Just a Few Questions

[sandmannight]

Well I am about to buy and put my rig together and just had a few questions. Here will be my RIG

Aspire Superalien Case w/500Watt PSU
DFI Lanparty Ultra-D
Opteron 144
G.SKill Extream RAM PC4000(2gb)
WD 250 GIG HDD
eVGA 7600gt

I know what your thinking. 7600gt!!! Well that is all I can afford at the moment and will within the 90 days upgrade to a 7900gt with eVGA's 90-day step up program. Also I have never built my onw becuase I usually buy em prebuilt

My questions are.
How will I know what BIOS will be best for me or just I just download the latests one?
Can I download all the drivers and BIOS ahead of time on a floppy disk and have those ready for when I start up?
What tests should I run off the bat?
Any other suggestions or hints would be helpful

 

[only_me]

Aspire Superalien Case w/500Watt PSU
DFI Lanparty Ultra-D
Opteron 144
G.SKill Extream RAM PC4000(2gb)
WD 250 GIG HDD
eVGA 7600gt


My questions are.
How will I know what BIOS will be best for me or just I just download the latests one?
Can I download all the drivers and BIOS ahead of time on a floppy disk and have those ready for when I start up?
What tests should I run off the bat?
Any other suggestions or hints would be helpful

Looks like a nice overclocking system, i think just get the latest drivers, but don't worry about them until you have the computer up and running, i.e. windows installed and you have played some games to make sure it works and to give you a "before" benchmark for your games, then download all the latest drivers and overclock and get your "after" benchmark results, then sit back and feel good that you have improved your system.

 

[sandmannight]

Aspire Superalien Case w/500Watt PSU
DFI Lanparty Ultra-D
Opteron 144
G.SKill Extream RAM PC4000(2gb)
WD 250 GIG HDD
eVGA 7600gt


My questions are.
How will I know what BIOS will be best for me or just I just download the latests one?
Can I download all the drivers and BIOS ahead of time on a floppy disk and have those ready for when I start up?
What tests should I run off the bat?
Any other suggestions or hints would be helpful

Looks like a nice overclocking system, i think just get the latest drivers, but don't worry about them until you have the computer up and running, i.e. windows installed and you have played some games to make sure it works and to give you a "before" benchmark for your games, then download all the latest drivers and overclock and get your "after" benchmark results, then sit back and feel good that you have improved your system.

What about BIOS. Should I use the ones that come with the motherboard

 

[sandmannight]

Aspire Superalien Case w/500Watt PSU
DFI Lanparty Ultra-D
Opteron 144
G.SKill Extream RAM PC4000(2gb)
WD 250 GIG HDD
eVGA 7600gt


My questions are.
How will I know what BIOS will be best for me or just I just download the latests one?
Can I download all the drivers and BIOS ahead of time on a floppy disk and have those ready for when I start up?
What tests should I run off the bat?
Any other suggestions or hints would be helpful

Looks like a nice overclocking system, i think just get the latest drivers, but don't worry about them until you have the computer up and running, i.e. windows installed and you have played some games to make sure it works and to give you a "before" benchmark for your games, then download all the latest drivers and overclock and get your "after" benchmark results, then sit back and feel good that you have improved your system.

What about BIOS. Should I use the ones that come with the motherboard

 

[sandmannight]

If eVGA will let you go from a 7600 to a 7900, then get a 7600, and step-it up.

Download the latest BIOS for your motherboard. On the DFI site, you should find your motherboard, and get the latest drivers.

You don't have to donwload the drivers ahead of time. You the drivers that come with the parts, install them, and then update.

Run memtest86 first, then if you want you can benchmark.

When I install the latest drivers I must delete the old ones right?

 

[sandmannight]

Ok Cool. I was looking some stuff up on the dfi webstie and instead of usually flashing your BIOS under DOS they have Diamond Flash Image which makes it so much easier.

Do you need to keep the floppy with the BIOS on it or is it only a one time use thing.

 

[Avadann_Kedeth]

If you want some extra money for your video card, you could do like I did and go for the A8N5X. It has lots of overclocking features and is a good money saver. Worth a look.

 

[waylander]

I don't think that a bios update is required until there is an issue. I'm still running v9 of mine and I like that it's rock stable, I will only upgrade if I need to.

The bios update is a fairly simple procedure but it's also one of the more dangerous ones, when they say don't turn off the power for gods sake DON'T turn off the power.

Also, locate your CMOS reset jumper and battery before you do it so you don't have to locate it later if you need it.

 

[sandmannight]

I wasnt going to extream OC right off the bat so I was wondering since my ram can run at 250MHz That I can just go and change my HTT from the default 200 up to 250 and reach the modest OC of 2.2 and then later I will probably push it further. What I am asking is....Is changing the HTT all I really have to do. Besides testing whether it is stable