1st computer build - few ?'s

[ellisz]

Hello all,

I am in the process of building my first computer. Here are a couple of things I was wondering about:

Hardware involved:
EPOX 8kHA+ motherboard
AMD XP 1600+ Retail
Maxtor 60gb 7200 drive - main drive
10g 5400 drive for storage
Evercase 4252 with side fan and front Enermax fan.

When mounting the HSF, the instructions said to remove the adhesive tape on the bottom of the HSF before mounting to the chip. It did not appear to have anything to peel off. It was just a square substance. I mounted it with no problems but was wondering if these instructions that came in the retail box are outdated?

For the Hard drives, I am planning on using the 60gb drive and partitioning it to 2 10gb partitions and a 40gb partition. the 10gb 5400 2nd hard drive will just be for pictures and storage.

I want to run a dual boot 98se/XP pro system. My video StudioDV editing software is stable under 98se so I need to keep it but I like XP for everything else. The question comes in when formatting the HD's. How do I set up the 40gb partition that will be used for video storage and the 10gb 5400 drive? I am unsure how you set up for fat32 in 98se and NTFS for XP. If I set up video clips in 98SE will I be able to watch them if I am in XP? Any set up tips for this?

Thanks

 

[RustyNale]

Hi there ellisz, welcome to AnandTech!

To answer your questions:
Some retail hsf's come with a protective tape on the bottom, if yours didn't have one, just make sure it's clean before attaching it to your cpu. You could scrape it off and apply a thermal paste like Artic Silver if you wanted to.

Dual booting is no problem, but you must load Win98 first before XP. Just use fdisk to partition your hard drive first into the size partitions you want, (this is where the partition is set up as fat32--just answer yes when it asks you if you want large partition size to be supported) load 98 and you're off and running. When you load XP, it will ask you which partition you want it to load to, and give you the option of formatting it to NTFS or FAT32. Here's where you'd pick NTFS.

I'd format the remaining 40gig partition as FAT32, XP should ( here's where I get into shakey ground, I haven't played with XP enough yet, sorry) be able to see the files and view them.

Good luck!

 

[FlippyBoy]

windows98se cant read ntfs, though, so when you go into it, you wouldnt be able to read the winxp partition. other than that, RustyNale's directions are good. are you planning to overclock? if so, then the heatpad that cae with the hsf wont be enough to cool your cpu. otherwise you're fine. good luck!

 

[kjacobs]

I built a system with the 8KHA+ and 1600. My CPU did not have the protective tape either. Guess they need to update their instructions! I just mounted it with the pink square intact and it runs fine. Thought I'd NEVER get the thing on the mobo! Was afraid I'd crack the CPU!

Good luck!

Ken

 

[ellisz]

Thanks for the replies! RustyNale that was a great answer.

FlippyBoy
I am not planning on overclocking at this point so I guess I should be ok. This is my first attempt so I will keep it simple.

Kjacobs
The clip that holds the HSF to the MB was definately tight!

On another note, the enermax fan I put on the front of the case has a 3 prong clip but it also came with an adapter that plugs into the fan and allows you to power it with the power supply cable. I assume since I have enough spots on the MB I can plug it into fan2 and not use the adaptor. Is this just used when running more than 2 case fans? BTW, it is supposed to be variable rpm based on heat. Is the temp probe in the wiring?

Also when setting up the BIOS, is the manual pretty helpful in this? I read through it but just skimmed this since it won't mean much till I am looking at it. Any good basic setup threads? I looked at one at amdmb.com but it appeared to be mostly for OC'ing.

Thanks

 

[ellisz]

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