Back_Blast

Make sure when you update drivers you uninstall the old ones and use a driver cleaner in safe mode before installing the new. Helps clear out any leftover files and such.

I'm thinking not. The specs for the PC state it has PCI and PCIE slots. I believe the X1600 is an AGP video card. So there won't be a place to slot it in.

Could be the video card going out or overheating. When you updated drivers did you use a driver cleaner to flush the old ones? If not, try that.

Minimal UM is about what I'd tend to expect of those, if that. Hard to judge for sure but I wouldn't expect much from either one. And as #2 mentions SLI, it will be very less optimal since SLI isn't supported by CoH. There is a switch to force SLI but it isn't officially supported.

Well mobile GPUs aren't as powerful as their desktop namesakes but I'd expect a mobile 5870 to be able to handle UM without too much trouble. Not sure if you'll be able to run it flat out full but it should still give good results. Looks like a pretty nice laptop. Buy me one too?

The above suggestions are good. If that doesn't work try turning off the DNS Client Service and see if that helps.

That's an Nvidia driver file. Try updating your video drivers to the latest version.

Well one question we might ask is: What do you have now?

Really, the places where a multicore like the X6 and i7 are going to shine the most for you is likely in the Photoshop realm. Most of what else you're doing won't care. That said, I do think multiple cores will help in multitasking if I'm not mistaken. So the weekly spreadsheet foo may get improved and if you run CoH and also websurf while you play, some improvement may be seen there too. But what improvement you'll see with anything is somewhat dependent on your current setup in comparison too.

Another possible consideration is that while you might not really need an i7's horsepower now, you might in future. Plans change, programs change and there might be a day when an i7 or X6 would be a good thing to have. So some investment for the future might not be a bad idea. Worth considering anyways I think.

But beyond that, what are you willing to spend? What's the budget?

So the 10.4a preview is newer/more advanced than the drivers that release today? That seems kinda silly...

Have a look here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...90fx,2613.html

Looks to be a decent review and puts the X6's up against some i7's for comparisons.

Without knowing more about your system, a new PC might be overly drastic but a new video card is a definite yes. And a quick Google check confirms that file is an SiS graphics related file. So tell us what you have exactly and we can judge better from there.

Data is data. It typically needs no special treatment. All your documents, pictures, spreadsheets, music, databases, etc. will be fully accessible once you have reinstalled the appropriate programs to access them. There shouldn't be any issues there at all. You should likewise be able to copy over all your CoH customization stuff and provided you put it in the same spots on 'C' it should all work fine. I do think you should be able to do as you suggest with the updater and make it work but I won't guarantee that. CoH doesn't have to be installed in it's default location and I don't think there's any big special stuff to it but I've always just put it where it wants to go and left it there. Makes life easier.

As said before, a 32-bit OS is limited to 4GB of address space. About the only way I could see such a system registering all or nearly all 4GB as available would be if the system had an integrated GPU with no memory of it's own. Since it would be borrowing from the system memory, the OS should thus be able to address the majority of the full 4GB, assuming the system was equipped with such. Regardless, your OS should know the 4GB is there, it just cannot make use of all of it.

Generally best just to transfer the important data and reinstall. Some programs will work under your present circumstances but many will not or if they do will lose all personalization and such or perhaps run but have issues. So many programs have extra files elsewhere plus registry entries and other fun stuff that it's almost always better to just reinstall fresh and move on. CoH isn't as bad and if you have him just copy the folder to it's proper spot on 'C' it generally should work. But I'd still do a repartition job and data transfer. As for Vista not starting, it's more likely the hardware changes are the cause than any corruption. Windows doesn't take well to major hardware surgery, particularly motherboard swaps. Unless the new and old boards are identical or fairly similar, Windows will tend to spaz out and not work. It's generally easier to just reinstall at that point. It's certainly possible there's some corruption but the surgery is the more probable cause.

The Extreme PC box is the better machine I'd say. It'll be much easier I expect to upgrade down the line and you know exactly what parts are coming in it. Since I assume you already have a mouse and keyboard, I wouldn't even take that as a measure of comparison between them. Besides, unless you want a fancy set, it's not like they're that expensive. So that's my take.

I do believe there is a switch to force SLI but I've no idea if it works with Crossfire. It's also not officially supported. Probably best to take the single card over the dual. Also, it's easier to upgrade from there in future to say a second 5870 for Crossfire setup if desired down the road.

Third for sure is the best.

Well your GPU is an integrated chip which almost guarantees it's borrowing memory from your system and lowering performance. If I were to upgrade anything, that would be the first thing I changed. Integrated chips are pretty non-optimal for gaming. Unfortunately, that doesn't look to even be an option as you don't have a slot to put an actual video card in. At least according to the specs you cite. Whether a CPU will help you all that much is debatable. It may help some but I doubt you'll see much improvement if any. Given the nature of your machine, I'd save the money and look towards getting a proper replacement system.

I'm running Win 7 Pro x64 with CoH and nary a problem.

Huh, nice. Though how well it will run on old systems I have to wonder. But a good step forward for folks w/o virtualization HW.

A /bug report is probably enough. There is also a Bugs forum for the Open Beta you can put a report in as well if you like.