Cheap Vista Premium Compatible Computer?

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magus57

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What's the cheapest computer I can buy that would meet Windows Visat Premium requirements? I don't need the following:

DVD/CD Drive
Monitor
Graphics Card
Sound Card
Speakers

I basically want a cheap computer that would serve for school and casual gaming, and be up for Windows Vista.

BTW, is it true that DirectX10 cards will be required to use Vista Premium? Because according to this article (in Microsoft's website), you only need DirectX9:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/community/gaming.mspx
 
first i would believe that article if it came straight from microsoft, and second, i would not build a computer based off windows vista if it hasnt even come out yet. i would wait to hear its final requirements.
 
magus57 said:
What's the cheapest computer I can buy that would meet Windows Visat Premium requirements? I don't need the following:

DVD/CD Drive
Monitor
Graphics Card
Sound Card
Speakers

I basically want a cheap computer that would serve for school and casual gaming, and be up for Windows Vista.

BTW, is it true that DirectX10 cards will be required to use Vista Premium? Because according to this article (in Microsoft's website), you only need DirectX9:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/community/gaming.mspx
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How much do you want to spend on the parts that you dont have? And also, what is your graphics card?
 
Vista, from what I hear, is very different from other OS's in that it customizes based on your system specs. if you don't have a lot of ram, it's not going to run things that require a lot of resources, etc. If you want to play it safe, get at least a gig of ram, at least 100gb hdd, video card with at least 128mb of ram, 256 optimal (but thats getting expensive). and at least 2.4ghz processor
 
Platinum said:
Vista, from what I hear, is very different from other OS's in that it customizes based on your system specs. if you don't have a lot of ram, it's not going to run things that require a lot of resources, etc. If you want to play it safe, get at least a gig of ram, at least 100gb hdd, video card with at least 128mb of ram, 256 optimal (but thats getting expensive). and at least 2.4ghz processor
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I would go for a cheap dual core CPU, 1GB of RAM, 80GB-120GB HDD, and a 256MB video card.
 
I beleive the big part of vista compatability is the video card. So, I don't think the computer will matter as much as the GPU. Of course, you do need a fairly decent processor, but it doesn't require duel core or anything like that...
 
you know you want dual core

and now adays 2GB of RAM is pretty much essential(not needed) but it will handle everything you need
 
is ur existing setup enough to play your "casual" games? if so, it's probably able to run vista already. i have a pretty crappy celeron w/ 512mb and a radeon 9200 that i am running vista ultimate on. it's not great, but it still runs.

it's just that it wouldn't run it efficiently.

also, if you really want to go into building a vista pc.. you might just have to start from scratch and research.. look up drives, medias, cards, etc.. that have already been tested and working with vista already. for all you know, those existing hardwares that you have already may not even be compatible with vista, or even if it is, there may not be any drivers or anything, so you might get a microsoft driver instead, which aren't that great.
 
i'm running the beta 5472 at home right now on one of my spare computers and its got a p4 prescott core 3.0ghz 2gig memory 256mb video card 500gig hdd integrated 802.11lan and so on and its very very fast this is going to be one of the fastest builds of windows yet and yes it does customize to meet your computers needs on first install it will test and know what it can and cannot run on your computer and i recently put another gig of memory in there and it realised and turned some more freatures on so far so good on vista but man is it diferent in the GUI and how its all set up
 
I am running the same thing as codeman on an Athlon 64 3500, 1GB DDR2, 250GB HDD and integrated video. The only thing that it lags on is the effects.

Also, I would really recommend a dual-core processor.
 
You are all missing his point. He needs to spend as little amoutn of $ as possible. So he only needs a 128mb vid card, not 256 (that will make the price jump quite a bit), he only needs a gig of ram, not 2, his hdd like a few of you said, should be around 100, and he doesn't need a dual core, first of all, if you want a good one its going to be expensive, and there no point in buying a cheap one. He should just buy a good processor for the same price as a POS dual core, who knows, that could crash in a matter of weeks, you don't want to be cheap in regards to a processor. If anything, that's where you should spend the extra $ to upgrade a bit, but dual is unnecessary, even for vista. (it wouldnt hurt though, dont get me wrong)
 
Platinum said:
You are all missing his point. He needs to spend as little amoutn of $ as possible. So he only needs a 128mb vid card, not 256 (that will make the price jump quite a bit), he only needs a gig of ram, not 2, his hdd like a few of you said, should be around 100, and he doesn't need a dual core, first of all, if you want a good one its going to be expensive, and there no point in buying a cheap one. He should just buy a good processor for the same price as a POS dual core, who knows, that could crash in a matter of weeks, you don't want to be cheap in regards to a processor. If anything, that's where you should spend the extra $ to upgrade a bit, but dual is unnecessary, even for vista. (it wouldnt hurt though, dont get me wrong)
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who said anything about dual core? i'm running a simple prescott core p4 its not a dual core but honestly if you are building any thing new its not a bad idea to spend the extra cash to upgrade to the dual if u have the money
 
codeman0013 said:
who said anything about dual core? i'm running a simple prescott core p4 its not a dual core but honestly if you are building any thing new its not a bad idea to spend the extra cash to upgrade to the dual if u have the money
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I said that it was recommended. We all know that single core is going to be obsolete in a short amount of time. Vista will run fine on a single core processor (but it will have trouble on a sempron or a celeron), a dual-core is just a good idea, especially with prices as low as they are.
 
Bobo said:
Vista will run fine on a single core processor (but it will have trouble on a sempron or a celeron),.
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I have a celeron d at 2.8ghz, it isnt that bad running vista, but you will need an upgraded graphics board. Intel's GMA900 doesnt run the 3-d fetures:(.I hope the days of cheap onboard graphics arn't ending
 
codeman0013 said:
i'm running the beta 5472 at home right now on one of my spare computers and its got a p4 prescott core 3.0ghz 2gig memory 256mb video card 500gig hdd integrated 802.11lan and so on and its very very fast this is going to be one of the fastest builds of windows yet and yes it does customize to meet your computers needs on first install it will test and know what it can and cannot run on your computer and i recently put another gig of memory in there and it realised and turned some more freatures on so far so good on vista but man is it diferent in the GUI and how its all set up
Click to expand...

PUNCTUATION!

I would reccomend having like a cheap X2 (if prices drop even more) or maybe a Core 2 Duo if they are cheaper for a CPU. As far as GPUs go, i would get a cheap one until you need to upgrade to a DX10 card.
 
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