Interestingly, my spare PC here is a P4 with 2Gb and XP. I used to seem fast but now it's just a print server mainly.

I just bought a new one because I wanted speed. But I didn't want to pay the earth for it, meaning I wasn't too bothered about having the latest and greatest processor.

So I settled on an Intel Quad Q8200 with 6Gb of RAM which cost me 499 (UK Pounds) and it had 64Bit Vista on it.

So far, it's lived up to my expectations.

Cheers,

Neil

thanks Neil.

I just added 2gig more ram (total 4g) to my 2.4g Athlon with XP and also went to the start-up and stopped a bunch of programs that Installed themselves by default to run on startup. That about cut the program opening times in half.
Peter Soos

Really! I was told that I wouldn't see much of an increase from what I already have by just upping the ram (we already ripped all the nonessential startup programs out).

Thanks...

What programs are you interested in speeding up SuperC?
Is it just (I use mostly Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Photoshop, and the Firefox).
If so, then Neil's setup looks like a good setup.
I mean how fast does Word need to be to please you?

If Adobe products like video editing, then go to the Adobe forums and ask for suggestions there. Not that there aren't smart guys here but, going fishing where there are more of the type of fish you want makes sense to me.

From my experience MS grossly under states the need for RAM.

SO, double it.

Then, more will not speed anything up, just allow more programs to be running at the same time.
P4 is ancient. When you move to a Quad chip with gobs of ram you will be grinning like a possum eatin' sh*t! Happy Happy Joy Joy!

I do not want to start yet another PC VS Mac war but, from a personal experience as a photographer and associations with graphics artists, Apple products rule that roost.

But being you list Photoshop as the sole graphic program a PC will rock the house.
Getting the 1st or 2nd best CPU on the market will allow you to run with it for many years. Yeah it costs but is worth the enjoyment of just knowing you have top shelf gear.
Get a high end mother board and video card. Research memory brands as that can add much to your success in building a great system.Memory can be very expensive for a reason.

I would be very useful for you to seek out a way to see systems in action using the same programs you need to use and make a choice that way. This is a time shopping online might not be best for you.

G.L.

Thanks G.L.