Sure, Windows Vista does hug a consistent amount of resources, but it also reinvents the way "hardware is used by mainstream Windows-based applications," according to Microsoft, with a special emphasis placed on graphics products. So there is consistency behind Vista's claim for additional resources, especially as far as CPU and GPU are concerned. While RAM and the hard drives are essential to delivering the best overall experience with Windows Vista, Microsoft has paid special attention to the central processor and the graphical processor units. So much attention that it has in fact provided a list of CPUs and GPUs for Windows Vista, with the participation of the following manufacturers Intel, AMD, Via, ATI, NVIDIA and S3 Graphics.

As far as CPUs are concerned, your choices are pretty limited. When it will come to selecting a processor for your Windows Vista system, it will all come down to Intel, AMD and Via. Now I know that some of you are going "Via?", but trust me on this one. And I am not going to get into Intel vs. AMD. I will only provide you with links to the Ital, AMD and Via processors that support Windows Vista.

Intel: With Windows Vista make it Intel inside.
AMD: Experience AMD And Windows Vista.
VIA Platform Support for Microsoft Windows Vista.

With graphics processors, things are a tad trickier. I know that not many of you know this but a graphics card that supports Windows Vista has to support basically WDDM. It's simple once you come to think of it, Windows Display Driver Model is nothing more than the DirectX driver architecture in Vista. All right! Now what's wrong with the WDDM?

Well, with Vista, Microsoft is drawing the Windows desktop in a manner that is less traditional. In this regard, none of the previous versions of the Windows operating system share Vista's display driver model. As a matter of fact, Microsoft has redesigned the display driver model in Vista in order to ensure that every Windows will draw on its own Windows-sized surface. Windows Aero for example requires that the desktop be dynamically composed over and over again in the time space of a single second. But enough technicalities. Let's get down to business; here are the links for the Windows Vista GPUs:

- Intel,
- AMD/ATI,
- nVidia,
- S3 Graphics,
- Via.