New CPU for Vista
If you are interested in upgrading to Windows Vista when it comes out (eventually, someday), you’ll probably have to upgrade your computer. According to Microsoft, the minimum requirements for a Vista “Capable” PC are
- A modern processor (at least 800MHz).
- 512 MB of system memory.
- A graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable.
Yeah, right. A bit more realistically, a Vista “Premium” PC should have at least the following:
- 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor.
- 1 GB of system memory.
- A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero.
- 128 MB of graphics memory.
- 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
- DVD-ROM Drive.
- Audio output capability.
- Internet access capability.
A bit better, but thats not really reasonable either. Assume you’ll need a PC at least 50% better just to get some menial level of productivity.
Or you can just wait to get your 350 GHz system. No, not 3 GHz. Three hundred fifty gigahertz. Georgia Tech and IBM have created a processor that runs that fast at room temperature and 500 GHz if its supercooled. According to the press release, researchers think they can achieve terahertz performance with some tweaks.
The purpose of the research was to figure out the upper limits of processor speeds with the current technology and see what kind of speed improvements would manifest with cooling processors to absolute zero.