Here is what newegg will be dropping off this week:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000
ASRock ALiveNF7G-HDready AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 7050
MSI GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCIe
G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB)
500 gig WD caviar SATA
SATA DVD burner

When I made my order, I checked PCSTATS and another evaluation site for linux compatibility. All components chosen were mentioned as linux-friendly.

I plan on running FC7. (I have been using ubuntu and kubuntu on my old beige box through a KVM for some time, so I feel I have the hang of Linux enough to know where to look for the answers to all the questions that come up.)

The plan is to toss "Old Beige", run this new system as a M$-less box, but keep my WinXP box on and accessible through the KVM and home network.

Now, I know that 32-bit M$ OSs have a problem dealing with > 4 gig of RAM.

Did I commit overkill with my RAM purchase?

Probably. But so what?

Trust me: I am the type of guy that believes if one is good, 2 in a RAID 0 configuration is better!

Maybe I should have asked this question BEFORE clicking "BUY"?

If it is within your budget, go get it!

Got it. HHowever, does Linux have the same limitations that 32-bit Windows XP has? (Where it can only see 3.7 or so gigs of ram when there really is 4 gig on the mobo?)

32-bit Linux has the same limit 32-bit Windows does. So install a 64-bit Linux.

Just note that all the kinks aren't worked out of 64-bitness. For example, there is no 64-bit Flash player, and gettign the 32-bit one to work on a 64-bit system is a giant pain.

I read in my Asus mobo (P5B wifi deluxe) documentation that winxp and the other m$ 32-bit systems can't see more than 3GB, altough the mobo has the ability for 4GB (or 8GB?). To see more RAM xp-64 or other 64bit systems are needed (only m$ systems are listed, of course). Anyway, I have only 1x2=2GB installed now, so I can't test. But I often read about "4GB" as an eventual limit for 32bit systems, not "3GB". Is it perhaps something about various chipsets too?

Just install that damm Fedora 7 64 on it and thats it.
I've nearly the same specs only different is that I spend some more cents on Memory Manufacture and Motherboard.
I've got 4 GB Ram and everything is running perfectly.

Instruction on how to install all those multimedia crap like flashplayer and so on...
Run through this : http://www.my-guides.net/en/content/view/59/26/1/1/

finish.

The 4GB limit is on total address space, of which RAM takes up most but not all.

If a motherboard can take 4GB of RAM, a 32-bit OS may only see around 3-3.75 of it. The value varies, because the "missing" address space is used for things like PCI devices.

There's a discussion of the 3GB limit here:

http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm

@maroonbaboon
Thanks for this publication.
It's really sad to make computers in the 21st century with the 70s' restrictions.