Rig

would this run Vista Ultimate ok etc good system for $800? ..not a big gamer ! Thanks MD

* Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Processor 1.8GHz
* Gigabyte VM900M Motherboard
* Kingston 2GB DDR2 667 RAM
* Seagate 250GB SATA 7200 RPM Hard Drive
* 512 MB Nvidia 7600GS Graphics Card
* Supports 8-channel Intel High Definition Audio
* 18x Asus LightScribe Black DL DVD-RW
* Thermaltake Matrix Mid Tower

 

That's plenty.
OC it or upgrade RAM for better results. 6400 RAM has floored lately @ ~$70 - $110 for 2GB.

 

Hi Enigmah what does this overclocking mean So do i take out 1024 what do i need to buy i know where the Ram slots are but not sure what to take out or how many slots there are as gotta pick up pc yet, buy another 1gig ram and there will be a spare slot? MD

Memory type
Kingston DDR2 667
Standard memory
2 GB (2x 1024MB Pieces)
Memory slots
2 DDR II DIMM memory slots
Maximum Memory
Supports up to 4GB memory

 

HIya
Over clocking means changing the settings in the hardware and forcing your CPU to run at a faster rate. The E6300 processor can typically overclock to around 3 Ghz so you wouldnt have to run it @ 1.8Ghz. That is significantly faster.
It sounds like you're buying a factory machine though, and those are typically locked such that you can't over clock them.
If it is factory built, and if you dont know much about the hardware stuff, dont worry about it. It would still run Vista fine.

 

DON'T OVERCLOCK ANYTHING!

I have exactly the same system as you have, only exception is a little better graphics card and 1Gb less RAM. I dual-boot Windows Vista Ultimate and Debian GNU/Linux and Vista runs very smoothly with these 3D effects and all my games run very smoothly (Devil May Cry 3, Chaos Legion, Sonic Adventure DX, etc)

All that without overclocking. However, I have gotten my 1.8Ghz Core 2 Duo to clock 2.4Ghz and the result was only a tiny bit faster but a big bit hotter (around 50C while idling!!), so if you really want to overclock it, be sure to have some special cooling techniques like water cooling, etc..

But since it's your system and not mine, overclock it if you like, but what I am saying is that Vista runs perfectly on my system even if it isn't overclocked.

 

Yeah, follow this.^ OCing isn't a thing for noobs unless you have someone help you and what not. As far as the improvements, I dont know about going from 1.8 to 2.4, but my wifie's E6320 1.8 went to 3.2 on air and believe me when I say the difference is night and day. (And it idles @ circa 35 Celcius) So in short, OCing is complex, but the results are extremely worth while, if you know what you're doing).

Oh yeah, go to bestbuy, or wherever, and try it out. They have those machines with that kind of specs. And given that you wanna run Vista Ultimate, the Bitlocker thing might be a drag, so think about that yeah.

 

The reason why my Core 2 Duo went to 50C while idling is probably because I used my motherboard's OverClocking profiles, so I bet that if I modify the voltage of the VCore manually it will work fine, but as you said, it's for real advanced users only. Btw, what's the difference of E6300 and E6320 after all?
EDIT: The E6320 has 4M shared L2 cache while E6300 has only 2M..

 

The thing about Vista is the RAM. The faster the RAM the better the performance, all else being @ decent spec.

 

ok lemme think about that overclocking lol........... second question can i run 64bit. OEM on this....... or should i stick with 32bit thanks MD

 

Most people who run the 64 version with 8 gb of ram report insubstantial increase in performance and a lack of application availability.