I download the manuals in PDF from Nikon and save it to my Dropbox. Then I use Dropbox on my iPhone and save them as a favorite and can pull them up anytime on my iPhone when I need to reference them. Same with the SB-900 manual, always something else to learn. You can save the PDF's in iBooks or iDisk too and do the same thing.
Anyway the Active D Lighting and the High ISO NR will take the most of the buffer. I shoot RAW 12 or 14 and do not do any in camera processing on a D700 and get R13-R15 typically. Adding Active D Lighting in camera will drop this down to R7 I think.
All the processing done does not matter in RAW, only if you are using Nikon Capture or something will it use that information, but I use Lightroom, so no need to have the camera do anything other than save the RAW data.
In fact I have 4 different camera setting slots, but I don't use them at all. The only settings I ever change is RAW from 12-14 depending on what I am shooting (low light gets 14bit) and the Auto ISO.

It's always tempting to open the box and start playing around with your new camera but study the manual too...keep it in your camera bag for reference when needed.
It may look daunting if you're new to DSLRs but you'll soon realise many of the settings only need to be adjusted once to suit the way you work, and can be left after the initial setup.
Again, learn your manual...don't throw it in the box and store it in the cupboard.

Ha, thought I'd sorta get that sort of response (why bother)... just still really new into the DSLR scene and like always took some advice my Father (who owns a D90). After doing what Segura said to do it went up to R33. But I get what you're saying now SPG, doesn't seem to really mean anything to me now that I know what it stands for, lol.

As for the view from "Mount" Scott... it's pretty nice, I guess. The buffalo's are cool. Haven't gone out there with the new camera yet, but that will most likely change this weekend. Can't wait to PCS though, lol.

PS How's the view from Mount Scott these days? Former redleg myself. Been 20+ since I was at Ft Sill, though.

Kind of agree with Segura...if you don't know what it means, why do you care what it says? :-)

It is the number of frames remaining until the buffer is full. It depends on many things (most of the big ones Segura has mentioned). If someone is telling you "17-18 is best" well that all depends. If you never take more than 3 or 4 frames at a time it really doesn't matter. If you are machine-gunning a fast sequence then it might matter. But not likely for most users.

If you don't know what it is, why bother worrying about what number it is? Read the manual.

Turn on JPG, not RAW. Basic Quality
Turn off All Processing (Active D Lighting, Vignette/Distortion Control, High ISO NR, etc)

What number do you get now?

I forget exactly what the R numbers mean, but after messing with some of the buttons on the front of the D7000, the highest I can get is R15. I've always been told that R17-18 is the best to get, so any help would be greatly appreciated.