In my previous newsletter regarding my take on Windows Vista, I stated that I was going to wait until Windows 7 comes out in 2010 before building myself a new computer. Well, I went ahead and took the plunge!

Despite the fact that I was going to push my circa-2005 computer into a 5-year stretch, I decided that it was time to upgrade to a Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit capable PC. The main reason in doing so is because I was getting tired of the pokey performance of my Intel Pentium 4 single-core 3GHz processor and limited motherboard capacity of 2 GB of RAM. This is especially evident when browsing media-rich websites like YouTube or a lot of tech-related websites I frequent. Those Flash ads and Flash videos really take a toll on older CPUs. Today’s software is simply more demanding, more “bloated”, and requires the latest hardware; especially dual or quad-core CPUs and tons of memory. With that said, let me introduce you to the computer I built for myself in October:

- Intel Quad-core Q9550 2.83GHz (that’s four 2.83GHz CPUs in one package).
- 8GB Memory
- Two extremely fast WD Raptor 150GB 10,000RPM hard drives in a RAID-1 mirror (this means that if one hard drive fails, I just put in a hot spare and it will rebuild with no data loss. It also means double the read speed for even faster Windows boot up time and program loading).
- Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit edition. (I have started to recommend going with 64-bit Vista if you’re going to go with a Vista PC. The reason being is that Vista is extremely demanding of memory and with 32-bit versions, you’re limited to 3 to 3.5GB or so and cannot upgrade to anything higher. Most modern computers today can be upgraded to 8GB or more. I consider 4GB the bare minimum for Vista, and with memory prices so low, it’s actually affordable).
- nVidia GeForce 8800GT 512MB Video card. (Considered one of the best budget graphics cards you can buy today).

The computer I built myself scores a 5.9 in the Windows Experience Index benchmark.

So what is this Windows Experience Index score? It’s a rating system developed by Microsoft to benchmark your computer. A score of 5.9 is the highest score you can get currently. Microsoft has stated they may increase the maximum score in the near future, but for now, if you want the best Vista computer money can buy, make sure it scores 5.9 across the board. Anything less than 5.0 for a Vista desktop PC or 3.0 for a Vista laptop should probably get upgraded in RAM or video. If that’s not possible, then a new PC or a downgrade to XP would be ideal.

The best part of it all, is my computer will easily be able to handle Windows 7 when it comes out in late 2009 or early 2010 simply because of the fact that Microsoft is working hard to minimize the “bloat” in their operating system. They are refining the operating system kernel and calling it “MinWin”. This means faster boot times, faster program loads, and easier ways to work with the computer. The future is looking good for PCs.

By the way, I’m a PC!