Hello, Over the last few months I've been purchasing computer parts that, from my past experiencea and current research I figured would put together a pretty nice computer to last me the next year or so with some room to grow. Here are the parts I have now- the graphics card and RAM are just standins to get files installed etc. AMD 4800+ X2 ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe 2x WD74GD in RAID 0 Creative X-FI Platinum some crappy $50 video card some crappy 256 MB RAM stick Linksys Wireless Card I put these parts inside an Antec Sonata II with an OCZ Powerstream 520 and Acoustipack silencing foam on the interior. Allright - I have just installed Windows XP Pro and went around playing with drivers to get a feel for the machine (it's very fast but I am way out of the loop on drivers, etc. and programs for tweaking both my computin power and application functionality. Here is what I'm shooting for. Eventually, I'll be uprading to an SLI GPU setup but would prefer doing that down the road as there are no essential programs I need to use them on. Ditto for RAM, since I can just drop in new RAM when I get it I'll get set up on the lame stuff. Part 1: Aside from Service Pack II, Mozilla Firefox, Bittorrent... what programs are must haves these days for cleanliness and functionality? Is there a decent P2P program these days? (I still yearn for Napster, sob) Part 2: I know I'm going to eventually do a full reinstall of windows, but no big deal. I plan on doing one shortly once I find out more information as to what exactly I should do with this system to keep it tweaked out. Part 3: What kind of RAM is good? I know this system is overclockable but I think that I could just get some stock PC3200 at 2-2-2-5, but could I get 4 gigs of that into 4 slots? what brand? Argh... Problems: The DVD player didn't seem to want to play any DVDs. I needed a decoder to run the Windows media player, which I didn't want to pay 15 bucks for. Is there a way to just play DVDs if I bought the !@#4 hardware to do it? Perhaps a program that isn't M$ created. Asus Update doesn't recognize my motherboard as an ASUS board - should I just take care of this on a full reinstall of windows? Drivers: I tried flashing my DVD drivers but the number didn't change under the windows task managerproperties. Is this bad or is flashed memory different? Anyways, more thoughts as i think of them, I suppose. Any input is greatly appreciated. Cheers, Z
For P2P software try eMule (www.emuleproject.net I think). It's pretty decent, uesed the ED2K network of servers (best server is Razorback 2, don't go on anyhting other than Razorback 2 like 2.0, 3, etc. these are servers set up to catch you doing any illegal acts I've heard, not that you would be doing anything illegal, thats just silly talk). I don't know of any free program that allows tou to watch DVDs but you can always check out Power DVD or Zoom Player Pro (ZP Pro is very good IMO, I use it for everything). Ah yes while I'm, on the subject of media players...codecs. Google Defiler Pack (or Pak not sure which spelling), it has pretty much everything you could possibly need. If you hae a decent BT program thats good but I highly reccomend BitSpirit, it's a very tidy program that doesn't take up too much system resources unlike some programs *cough* Azureus *cough* If you want overclockable RAM I've heard G.Skill is very, very good at OC'ing, you can get it on overclockers.co.uk, they have a decent selection of various brands on there. You can put in 4Gb of RAM BTW, you just need to buy 2x 2Gb packs to give you 4 1Gb Modules of RAM, although I think 2Gb is more than enough really. (I would reccomend upgrading your RAM very soon, I have no idea how you can say windows is quick on 256Mb of RAM, granted you've got a bloody good CPU but that RAM's gotta be slowing you down a load). Ah yes, Diskeeper is an excellent defragmenting program, the one that comes with windows is a very striped down verson of it. It's very smart, you can set it to go on smart scheduleing and it will automatically defragment your HDDs when they need to be and doesn't run when you're busy. If you want a free virus scanner Avast! is good, well I just think anything called Avast! can't be bad. Your Asus drivers, not sure how to help there but just try manually downloading them from the Asus webby.
Emule F T W!!!!! also use the ipfilter so you block out any stupid spammy msgs.. also im sure that talking about P2P software isnt looked at very highly on the forum so if anymore questions about P2P make sure u use PM's 1: I use a combo of Sygate Firewall, Avast Anti-virus and Ad-aware & Spybot to remove all and any nasties from getting into my machine...not one infection has got me atall...and i told u about Emule 2:Well i reinstaill about every 6months to yearly...depends how bogged down the machine gets...but you machine is mighty fast so keep it clean...regular defrages and scan disks. 3: 2Gigs(1gig X2) of any "quality" ram will be enough for most people.....the best 2gig stix were the crucial ballstix but they have some problem as many people have repoeted them faulty..i'd suggest corsair,geil and ocz..and 1gig stics have higher latancies so dont be surprised. also you dont really need 4gig...yet as im sure u dont do any heavy DTP or photoshop work....2gigs is all you need. as for drivers i allways get them from the manafactures(sp?) site....so if ur running a nforce board get the nforce drivers from nvidia...same with whereever you buy ur gfx card from... also make sure u update the machine allways using windows update. also media player classic is prob the best free media/dvd player around.
"very fast" on 256meg ram? Ahahaha /wets self. You stick in a couple of gig and you will literally fall off your chair then. Firewall, Antivirus, FFDshow or Community Codec Pack (if you need h.264 decoding), media player classic, PowerDVD, Diskkeeper, Drivers SHOULD have been. XP then SP2 (preferably streamlined onto another disk together using nlite), then Nvidia drivers for mobo, then video drivers, then everything else.
I'd go with VLC as a media player. Plays everything you throw at it without having to chuck any extra codecs on the machine - saves a lot of hassle!
