QUOTE(monsterface007 @ Jul 22 2008, 01:54 AM)
case scenario 1) if you have very strong graphic card and very high RAM and processor, not forgetting great cooling system, no prob, you can even get another HD and install linux
case scenario 2) if your pc works just good enough curently using xp, sorry to say, vista is going to kill your pc
Huh?? Are you kidding?
1) You don't need a very high end graphic card nor RAM nor processor. And what does cooling has to do with VISTA?? This is not O/C!!!!
For VISTA, 1GB is sufficient.(But 2 GB is recommended..heck..even 2GB for XP is recommended...RAM so cheap). My old Athlon XP can run VISTA with 768MB and Aero Interface with a 6200 and my laptop with integrated 6100 Geforce Go also can run Aero Interface. All you need is a DX9 card, nothing special.
2) It is NOT going to kill your system.
TS: You don't actually need a separate HDD for VISTA, same HDD with separate partition will do. And i don't think multi O/S in a PC will have any effect on performance becoz only one is active any one time. I've 4 OS in my PC....XP, VISTA, MAC OSX, UBUNTU..no problem at all.
Basically:
1) Partition your hard disk.(if needed)
2) Install XP on partition 1/hdd 1.
3) Install VISTA on partition 2/hdd 2.
Done.
VISTA will automatically detect your XP OS and present a menu to boot from each OS.