If I bought a CRAY super computer will CA be faster?

[Max]

Ozgur,
I am beginning to think you may be right regarding Windows Server 2008 / Windows 7. The thing to remember is that Server 2008 is still current which means it still gets the latest updates and will for some time.

I just finished getting a couple of drivers installed which were the last of those needing adjustment on my second computer. I can say this machine hasn't run this good ever. It's very solid now and I keep a watchful eye over the system events but have yet to see anything of any import

Will soon load Chief X4 Demo and start experimenting. I had posted a query some time back in regard to the reliability of gauging the performance of X4 Full by trying X4 Demo. I got it straight from Chief that their isn't any thing different other than the printing / saving functions being turned off so I should be able to rely completely on my evaluation using the Demo version. Will post as I learn more...

1-7-12
Just finished completely with getting the OS configured along with all the various system apps installed and running such as security and etc. This is on an older machine which I have dedicated to web use and office related apps, keeping my CAD machine completely separated from the web for obvious reasons. The board is an Intel D945GNT with an Intel Pentium D dual core 3.4 processor. Plenty fast on the processor but the memory is a bit slow. The board only supports 4 gigs at 667 MHz. It does have a PCIE video slot which is one of the first available at the time I purchased the board. I bought the only 512 meg card on the market at the time, a ATI X1600 Radeon.
I list the basics because, as you can see, upgrading to Windows 7 would have required new hardware and for what I used the system for that would have been a waste.
With the 2008 server OS I am seeing this system perform far better than before. Even running the defrag utility was much faster than before, go figure. Obviously the networking is a breeze. The system is dated to 2005/6 so, at 6 to 7 years old it's considered an antique and one I will be using for some time yet!
Based on the fact that Windows 7 is considered to be Vista but without the bugs I will have to say I have yielded all the benefits of Windows 7 without the need to upgrade my hardware. Even though I will use Chief on my much newer machine I am going to load the X4 Demo on this one just to see how well it does run on such an old system. I will be posting the results soon.