Buying a Computer for Vista and Upgrading your RAM

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So far, our “Ask Us” section has been very successful with a number of user questions being answered. Today I’m going to answer two more questions.

Anand N asked us:

I am planning to purchase a PC for Vista. Please let me know the correct configuration.

Regards,
Anand N

Getting a computer that will run Vista depends on which version of Vista you want to run. I’m going to talk about Vista Ultimate, the most expensive version, and you can then scale down the requirements if you’re going to use a more basic version. The recommended requirements for Vista Ultimate are:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 GB of system memory
• 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:
  • WDDM Driver
  • 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)
  • Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
  • 32 bits per pixel
• DVD-ROM drive
• Audio Output
• Internet access

If you want to get the most out of your Vista computer I would suggest a few changes to these recommended requirements. First you’re going to want a much better processor. Having a dual core processor with at least 2.0GHz will be sufficient. This will allow you to run your programs without seeing much delay.

I would also recommend having at least 2GB of RAM. Vista takes up a lot of RAM and sometimes won’t leave enough for other applications to run. I’m currently running Vista with 4GB of RAM and have no problem.

The final suggestion I’m going to make is get a decent graphics card. If you want Vista to look pretty (which is why a lot of people buy it), I would suggest getting, at minimum, a 256MB dedicated graphics card, like the Nvidia 8600 or higher.

If you head over to our desktop buyers guide, you’ll see a number of different configurations that will all work well with Vista.

Sujith John asked us:

Hi ,
I would like to increase the system RAM to 1 or 2GB.
At present I have 512 MB RAM.

Could you tell me the cost of 1GB/2GB RAMs and also whether I can use it along with my present RAM.

Thanks in advance.

Prices for RAM depends on which type you need ( DDR, DDR2, etc…). In general, you can now find a 1GB stick of RAM for around $30. The price for 2GB is a little less $60. If you’re buying RAM that’s a little more unique (not as popular), its going to cost more.

As for using your previous 512MB, it really depends on the number of slots you have on your motherboard. As long as you have enough slots, and the RAM is the same kind as before, you shouldn’t have any problems using the previous 512MB. If you’re mother board has 4 slots for RAM, I would buy two 1GB sticks and then you’d have 2.5GB of RAM (plenty to run almost anything).

Hopefully these answers have helped. Feel free to ask for any clarification. If anyone has any questions about hardware feel free to ask us.