14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Vista needs all the support it can get in order to deliver the best user experience possible. And there are four major pillars that fuel Windows Vista, but the bottom line is that the operating system's performance is strictly dependent on the hardware resources. And Vista is a resource hog unlike any previous version of the Windows operating system. Microsoft points out that Windows vista needs ?decent? hardware to deliver the best experience possible and to support Windows Aero.
As you might have already inferred, the four pillars I was talking about are RAM, Processor, Hard Disk and Video Card. While Windows Vista is designed to work with a minimum of 512 RAM, 800 MHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor, a 40 GB HDD and a video card that supports DirectX 9 graphics, Microsoft is not recommending such configurations.
Decent might be 1 GB of RAM, 1 GHz processor, a 120 GB hard drive and a no less than 128 MB of graphics memory. This is the recommended level. Windows Vista needs an equilibrium between all hardware components. You cannot sacrifice one for the other.
But the true Vista experience can be felt only if you have top horsepower under the hood. 2 GB of RAM, 2 GHz processor, either x86 or x64, multiple hard drives, and 256 MB of graphics memory. But in this context you need a Windows Aero capable graphics processor with support for DirectX 9 graphics, the Windows Driver Display Model (WDDM), Pixel Shader 2.0, and 32 bits per pixel.
So, in case your old PC fails to rise up to these standards, it would be best to go all out on an upgrade and ensure that you do have that 2 GB of RAM with a 2GHz+ processor; you might as well go 64-bits while you're at it, a primary HDD of no less than 100 GB with 15 GB reserved just for Windows Vista and the 256 MB Aero capable video card.