[mashed1000]

can i run more that 3GB on xp what to buy for gaming ?????????????????????????????????????

[Rich-M]

Vista like Xp 32 bit won't read much more than 3.0 gb ram so it's a waste of time.

[jonmcc33]

It's not a waste because if/when he upgrades to a 64-bit OS he will already have the memory. RAM is so cheap these days (DDR2) that there's no reason not to get it even if the OS might not see a small part of it.

In regards to gaming, I'd go with Windows Vista. There is no longer any performance gap that there was when Vista came out and Vista gives you the option of DX10.

[Rich-M]

Yeah good point about Dx10.

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by jonmcc33

It's not a waste because if/when he upgrades to a 64-bit OS he will already have the memory. RAM is so cheap these days (DDR2) that there's no reason not to get it even if the OS might not see a small part of it.

In regards to gaming, I'd go with Windows Vista. There is no longer any performance gap that there was when Vista came out and Vista gives you the option of DX10.

BUT, he MUST have a 64 bit machine to dot this.

[jonmcc33]

Originally Posted by DaveA

BUT, he MUST have a 64 bit machine to dot this.

Just a modern processor capable of 64-bit, that's all. That has been available since the first Athlon 64 and the Prescott Pentium 4 (600 series) processors.