[BigSilverHotdog]

And the memory thing re:Vista -- Somewhat true, XP actually addresses up to 4gb of physical memory, but because your system must cut into this (and it starts at 4gb and works down) the limit of physical ram is determined by your motherboard, video card, and a few other things. I had 4gb of ram on my XP Pro rig until a month ago and I got rid of 2gb of it because, literally, I did not need it. Because I run a single 8800GT card (512) and not much else that cuts into the physical memory load, I was able to get 3.25gb of memory addressable by XP Pro. Not bad at all, but I took myself down to 2gb and did not notice a single difference in any program or game. I benched crysis and played it through on 2gb of ram maxed out (dx9 mode, all high), no difference. I've got Oblivion modded up with 40-50 mods, totally maxed out graphics, 8xAA/16xAF, and a tweaked ini file that bumps to max or beyond every single game setting (even shadowmapresolution, no tree clones, gigantic grass fade distance, etc) and there was no difference between 2 and 3.25gb. In vista of course you'll get about 2/3 or 1/2 of the FPS rate you will get in XP for most of your games, but thats the price you pay for seeing all that extra useful memory.

PS: The reason people need more than 2gb of ram these days IS vista. Vista itself will engorge itself on your memory, using 4gb FAR less efficiently than XP will use 2gb. I did mention at least a dozen times that Vista is bloatware, right?

I'm really not trying to crap on your fun, I'm trying to help you. If you don't want my help, tell me to shut the hell up and I will promptly disappear into the ether. Believe me, I've got no time to help people that don't want my help.