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Two more things not mentioned in Kevin's excellent summary are:

1.  The acquisition bottleneck:  if you wish to use your pimped PC for
acquisition, it will have to have a 32-bit OS installed (or dual- boot
with 64bit) because of the paucity of 32 bit device drivers for the
hardware peripherals.  In terms of moving towards "on the fly" 3D- live
imaging, it is the acquisition that limits the stream of data if it
occurs via 32-bit drivers.  I am hoping some device manufacturers with
pipe into this thread with good news about this...

2.  RAM fans.  Some of the dual-Xeon Dells require a special part called
a RAM fan if you wish to install more than 4 GB.  I did not discover
this fact until I tried to upgrade to 8GB.  The computer gives you a
convenient reminder to buy a RAM fan from Dell, and it will not start
until take out the extra RAM.

Michael J. Schell
Assist. Professor
Dept. of Pharmacology
USUHS
4301 Jones Bridge Rd.
Bethesda, MD  20814-3220
tel:  (301) 295-3249
fax (301) 295-3220
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