I would put this in Mass Debate, but I wasn't going to debate anything, just have a discussion. If a mod would like, this can be moved.
I have been reading about and using Vista as well as hardware releases down the pipeline and I am getting a bit worried.
The system requirements for Vista using Aero (from what I can gather is the only functionality different enough to warrent picking up Vista over XP) are pretty steep. Even the minimum to run it is 1ghz with 1gb of RAM. That's ok, but if someone was looking to upgrade the whole system and to get a gaming system, the outlook is bleak.
ATi and nVidia are claiming to release cards with in excess of 250W of heat dissipation. Now it is known that if you are an extreme gamer, you will go with the greatest and get two for SLI or Crossfire action. And early next year, both are releasing drivers to use their GPU to do physics calculations for games that run the Havok engine. Both companies support the use of two video cards (250W + 250W) for SLI/Crossfire graphics and a third (250W more) for physics calculation. It can be argued that one does not need the third card to be the full blown high powered model for physics calculations, but then again, no one knows the effectiveness of the drivers with DX10 games or not. And since ATi and nVidia are calling for more power connectors through the PCIe slot, it doesn't look like this heat will let up any time soon.
Then you have the CPU. Yes they are better with power than previous models, but a quad core will still ring in at 200W+ and $1000 price tag. And let's not forget the price of a mobo that you will have to get because of the socket change. Intel boards are not cheap (think $150 for a decent board).
Then the RAM. Since AM2 and C2D need DDR2, you will have to get some new sticks. These sticks, however, will run you $200+ a stick for 1gb, which Vista will recommend as bare minimum. Also don't forget that these chips at stock voltage have about 40W heat dissipation per stick.
So not even looking into other hard drives or sound card options, you will be needing 1000W+ efficient power supply to power this mess. And I would love to see the cooling solution that has to be developed to keep this from melting. Now of course this is if everytihng was running 100% full bore, but you can't spec a system for under that in case you do hit 100% that one time and blow a power supply.
Cliffs:
- A new machine is going to get real expensive to run Vista
- Power concerns will reach a new high with newer hardware
Any comments?
I have been reading about and using Vista as well as hardware releases down the pipeline and I am getting a bit worried.
The system requirements for Vista using Aero (from what I can gather is the only functionality different enough to warrent picking up Vista over XP) are pretty steep. Even the minimum to run it is 1ghz with 1gb of RAM. That's ok, but if someone was looking to upgrade the whole system and to get a gaming system, the outlook is bleak.
ATi and nVidia are claiming to release cards with in excess of 250W of heat dissipation. Now it is known that if you are an extreme gamer, you will go with the greatest and get two for SLI or Crossfire action. And early next year, both are releasing drivers to use their GPU to do physics calculations for games that run the Havok engine. Both companies support the use of two video cards (250W + 250W) for SLI/Crossfire graphics and a third (250W more) for physics calculation. It can be argued that one does not need the third card to be the full blown high powered model for physics calculations, but then again, no one knows the effectiveness of the drivers with DX10 games or not. And since ATi and nVidia are calling for more power connectors through the PCIe slot, it doesn't look like this heat will let up any time soon.
Then you have the CPU. Yes they are better with power than previous models, but a quad core will still ring in at 200W+ and $1000 price tag. And let's not forget the price of a mobo that you will have to get because of the socket change. Intel boards are not cheap (think $150 for a decent board).
Then the RAM. Since AM2 and C2D need DDR2, you will have to get some new sticks. These sticks, however, will run you $200+ a stick for 1gb, which Vista will recommend as bare minimum. Also don't forget that these chips at stock voltage have about 40W heat dissipation per stick.
So not even looking into other hard drives or sound card options, you will be needing 1000W+ efficient power supply to power this mess. And I would love to see the cooling solution that has to be developed to keep this from melting. Now of course this is if everytihng was running 100% full bore, but you can't spec a system for under that in case you do hit 100% that one time and blow a power supply.
Cliffs:
- A new machine is going to get real expensive to run Vista
- Power concerns will reach a new high with newer hardware
Any comments?
