M2TW Rig & OS: Advice

**MrMerisi** · January 08, 2008, 02:33 PM

Hey guys,

As I do every 3-4 years, I am upgrading my gaming rig (built 4/2004) in order to get the best out of M2TW (and consequently EBII and EB in the meantime).

I've had a look at a few sites like Tom's Hardware and guru3d.com...and have come up with the following setup. I will be able to salvage a few things from my current rig, namely SATA HDD x2, Optical Drives, Thermaltake Case...but as I am upgrading from AGP to PCIe, I need to change a lot of things.

Can some of you more knowledgeable gamers take a look at the list of components below and let me know what you think? Ideally I would like to be able to play Empire:TW with max settings when it comes out too.

CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 (2.66GHz) s.775
Mainboard Asus P5N-E SLI (s.775) ATX
Graphic card Asus nVidia GeForce 8800GTS 512MB PCIe
Soundcard Creative Audigy SE 7.1 PCI
Monitor 20.1" TFT ViewSonic VG2030wm
Power Supply 600W Thermaltake Toughpower
512MB DDR2 800 Kingston CL5 (4x)

I was thinking of starting with one GeForce 8800GTS 512 (which is almost as good as the 8800GTX), and then adding another in SLI down the road. Thoughts?

Also, would anyone recommend moving to Vista?

Thanks a bunch in advance!

MM

**thelord** · January 08, 2008, 05:26 PM

im no master but i would stick some more ram in there at some point as EB 1 uses some HUGE scripts

**MarcusAureliusAntoninus** · January 09, 2008, 02:24 AM

Windows Vista can't handle more than 4GB of RAM, so it would be a waste of money.
(EDIT: I just noticed it says 512(x4), so yes you should get more. Like 1GB(x4).)

I just built myself a computer (yesterday, in fact

), and I got the 8800GTS 512. So far, it works wonderfully.

**MrMerisi** · January 09, 2008, 04:41 AM

Originally Posted by thelord

im no master but i would stick some more ram in there at some point as EB 1 uses some HUGE scripts

Good point. I was looking to migrate my existing RAM modules over to the new rig...but it might be better to for for 4x1GB modules.

Any more thoughts?

Originally Posted by MarcusAureliusAntoninus

Windows Vista can't handle more than 4GB of RAM, so it would be a waste of money.

I just built myself a computer (yesterday, in fact ), and I got the 8800GTS 512. So far, it works wonderfully.

I like the reviews I have read about the 8800GTS 512m and how it outpaces the 8800GTX on several games, for a fraction of the price (especially here in Europe).

How many GB of RAM can XP handle?

Thanks for the feedback.

**Duplicarius** · January 09, 2008, 01:35 PM

Vista 32 bit - max 4 Gb RAM

Vista 64 bit - max 8 Gb RAM

**MrMerisi** · January 10, 2008, 06:47 AM

Originally Posted by Duplicarius

Vista 32 bit - max 4 Gb RAM

Vista 64 bit - max 8 Gb RAM

Thanks!

How about XP?

**MarcusAureliusAntoninus** · January 10, 2008, 08:46 PM

IIRC, XP was 4GB.

**Spartan Soldier** · January 11, 2008, 02:05 PM

The max RAM for Vista is:
Vista Home Basic: 4 GB
Vista Home Premium: 16 GB
Vista Enterprise: 128 GB or more
Vista Ultimat: 128 GB or more
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946765

**MrMerisi** · January 11, 2008, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by Spartan Soldier

The max RAM for Vista is:
Vista Home Basic: 4 GB
Vista Home Premium: 16 GB
Vista Enterprise: 128 GB or more
Vista Ultimat: 128 GB or more
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946765

Thanks, Spartan! You are 1 in 300!

**Raze664** · January 13, 2008, 09:03 AM

Originally Posted by Spartan Soldier

The max RAM for Vista is:
Vista Home Basic: 4 GB
Vista Home Premium: 16 GB
Vista Enterprise: 128 GB or more
Vista Ultimat: 128 GB or more
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946765

^^ Thats only X64 Editions. Not X32

**avesta** · February 11, 2008, 10:39 PM

If you want to play empire at max settings, you should wait until it comes out before buying a new rig. This way you will get faster, newer hardware at a lower cost, and will also know specifically which hardware performs the best for it.