Okay, Now I Need Your Help...

[adamp2p]

Well I guess you could say that I am trying to "awaken" a PC enthusiast in him. He is a car repair expert, and I think there is a similar element in PC tweaking.

I mean, what is the "real" difference between the Barton @3200 MHz and the 2500? The fsb on the 3200 is 400 MHz, so all you do to the 2500 is set the fsb to 400 right, then it "becomes a 3200," right? The only thing you need is the proper ram and a mobo that can handle it, right?

[tesco]

Originally posted by adamp2p@27 March 2004 - 12:08
I mean, what is the "real" difference between the Barton @3200 MHz and the 2500? The fsb on the 3200 is 400 MHz, so all you do to the 2500 is set the fsb to 400 right, then it "becomes a 3200," right? The only thing you need is the proper ram and a mobo that can handle it, right?

right, but the 3200 isnt actually 3200mhz....

the Barton @3200 MHz and the 2500?

[3RA1N1AC]

well, adamp2p, it is honorable of you to repay your mechanic's kindness by getting him some new computer gear, and i'm sure he'll appreciate it. but if all he wants is to play some games without any hassle, a 2500 or 2600 athlon at stock speed runs plenty of new games just fine. may not be such a good idea to press the overclocking idea on him since, like clocker said, it's a fullblown hobby that requires all sorts of time, effort, and patience that a lot of people just aren't willing/able to devote in exchange for a few more cycles or frames per second.

[adamp2p]

Originally posted by 3RA1N1AC@27 March 2004 - 09:42
well, adamp2p, it is honorable of you to repay your mechanic's kindness by getting him some new computer gear, and i'm sure he'll appreciate it. but if all he wants is to play some games without any hassle, a 2500 or 2600 athlon at stock speed runs plenty of new games just fine. may not be such a good idea to press the overclocking idea on him since, like clocker said, it's a fullblown hobby that requires all sorts of time, effort, and patience that a lot of people just aren't willing/able to devote in exchange for a few more cycles or frames per second.

Yeah, what I did was pdf this overclocking guide and printed it, so he can have some backround on the simplicity of the act.

[bigdawgfoxx]

You find some good fans or what?

[adamp2p]

Originally posted by bigdawgfoxx@27 March 2004 - 10:15
You find some good fans or what?

Yup, thanks for the link, big dawg. I ordered 2 of the ones you linked. They costed $15.00 including shipping.

This whole thing is costing me a little more than I hoped, oh well...

[adamp2p]

Okay, now I have another question for you guys. It is really common sense, I guess, but I thought that I might as well ask anyways.

Once I get the components, I am going to install Windows, obviously. Now after that, what order do you guys suppose I should install other applications? Like the motherboard drivers, etc...nforce drivers, etc.

I usually use this as a reference:

1.  XP
2.  SP1
3.  IE 6, SP1
4.  DirectX 9.0b
5.  Chipset drivers
6.  Video Card Drivers. (run disk cleanup)
7.  NIC/Modem Drivers and ISP software
8. Windows Update, Internet Explorer service packs, updates
9.  Windows Update, Critical Updates (till there are no more)
10. Windows Update, Other Updates. (don't load unnecessary items)
11. Windows Update, Drivers.
12. Other Drivers (try to automatically update first) (run disk cleanup)
13. Major applications. Fully update each application before installing the next.
14. The rest of your apps. (run disk cleanup)
15.  Anti-Virus software and update it.
16.  Configure email, move My Documents to another drive
17. Cleanup System Tray, organize Start Menu.
18. Safe Mode, disk cleanup (advanced) and defragment.

Now, once everything is installed and stable, should I just bump right up to 2200 MHz? The RAM I bought should have no problem handling that. Now the 2500+ has a thermal pad, right? So, for better cooling, that should be removed and Arctic Silver #5 will replace it. Do you guys know of any online guides for this process? I want to give the computer to my mechanic with it saying "AMD Athlon 3200+" in system properties. So tell me if this is a good plan:

1. Overclock it, test it at 3200+ speeds for stability, and if it works, then give it to him preconfigured at that setting. That's simple, right?

[tesco]

Originally posted by adamp2p@27 March 2004 - 17:26
Okay, now I have another question for you guys.  It is really common sense, I guess, but I thought that I might as well ask anyways.

Once I get the components, I am going to install Windows, obviously.  Now after that, what order do you guys suppose I should install other applications?  Like the motherboard drivers, etc...nforce drivers, etc.

I usually use this as a reference:

1. XP
2. SP1
3. IE 6, SP1
4. DirectX 9.0b
5. Chipset drivers
6. Video Card Drivers. (run disk cleanup)
7. NIC/Modem Drivers and ISP software
8. Windows Update, Internet Explorer service packs, updates
9. Windows Update, Critical Updates (till there are no more)
10. Windows Update, Other Updates. (don't load unnecessary items)
11. Windows Update, Drivers.
12. Other Drivers (try to automatically update first) (run disk cleanup)
13. Major applications. Fully update each application before installing the next.
14. The rest of your apps. (run disk cleanup)
15. Anti-Virus software and update it.
16. Configure email, move My Documents to another drive
17. Cleanup System Tray, organize Start Menu.
18. Safe Mode, disk cleanup (advanced) and defragment.

Now, once everything is installed and stable, should I just bump right up to 2200 MHz? The RAM I bought should have no problem handling that. Now the 2500+ has a thermal pad, right? So, for better cooling, that should be removed and Arctic Silver #5 will replace it. Do you guys know of any online guides for this process? I want to give the computer to my mechanic with it saying "AMD Athlon 3200+" in system properties. So tell me if this is a good plan:

1. Overclock it, test it at 3200+ speeds for stability, and if it works, then give it to him preconfigured at that setting. That's simple, right?

the guide i used is at www.arcticsilver.com then find guide or application instructions somewhere on that site.

when i install this is the order i do it in:

1. windows xp pro clean install
2. install sp1 which i have on a cd
3. install all latest device drivers, graphics usually first
4. antivirus
5. This is when i connect my computer back onto my network for internet access as it is now safe from viruses\trojans\bugs\other threats.
6. all windows updates from www.windowsupdate.com except for driver updates (usually they are out of date)
7. msn messenger
8. i now install my important programs which i use daily which are kazaa lite, musicmatch, motherboard monitor 5, diskeeper, spysweeper, window washer, etc.
9. organise my desktop and startmenu (actually i delete everything from my desktop because i dont like icons, i use teh quicklaunch toolbar instead)
10. performance tweaks (msconfig, services.msc, regedit, tweakui) then i defragment and run spysweeper, antivirus and window washer.
11. now as i need other programs i install them.

none of this takes very long, i have pretty much everything already on my hard drive already, i keep all setup files and drivers that i download archived. ive got over 200mb just of graphics card drivers

hope that this helps you! why are you asking this though? havent you ever reinstalled your operating system before?

[adamp2p]

Yes, I have, but never on this type of configuration. As you can see from my sig, I have a Dell, so the whole process is quite simple.

[tesco]

Originally posted by adamp2p@27 March 2004 - 17:47
Yes, I have, but never on this type of configuration. As you can see from my sig, I have a Dell, so the whole process is quite simple.

o i c. ok, so u use the recovery cds still? id think since youve changed so many parts on it you would have stopped using those recovery disks\partitions.