You might want to start chewing on the Official Asus P4C800 Thread up top.
😀 As far as the order of installing stuff, here's my suggestion:
Windows
Service packs for Windows
Intel INF (motherboard drivers)
DirectX
Video drivers and other third-party drivers
Hit Windows Update for the latest browser and OS patches
Defragment the hard drive
It would probably be smart to set the memory timings to something relaxed like 2.5-3-3-6 to start with, even with the top-of-the-line memory modules. You should also get a nice strong power supply from a recognized quality brand (Antec TruePower 430 is a nice one, and quiet too). It might be overkill, but that beats underkill IMHO
😀
One of the little tricks is getting the service packs for Windows before you've got your network connection going (not a problem if your Windows CD has the SP integrated already, of course). If you need to track down SP1 so you can burn it to CD and have it ready, here's one way of getting it, not necessarily the simplest but still good to know:
- Go to Windows Update
- At the left, click Personalize Windows Update
- Put a checkmark in the box that says to display the link to the Windows Update Catalog, and then click the Save Settings button at the right
- Now click Windows Update Catalog at the left, select WindowsXP RTM from the dropdown list, and click Advanced search options.
- Some options appear there. Put Windows XP Service Pack 1 into the search box and hit Search, and it will say "Your search returned 1 items." Click the Critical Updates and Service Packs (1) link below that.
- Now click the Add button by WinXP SP1, then click Go to download basket, put a location for the file to be dowloaded to, such as C:\, and click Download now
- Enjoy some Doritos while it downloads, then burn it to CD 😀
Hope that helps!
😀 Have fun building your new rig!
