Thanks guys. I actually did a lot of digging on this. Obviously, Intel v. AMD and ATI v. Nvidia affect the results too. I've always known XP is good for 2d. But then also core 2 is best in wprime in Vista. 3d multi gpu seems best in Vista 32, while single gpu in XP. Basically every config has different OSs that like it.
 
http://www.overclockers.com/windows-showdown-8-operating-systems-6-benchmarks/
 
http://www.madshrimps.be/vbulletin/f22/playing-benchmark-game-core-i7-ati-tested-8-windows-os-68535/#post250569
 
http://www.overclock.net/benchmarking-software-discussion/653603-best-os-bench-3dmark.html

Sounds simple enough lol

Good luck Q hope your somewhere around - 196 as we speak........

go for the gold Q!!!!
break 5.5k on the 980X!!

Friday brought goodness to my door step

 
Just starting to fool around with it:

I am so jealous Nate.

Whoa nate that looks sweeet!

now if only I knew how to use it

It is a manual lathe, not cnc, i assume?

Yup.  Never used a lathe before.  I totally get the concept, but lack the experience. 
 
The mill I am making will be CNC.  All the parts are in the mail, and should be in this week.  I am almost done with the base & Z column.  Its all bolted together, but I am going to weld it to be rigid.  Only thing that scares me, is welding is permanent.