I upgraded my machine last week.
I now have Athlon 64x2 2.4GHz, 2GB DDR2-800, 8600GT 540MB graphics, Foxconn AM2 M/B and a 1/2 TB SATA disk.
I upgraded specifically for Unreal Tournament 3 and bought a copy of Vista Ultimate 64bit. (I didn't want any boot splash screen to say 'home' - I don't know who is running Microsofts marketing department but it might as well say Vista Dweeb edition! :-D )
I find that Vista runs slightly faster than XP on my old machine (2GHz, 1GB Athlon socket 754) but it looks impressive and it doesn't slow down when I've got something substantial (like a video render) in the background. Obviously this is down to the other CPU not vista!
Normally I wouldn't buy windows at least before the first service pack and I used Win2K up to 2005.
However UT3 over ruled this. There is no Linux 64bit version. It runs on vista with everything maxed out at full wack - smooth as a babies bottom. The 8400GT particularly impresses!
A couple of niggles - my barricade print server wont work under vista - I had to get a standard tcp/ip port one (d-link) on ebay. £10.
I only paid £100 for my OEM vista ultimate - I'd say it was worth the money. Having said that, if UT3 64bit had been available on Linux I would have gone the whole Linux hog.
It would be interesting to see how many copies of Vista sold on the back of UT3. Unreal Tournament must have the highest proportion of people who absolutely will not compromise! :-)
Now to find a beautifully rendered stairwell or recess - let the camping begin!! :-D
