I am really kicking myself. For years I have been buying off the shelf computers and am always struggling to run my programs. Then a friend of mine helped me pick out the parts to build a new one. So for about $1350 from newegg.com (the parts) instead of my usual low / midgrade computer I was able to build the following.
Gigabyte motherboard
1 1/2 TB memory
Saphire 5970 Graphics Card
4.2 GH processor
High end power supply
4 GB ram (may upgrade to 6 or
So if you have never tried before it is not nearly as hard as I thought. Now my only problem is instead of being behind- I find I am a little too far out there. Many programs have yet to catch up to the Windows 64 bit. But it is WELL WORTH THE TIME!