New Opteron System Build Questions

[kciwood]

These are the key parts I've ordered that will comprise my new system. I've built a couple of systems before, but still am a novice. What bios from the Asus site should I run? There's a beta 1011.001 on the Asus site. Should I download any other new drivers they have available? Also on the AMD site for the driver downloads, do I just download the AMD Athlon? 64 X2 Dual Core Processor Driver for Windows XP and not the other version which appears to be for the Windows XP x64 Edition? When Vista comes out would I have to download these Windows XP x64 Edition drivers should I decide to switch then? Any other drivers I should download? I done plenty of reading on this, but the more I read the more unsure I become. Thanks in advance for any time you give me.

Opteron 165
OCZ 1GBX2 DDR400 Platimum
Asus A8N SLI Premium
EVGA N 7800GT
Enermax Liberty 500W
Lian Li PC60A Plus

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Yes.

NVIDIA chipset drivers Nvidia (***DO NOT install the IDE driver or ActiveArmor (firewall)***)
Service Pack 2, DirectX 9, security updates, etc Windows Update
Download the AMD X2 Patch AMD
Update to Bios 1011.001 Asus
Microsoft Dual core patch Described here @ MSKB Download here
NVIDIA video card drivers Nvidia
Anything else you have installed (scanners, printers, etc)

 

[DBSX]

I just installed a similar system same Opteron and Deluxe version of the mobo, and i didn't bother with the AMD or Dual Core patch. It's my understanding that these enable Cool & Quiet, but don't do much else. If you don't plan to use Cool & Quiet, you shouldn't need them. I've had no problems (regarding this, Creative Audigy drivers are another issue ). However, having said that, I have only had my system running about 2 days...

As far as the x64 drivers, I would think there will be versions specific to Vista when Vista is released. And if not, you still don't need them now anyhow, so just wait until Vista is released and there is more information available about the correct drivers to use.

\Dan