Please note this is here so other users (probably googling) will find them easily. First off I downloaded the demo from Steam, being faster and most people report it doesnt come with some secuROM thing or somethin like that. I will list off the problems I had and how I overcame them in the order they occurred. First off, my specs are the following:

AMD Athlon XP 1600+ 1.4GHz Palomino Core @ 1.47GHz
896MB PC133 SD RAM (1x 512, 1x 256, 1x 128)
ASUS K7V-133 Via KT133a motherboard @ 140MHz FSB
Maxtor 40GB EIDE100 7200RPM 2mb cache HDD (other one doesnt matter, it's empty)
128MB BFG GeForce 6600GT AGP O/C @ AGP 4x & 525/1050 clocks
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Video and sound drivers are most recent, video being beta (however it did work on 61.43 I believe, whatever came on the BFG 4.4 CD), all other drivers are default windows drivers.

Problem: Steam demo wont start
Symptoms: Bioshock says ready to play, the small logo comes up for 3 seconds then disappears.
My solution: Right click BIOSHOCK in the STEAM window and click properties. Go to the updates tab and set it to do not automatically update this game, then run the game again. It will give you a 45 minute wait (at least for me, at 175kbps, whatever it was downloading) and then finish up.

Problem: Bioshock locks up on first run
Symptoms: Bioshock locks up shortly after the menu comes up.
My Solution: This is a very common problem on my particular computer due to the weak PSU (250w). I am currently ordering an Ultra 350w PSU to correct these issues (the 5v rail reads 4.65v) After a quick reboot it ran fine.

Problem: Bioshock runs very slowly
symptoms: General lag
My Solution: being severely under the minimum enjoyable requirements, a bit of overclocking helped. I'm severely CPU limited, as the framerate doesnt change no matter how low I set the graphics. the 6600GT can handle the game EASILY near-maxed out @ 1280x1024, at least in accordance to CPU limits.

Problem: Bioshock has no sound
Symptoms: No sound after the plane crash sequence.
My solution: many theories as to this problem have surfaced, one being too many sounds being loaded into the buffers and doing a poor job at clearing them. My issues were solved simply by turning EAX and reverb off. 5.1 doesnt seem to work though, or my rear speakers are just really really quiet (a possibility)

Other issues I DIDNT encounter:
Problem: Bioshock doesn't support my video card!
Symptoms: Bioshock has an error saying "video card is not supported" or the graphics are completely messed up and blocky.
Solution: Download the beta of ShaderShock 2.0. Unreal Engine 3 doesn't require SM3.0, so why should Bioshock? Exactly. Here's your link: click here

Thats the problems I encountered, and how I got around them. Hopefully this will help some of you.
So much for those "minimum requirements problems" lol! I'm less than 1/2 the REQUIRED CPU speed, 128mb under the minimum RAM (and SD RAM at that) slow-ass harddrive... and I can STILL enjoy bioshock! I was laughing about it last night too, I read that some people spent upwards of $2000 just to play Bioshock, and it wouldnt work, I just spent $150 and it's still a P.O.S. computer, and I can play it just fine. Then i felt bad so I posted how I solved my problems with it.

I downloaded the game in great anticipation only to find out that I have no mouse cursor on the main screen. Turns out that the game is only coded for video cards that support shader 3.0 or something like that. I can't believe that the developers would be that lazy not to have Shader 2.0 support. There are thousands of video cards out there that people are using that only support 2.0! I can't believe it. I refuse to upgrade my video card just for one game.

It is complete B$!!!!

We can also ad "Complete B$!!!!" to another game: Medal of Honor: Airborne Assault. I just downloaded that demo as well and get there error: Your videocard is not supported!

Freaking XboX360 just looks better and better doesn't it?!?!

well, despite all the glowing reviews, the DX9 version isn't all that great either. the graphics are comparable to doom 3 but with better textures, and the water actually has some refraction. Please note my settings were 1280x1024, everything set to ON except windowed mode, Vertical Sync and DX10 shaders. Textures and actors were set to high. If that isn't considered "max graphics" then please enlighten me. These reviewers act as if they've never seen Doom 3 before

And there is a mod for Bioshock to support SM2.0, I think it's called ShaderShock 2.0. It's still a beta and there are lots of bugs but it's better than looking at pixellated graphics (he shows you what it looks like before the mod in the forum thread he posted it in) I just happened to be lucky enough to have access to a GF6600.

Another SM3.0 only game is Colin McRae's DiRT game. hell it refuses to run at all unless you got minimum specs (every other game I try it runs fine but nooooooooooo not DiRT). There are probably more but these are the only ones I personally know of.

EDIT: decided to grab the URL for ya, just in case. (for those of you who have never been to this forum before, links look just like normal text, just click the following text) ShaderShock 2.0 Thread

Thanks for the link to the ShaderShock, but it is only for the full game and not the demo.

I went to NewEgg today because I was so disgruntled at the fact that my system is now 'outdated' and tried putting together a new system. Has it been THAT long? Am I THAT out of touch with the current hardware, I didn't have a clue as to what I was putting together. I can't even fathom a guess as to what MoBo I should get or what chip. Some of the prices for an AMD Nforce board where around something like $200+!!!!! Are they insane or am I just that cheap?!?!

the nvidia chipsets are one of the best out there, with the GeForce 7050 and 7025 being the best micro-ATX, sporting high def surround too.
The ATI xX00 series is DirectX 9.0b only, even the X800. The entire x1X00 series is DX9.0c, but are still rather expensive. And of course the GeForce 8 and Radeon HD series are both DX10 (so you may find some major visual improvements over DX9, not sure though.

The entire GeForce 6 and 7 series are 9.0c compliant, so if you want to play bioshock, those are your best bets if you wanna go cheap (I can grab a 7900GS for just under $200 CAD) AMD is now super-cheap. Their super-high end processors are in the $300 range, and kick the crap out of equally priced intel's (the 6000+ is said to be much faster overall than the Quad Core Intel, games come close too). DDR2 RAM is finally affordable, I can pick up 1GB of PC5400 DDR2 RAM for $55, or even OCZ SLI certified 2GB dual channel DDR2 RAM for just under $100. I can seriously put together a brand new dual core DX10 gaming rig for under $1000! the 320mb 8800GTS is still a god compared to other cards, especially at the same price point (just under $300). Though the Radeon HD series is kicking nvidia in the ball sack when it comes to DX10, due to their super-high amount of shaders.

I downloaded the full game , haven't tried it yet.

I downloaded it too. No sense wasting money on the game if I can't get that 'shadershock' to work on BioShock. If the game works with that 'patch' then I will buy it..... of course.

bittorrent is great , i try games before buying them too.

I bought the game and is a great game. Too bad it asks for a lot of requirements to get the best gaming experience.

I love your last line "Kicking it in the ball sack!" Thanks for some of your suggestions, I am going to start a new thread I think and look for some more suggestions as to what to purchase exactly. I have some stuff in my 'wishlist' on my NewEgg account but, for the life of me, I can't pick an AMD proc and Nforce Mobo! I am confused.

The game worked with the shadershock files. The load times are something like 5-10 minutes long!!!!

The game worked, I saved my game, came out to the desktop and went back into the game. Now it looks like crap again! So I just freaking gave up and un-installed the game. I am saving the ISO on my HD until I get a Shader 3.0 complaint card to try it out again.

I hope it works out for you Coz as this is a kick ass game. When you get things right so you can play it, you won't be sorry. Plus,you'll be setting your rig up for some great upcoming games. Walk towards the light Coz,walk towards the liiigghhtt (done in spooky voice) ) No BS buddy,it's great.

I got the new Vid Car and it plays BioShock very well. You are right, the game is great. However, I've been splitting my gaming time between Bioshock, Quake Wars Demo, COH: Opposing Forces Demo and MOH: Airborne. Too many games out all at once. LoL

LOL.don't we wish we had that problem all the time.From now till spring there's a butt load of good games coming out.

Did you go with DX10 or DX9.0c? Cant remember which vid card you said you were getting. If it's DX9, maybe its my video card that makes the gfx comparable to Doom 3, hows it look?

I didnt get a chance to play due to so many incompaitabilities with my video card and mobo... so I need a new CPU/Mobo/RAM... Aint gonna be cheap (I mean I didnt get a chance to play the full version)

Tried running it with my x1950xtx and everything went well although couldn't set it to max detail. This game indeed is a CPU resource eater.

bioshock cool game i just rented that about 2 days ago fun game and damn the big daddys are hard
any tips on takeing them out?

big daddy's? shock, shoot, repeat until dead. really easy. Rosies are a little harder as they have range and mines. Shotgun and grenades I find work the best.

X1950XTX finally gets it to max detail at 1280x1024 with my Q6700 & 4GB's RAM. Nice game but still I'd rather play COD4.

Darkness ... is this the form the game takes-or is this a new addition to game?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyugWLqZ41E

If this is what I'm thinking, that's the final stage, after completing it, this is the "bonus" stage before the real ending. Let's hope there's another COD soon. This one is a really nice game.