I had a pretty good/mediocre set up before, but it only had 3gbs of ram, the bare minimum, really, for Vista x64 and playing graphics-intensive games. I have bought a new rig, with the main specs in my sig. The only real difference in them, besides the much upgraded i7 chip and GPU ( I went from a 920 @ 2.67GHz to the 960 @ 3.20GHz, and a HD 5670 to the slightly faster HD 5770) is the doubling of ram, from 3 to 6gb. It's also better quality @ 1333.
The game is completely different,now. Looking at Megaton at night for the first run on the new rig was an awe-inspiring religious experience for this atheist! It's like I was playing without wearing my glasses before, I'm not exaggerating at all, believe me. And movement is as smooth as glass; no hitching, glitching or dropped fps. Perhaps the more knowledgeable members here can correct me on my assumption here, but I really think the added ram has made the most difference. Win7 is also a much-needed improvement on the gawdawful Vista that I was previously afflicted with.
I'd also like to add that I was still forced to perform the .ini core-throttling, and I see no real difference in the graphics or movement so far. Just no more freezing indoors, or anywhere.
Also, what is the method for finding out the FPS in-game?