Windows Vista Weblog

Vista hardware :: a summary of requirements

by John on November 8th, 2005

The rumbling debate over the hardware requirements for Windows Vista has died down after several testers and manufacturers confirmed the upper level of speculation as being nearer the mark. Let’s recap the arguments.

Back at the TechEd conference, Nigel Page, a Microsoft strategist in Australia, made some remarks about the hardware requirements for Windows Vista. He allegedly stated that Vista would work best on a video card with more than 256MB RAM, 2GB of DDR3 fast memory and a S-ATA 2 hard drive.

Chris Pirillo, a beta tester, made the same observations. “Beta 1 seems to be working well enough, although I’m extremely disappointed in both Microsoft and NVIDIA for not delivering drivers that would enable me to experience [Vista’s Aero] Glass [user interface] in its full glory.”

But then computer manufacturer Michael Dell confirmed beta testers’ assessments of the hardware reuirements for running Windows Vista as at least 256 Mbyte of GDDR, as well as high-capacity SATA hard drives, “more” system RAM for “wider pathways” and a high-resolution display. Dell will build his Vista computers due next year around that specification.

Is the technology generally available and at the right price? Well, some of it is not even on the market yet. Here’s a summary.

With the news that Windows Vista will need fast DDR3 RAM memory for optimum performance, we’ve been looking around at what people are blogging about the product, especially the timelines.

BitTech believes that : “DDR3 will be the new memory technology for the platforms of the future, but that isn’t going to start arriving until the very end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007. However, when it does arrive it’s going to scale up to 1600MHz. … In the meantime, it looks as though DDR3 is only going to be on graphics cards for the foreseeable future.”

Tom’s Hardware reports : “Elpida and Hynix showcased DDR3 modules at Intel’s developer forum for the first time. The technology, however, is at least another 18 months out and manufacturers are currently gearing up to deliver fully-buffered DIMMs for the first quarter of next year.”

PC World writes : “Elpida Memory has completed development of its first DDR3 memory chip, the company said Wednesday. DDR3 is an improvement on existing computer memory and should help increase performance in personal computers, particularly in the area of multimedia applications. … Elpida’s DDR3 chip works at 1.3 GHz.”

With the news that Windows Vista will require SATA hard drives to operate at full power and speed, I thought readers might like a definition of what that actually means. Here’s the Wikipedia definition :

“Often abbreviated SATA or S-ATA, an evolution of the Parallel ATA physical storage interface. Serial ATA is a serial link — a single cable with a minimum of four wires creates a point-to-point connection between devices. Transfer rates for Serial ATA begin at 150MBps. One of the main design advantages of Serial ATA is that the thinner serial cables facilitate more efficient airflow inside a form factor and also allow for smaller chassis designs. In contrast, IDE cables used in parallel ATA systems are bulkier than Serial ATA cables and can only extend to 40cm long, while Serial ATA cables can extend up to one meter. Serial ATA supports all ATA and ATAPI devices.”

So there are still mixed message out there. Microsoft must be praying that the old theatrical line is right : It’ll be alright on the night.

Share This

Related Stories

Scoble criticizes Microsoft man in Australia
8 percent Develop for Windows Vista
Wintel What?
Stickers for Windows Vista Capable PC’s
Vista hardware requirements : the full story?

POSTED IN: Microsoft, Windows Vista