:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200280%2050001314%201070625638&bop=And&CompareItemList=N82E16813128050%2CN82E16813128059

The DS3L shows that it has onboard USB 2.0...while the DS3R does not? No USB, that can't be right...

And it seems as the DS3R is picky about which kind of RAM it takes, not good?

I'm leaning towards 32-bit OS. I'm not too concerned about the extra 500MB that won't be used, so much as avoiding troubleshooting with 64-bit? Can anyone comment?

When I'm comparing mobos I usually like to go to the source GIGABYTE Motherboard Comparison Sheet (scroll down).

As far as RAM, get what you want, but I would recommend making sure it is on the QVL RAM compatibility page.

With a decent VGA, 512MB or more, you will be closer to losing about 1MB.

 

[Zorg]

About drivers: since he wants Vista anyway, the choices are whether to trust 32-bit Vista drivers or 64-bit Vista drivers. All Vista drivers are developed and tested in parallel for 32 and 64, because Microsoft requires it for certification. That is, the 32-bit is not safer as far as drivers are concerned, it's the same. What you're saying is 100% true when talking about XP, of course.

About the Vista drivers... I believe that the difference between 32-bit Vista and 64-bit Vista is negligible as far as driver availability and quality. However, Windows XP SP2 32-bit is safer than both....

How true, Vista 32 or 64 the drivers are equally crappy. Get XP 32 home and ride the wave to the end, or until your jones for DX10 overrides your rational thinking.

 

[jitpublisher]

Wow, the original Gateway for $1400 was a really decent PC for the price. I have had some experience with Gateway, know several people who have them, I have 2 of them at work. They are the ONLY prebuilt systems that I would ever suggest to anyone. Their support has always been good, and the parts they use seem to be better than most other big-name prebuilt systems.
My folks have a 8 year old Gateway that is still just plugging away.
For what the OP originally wanted, it would fit the bill nicely.

 

[Zorg]

My parents got a Gateway 386 years ago. They had nothing but problems. hard drives taking a dump etc. I finally got tired of watching the techs file in and out so I took a look at it. I was removing the monitor cable when I got shocked by the ground shield on the connector. I measured it and got 60V from the shield to ground. I got them a new monitor and the problems went away. I'll buy a gateway, or any other OEM, when he** freezes over.

 

[DeusDeus22]

Well, I just picked up the completed, assembled and Vista 64 installed system a few hours ago. I'm very please so far. Final specs:

Gigabyte P35-DS3R
Intel Q6600
XFX Geforce 8800GT 512MB Alpha Dog
Lite-On SATA DVD-R
WD 500GB HD - Although under My Computer it says Total 465GB and only 427 free 8( What happened to the entire 500GB?
4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 RAM


Thanks again, EVERYONE, for all the time and advice you have given. Could not have made such a good decision without. Thx again!

 

[aevm]

Oh, no!! You have to return that disk immediately. DO NOT USE THE COMPUTER!!! The disk shows only 465GB because a mad cow ate part of it, and if you use it you could get sick. It's a known problem with WD disks, most of them do that. Return it!!!

Edit: OK, just kidding. There's no problem. WD and Seagate and so on claim a disk has 500GB if it has 500 *10^9 bytes. Microsoft thinks 500GB means 500 * 2^30. Run it in Calculator: 500,000,000,000 bytes, divided by 1073741824 (bytes per gigabyte, as gigabyte is defined by Microsoft), you end up with 465.661.

Your operating system and swap file take the difference between 465 and 427, that's why only 427 GB are free. It all looks perfectly normal, don't worry.