I'm also getting this Vista upgrade path info:

Windows XP Home Edition --> Windows Vista Home Basic
Windows XP Media Centre Edition 2005 --> Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows XP Professional --> Windows Vista Business
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition--> Windows Vista Business x64

(source: Dell)

which again puts MCE in the 'Home' camp.

how many CPUs can Vista run?

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I'm also getting this Vista upgrade path info:

Windows XP Home Edition --> Windows Vista Home Basic
Windows XP Media Centre Edition 2005 --> Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows XP Professional --> Windows Vista Business
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition--> Windows Vista Business x64

(source: Dell)

which again puts MCE in the 'Home' camp.

how many CPUs can Vista run?

This is proving to be a tough nut to crack. I've just spent half-an-hour searching through microsoft.com, and unless you already have Vista and are prepared to download a 65MB Word 2007 document, the information doen't seem to be there.

The best I've come up with is this Wikipedia article, which specifically mentions dual socket support in the Business edition.

For the time being, my working assumption is:

XP and Vista Home and variants: one socket, any number of cores/threads
XP and Vista Pro/Business and variants: two sockets, any number of cores/threads

When I get my copy of Vista, I'll download the product guide and let you know what I find - the link is in the Wiki article.

i have windows vista beta, and was wondering if i could set up a dual Amd on it.

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I see four Core 2 Quads in the top twenty computers, all doing between 3350 and 3850 RAC. The top one, MSattler's, is at about 3850 and still rising pretty well. I know these processors cost over $1000 each but it's just one processor. Mr Sattler probably has his machine well-overclocked. Also I just got through reading in Computer Shopper that these processors generate quite a bit of heat (again-just like the PDs) because they're two joined Core 2 Duos. So if Mr Sattlers tops out at around 4500 (I don't know if it'll go that high) that will outperform my PD950s by about 3.5-to-1. There's a lot more than just the cost of the processor in the cost of a computer. Even though my two processors cost only about $250 each, the two machines they're in set me back about $3000. No fancy graphics cards. No fancy memory. Fifty-dollar watercoolers (one of which broke), no extra hard drives, etc.

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Have been looking at these multi core chips, don't think they're that great an idea, at least at the moment. too much heat begin built up. don't see them having much of a shelf life.

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I see four Core 2 Quads in the top twenty computers, all doing between 3350 and 3850 RAC. The top one, MSattler's, is at about 3850 and still rising pretty well. I know these processors cost over $1000 each but it's just one processor. Mr Sattler probably has his machine well-overclocked. Also I just got through reading in Computer Shopper that these processors generate quite a bit of heat (again-just like the PDs) because they're two joined Core 2 Duos. So if Mr Sattlers tops out at around 4500 (I don't know if it'll go that high) that will outperform my PD950s by about 3.5-to-1. There's a lot more than just the cost of the processor in the cost of a computer. Even though my two processors cost only about $250 each, the two machines they're in set me back about $3000. No fancy graphics cards. No fancy memory. Fifty-dollar watercoolers (one of which broke), no extra hard drives, etc.

You can see overclock from his results like 3420MHz now

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i have windows vista beta, and was wondering if i could set up a dual Amd on it.

From what I understand, all beta copies were full fledged Vista Ultimate copies (so that testers could test every single nuance of the program and report errors back to MS, since Ultimate has all the features), and Vista should work with dual socket setups.

Note that Beta copies are set to expire in July per Microsoft.

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i have windows vista beta, and was wondering if i could set up a dual Amd on it.

From what I understand, all beta copies were full fledged Vista Ultimate copies (so that testers could test every single nuance of the program and report errors back to MS, since Ultimate has all the features), and Vista should work with dual socket setups.

Note that Beta copies are set to expire in July per Microsoft.

Note 4 from that Wikipedia article:

"All editions of Windows Vista will ship on the same DVD. It is the license key purchased that determines which version will be installed."

So presumably all beta installation keys were Ultimate licences.

You can see overclock from his results like 3420MHz now

How interesting, Ivailo. I didn't realize that the actual speed was displayed on the page of the individual result. That's a 28-percent overclock.

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ahharrr! Have just been toying with new setup here, got a dual 2.88 Pentium, am a bit wary of letting loose with the overclock option on the motherboard at the moment as having serious problems with ventilation, but for now it's running just under 60'c with everything going full speed!
anyone got any suggestions re decent processor cooling that wont cost the earth???

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Have been looking at these multi core chips, don't think they're that great an idea, at least at the moment. too much heat begin built up. don't see them having much of a shelf life.

If you check this thread here:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=36426

The newer C2D chips run cooler, produce more RAC per watt ($), and overclock much easier with the right motherboard.

If you are in the market for a new system or run a serious S@H farm you should SERIOUSLY consider replacing everything with C2D.

main problem is cooling the system overall. The cpu isn't worth bothering with until I get that under control as if the system temperature is breaking 45'c can't exactly expect the cpu to be any cooler

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alrighty!
cooling problem solved, just had to get some extra ventilation and a larger sinc and fan in place. Problem now being noise!
Anyone got a quad core chip yet?? Will be my next step and am really looking forward to see how much heat build they cause

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