New System 'Newbie' Advice

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ezdriver

Member
Jul 12, 2000
165
0
0
Well, after researching, deciding, researching, and some more deciding, I finally bought an:

Athlon XP 1900+, ASUS A7V266-E, SoundBlaster Audigy X-Gamer, Micron 512MB PC-2100, GF3 Ti-500, Western Digital 40GB 7200RPM, Enermax 350W PS, Enermax 710 Tower case, Win XP Home, etc., etc.,

I'm moving up from a Pentium user to the world of Athlon. I'm excited about my new system and was wondering if, since I'm a pretty wet-behind-the-ears newby, you had any tips and advice for me on fine-tuning this system. Thanks.



:D
 
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MrCodeDude

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
13,674
1
76
Hold on.. You get a great processor and mobo and you only get a 40gb HD and Windows XP Home? I'd sell Home and go to professional and get at least a 60gb HD.
-- mrcodedude
 
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ezdriver

Member
Jul 12, 2000
165
0
0
Yeah, I don't think I have much of a need for more than 40GB, that should do just fine for my needs. Also, Win XP Pro just doesn't add that many usable benefits for me in relation to the price difference. Well, when I say fine tune, I mean...will I have to install (update) the 4-in-1 Via's? If so, which one's would you suggest? Things along that line are what I refer to when I say fine-tune. I don't overclock, I prefer safe stability, so I don't think I'll be tweaking in that respect. Thanks for any input.:confused:
 
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limsandy

Golden Member
Jan 6, 2001
1,554
0
0


First, I have to congratulate you on your new system.
Well, yes. If I were you, I would install the VIA 4-in-1 patch, the lastest drivers for your video card and sound card and patches from Microsoft
Then, I would run benchmarks like 3dmark2001, quake and rtcw.
Of course, you can set your CPU and video card frequency higher if you are not satisfied with the performance.
:D

 
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uhohibrokeit

Senior member
Aug 15, 2001
239
0
0
when building a computer, for most uses, you always want to load the latest drivers for EVERYTHING, and run all the OS updates you can.
 
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MrHelpful

Banned
Apr 16, 2001
2,712
0
0
Screw Windows XP whatever-sh!t-flavour. You'll never realize the true performance of your system if you hitch it to a dead horse like that.

I say get Windows 2000 Professional with Service Pack 2. That alone would give you a better performance increase than anything you could do to the XP system - including overclocking it.

For Windows 2K Pro, this is what you can do:

Install the VIA 4-in-1 4.36 drivers. NOT THE 4.37s!!!
Install the AMD Win2K AGP patch here.
Install latest beta Detonator drivers for the GF3.

Avoid installing any sound card programs, if you can. If you need them, go ahead, but they're going to be a drain on your resources if you leave them running.

And this - the Win2k version of MSCONFIG, the best gift Microsoft gave to us Windows-using slaves. :) Use it to stop programs from loading up at startup.
 
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MrHelpful

Banned
Apr 16, 2001
2,712
0
0
Sorry if my words were a little harsh (and I just noticed that you _bought_ it), but Windows XP doesn't really do anything special except hog more memory, processing power, hard drive space, etc. You could always get Win2k Pro for, um, under $5. Not that I condone that kind of stuff, of course. ;)
 
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MrBond

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2000
9,911
0
76


<< That alone would give you a better performance increase than anything you could do to the XP system - including overclocking it. >>

I can only disagree here. Ever since I upgraded to winxp, my system has never ran better, it's faster and more stable then it was under Win2k.
 
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ezdriver

Member
Jul 12, 2000
165
0
0
hehe....thx MrHelpful. I have a thick skin so your 1st response taken with a grain of salt. Yes, I already bought the WinXP so 2k is not an option at this point. I've heard a lot of good AND bad things about it so I thought I'd give 'er a try myself. Thanks for all the ideas everyone!:p
 
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MrHelpful

Banned
Apr 16, 2001
2,712
0
0
Two things - when I briefly ran XP on my system, it felt sluggish compared to a 98SE fresh install or 2K fresh install.

Now for the objective approach:
Here ya go!
 
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MrHelpful

Banned
Apr 16, 2001
2,712
0
0


<< Yes, I already bought the WinXP so 2k is not an option at this point. >>




<< You could always get Win2k Pro for, um, under $5. Not that I condone that kind of stuff, of course. >>

 
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ku

Golden Member
Mar 11, 2001
1,309
0
71
Your choice of motherboard and sound card was a very bad one. The audigy sound cards are known to have much problems with KT266A chipset motherboards. Lets just hope that you don't run into any problems with those.
 
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veryape

Platinum Member
Jun 13, 2000
2,433
0
0


<< Your choice of motherboard and sound card was a very bad one. The audigy sound cards are known to have much problems with KT266A chipset motherboards. Lets just hope that you don't run into any problems with those. >>

Yea, don't congratulate him on a nice system, no, tell him he has a crap soundcard and don't help him in any way. What an ass.
 
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ezdriver

Member
Jul 12, 2000
165
0
0
Well, Ku, I guess only time will tell on my choice of hareware. I'll keep you posted on my results after running the system for awhile. Does anybody else who has my system set-up experience the problems he's referring to?:frown:
 
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Ionizer86

Diamond Member
Jun 20, 2001
5,292
0
76
Um, WinXP is perfectly fine. It felt sluggish on my comp at first (like WinME), but after turning off all the bloated GUI stuff, it works fine. It's better than Win2k because Win2k is only compatible with about half of my games :(
 
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ezdriver

Member
Jul 12, 2000
165
0
0
Is anyone else having conflicts with their A7V266-E board and the SB Audigy card? If so, any resolution to solve? Thanks.
 
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mikable

Senior member
Sep 23, 2000
303
0
0
My kt266a system runs flawlessly with my Audigy! I haven't heard of any problems with the 266A so, perhaps he should be refuring to one of Via's earlier chips?


Other then the small HD looks like a good system for me too! :)
 
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