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I slipstreamed SP3 into a clean source and installed from DOS using WINNT.exe (that's how I've always done it). There are four formatting options I normally I see. These: http://www.informit.com/content/images/cha...nks/03fig03.jpg Format the partition using the NTFS file system (Quick) Format the partition using the FAT file system (Quick) Format the partition using the NTFS file system Format the partition using the FAT file system When I installed this time, however, there were only two: Convert the partition using the NTFS Leave the current file system intact (no changes) What causes the change? Is it SP3's updated version of WINNT.exe or SETUP.exe? Is there any way to get the four options back?

Read the part about thread subject lines: http://www.msfn.org/board/Welcome-to-the-f...823#entry269823

Read #4 about thread subject lines: http://www.msfn.org/board/Welcome-to-the-f...823#entry269823 And good luck

How does him having exams coming up fit into this?

I always install from the HDD because it's faster than installing from CD and because I've never messed around with any 'virtual' environments so I don't know how they work. I posted about installing from HDD in this thread: http://www.msfn.org/board/boot-floppy-t116...085#entry758085

The SP2 source is 48MB more after slipstreaming in your example, but it started out 90MB more. What exactly are you surprised about?

SoulSeeker, the ga-p35-ds3l is the same board puntoMX used and reported success with. Are you sre you did everything 100% correctly?

In my case it's a Wolfdale E8400 with a 1333 FSB, so that makes its true clock speed 333MHz. As I mentioned in in one of my posts above, I want to overclock the FSB to 400MHz to match the DDR2-800 memory. I haven't made any BIOS changes yet, but I think I recall seeing 5:4 when I was looking through the BIOS settings earlier. Hopefully the settings allow me to make the necessary changes.

You can definitely install off your hard drive, that's the only way I've ever done it, and it's much faster than installing from CD. If you run setup from within windows then you use winnt32.exe, but I've never done it that way. I use a Win98 boot floppy and make sure smartdrv.exe is loaded and install from DOS. With DOS you use winnt.exe, not winnt32.exe. Is this an unattended install? If so, then you don't use the winnt.sif answer file when you install from DOS, it has to be a text file, so rename 'winnt.sif' to 'unattend.txt' or whatever. winnt /s:h:\XPCD\i386 /u:unattend.txt <------- "h:\XPCD\i386" is the source path to the install files on my PC. And in about 10 minutes XP Pro is loaded.

Try 8MB EDO SIMMs for over $300 each!! Yeah I knew someone would easily top my example. I'm not even going to do the math with that one, wow.

Thanks guys, I'm going to go with the Corsair you suggested. 2 gigs for $25, geez. I remember paying $90 for 64 MBs once and that was a decent deal at the time! Buying 2 gigs at that rate would cost $2880! Buying 64 MBs at the current rate would cost 78 cents! Anyway, thanks again for all the suggestions. The E8400 has been sitting here for a week with nothing to do; looking forward to getting it up and running.

I've got the motherboard and video card taken care of, so hopefully this is my final question about components for this build. Memory: I'm still not clear on what I should be looking at as far as voltage. Lower is better I guess, but in the specs on Newegg I see some memory listed with single voltage ratings, and other with ranges, like 1.8-2.2v. I'll be fine with 2GB, so if someone could scan these offerings from Newegg and make some suggestions I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Ok, glad to hear it, but why do people make such a big deal about getting the tightest timings that they can if the performance increase is negligible? Just because the potential is there to be tapped?

So that Corsair would normally run 5-5-5-18 at 1.8v and only runs 4-4-4-12 when upped to 2.1v ? Regardless of the difference between 4-4-4-12 and 5-5-5-18 when measured in a lab, what real-world difference is there in typical PC use?

Glad to hear it, thanks. I'll have a look and see what's available in those two series of cards and get this whole project nailed down. Two more questions about memory: If I overclock the FSB to 400MHz and get DDR2 800 memory I won't be overclocking the memory, but what's the deal with voltage? I see some memory listed with a specific figure, like 1.8v, while others have a range, 1.9v-2.1v. What should I be looking for? I was reading some memory-related threads on a forum and someone commented that it's possible the motherboard wouldn't boot if the memory required voltage over 1.8v, and that you'd need to temporarily use some cheap DDR2 to get the board to boot so you could get into the BIOS and change the voltage settings to support higher voltage memory. The post was from 11/2006. Second question - how much of a difference is there between 5-5-5-18 and 4-4-4-12? Edit: I'm still not sure what voltage memory I should be looking for, but what about this Corsair memory with a $40 rebate?

It's an Antec SmartPower SL300S, about 3 years old. Specs: http://www.antec.com/specs/sl300s_spe.html

Thanks, I'll have a look and see what I can find. All of the related files already in my \system directory.

The newest games aren't important to me. I also noticed that the 9600 requires its own power connection so that would mean I'd need a new power supply too. I don't have anything against the x1650 card, but is there anything comparable from nVidia I should look at? You said earlier that at the lower price points ATI has better cards but I figured I'd ask. What's the next level up in ATI cards I could look at as well? There are A LOT of rebates showing on Newegg right now. Cards that are normally $70+ but with $30 rebates taking them into the $40+ range.

Sorry for all the questions, but every statement you make makes me think of more. As you can tell, I don't even know the names of most newer titles. Instead of playing the newest game on average settings, what about older games on the best settings? Same card choice?Define 'average' vs. 'better' settings. What does Better have that Average doesn't? Better FPS? Higher screen resolution? What?

I have to be honest, that video stuff on Wiki was way over my head, lots of terms to try to understand and keep track of. Maybe with continued re-reading it'll sink in. I was looking through Newegg's offerings and looking at more expensive cards with big rebates Unfortunated they don't take the rebates into account when you sort the cards by price. Any game I have here is at least 4 years old. I just went on Newegg to look at the games that were reviewed most: Crysis, Battlefield, Call of Duty, HalfLife, Unreal, Halo, World of Warcraft.... I've only heard of about 3 of those before, the rest are Greek to me. I guess that gives you an idea where I stand on gaming. Is there some kind of rule of thumb to knowing what level of graphics card you need? Let me ask these question again - I obviously don't need a $500+ card, but where do I draw the line? At what point would a card be considered overkill for my needs? What's the difference between a $500 card and a $50 card when it comes to web browsing and less intensive games? What about just going to a very interactive webpage/website with lots of graphics... would it display faster with a better videocard or does the time it takes a page to load depend purely on your internet connection speed?

Are you anti-GeForce? There are even more of them on Newegg than Radeon cards.

It's not that much more expensive. I don't expect you to spend hours picking out my individual components so let me ask you this: What criteria are you using when you look at these video cards? I was looking at them earlier today as well and there weren't any other X700 based cards (which ATI has discontinued). The next jump up on Newegg is to the X1550 series but they look like they have inferior specs to the X700. The X1650 you showed me above does look better though. I obviously don't need a $500+ card, but where should I draw the line? At what point would a card be considered overkill for my needs? I guess you need the best cards for the newest games, but what's the difference between a $500 card and a $50 card when it comes to web browsing and less intensive games? Or what about just going to a very interactive webpage/website with lots of graphics... would it display faster with a better videocard or does the time it takes a page to load depend purely on your internet connection speed? I can build PCs, format HDDs, edit the registry, and make Norton Ghost images, but it's questions like these that I've never learned the answers to. What can you tell me?

Can you recommend another video card? I checked the other day and there were over 100 of the Sapphire cards in stock. Went back today to start adding thing to my shopping cart wishlist and it's suddenly become a 'deactivated item'

Yes, I've noticed that memory is quite cheap at the moment. I don't know very much about memory timings.... how much of a difference is there between 5-5-5-18 and 4-4-4-12?What about voltage? I see some listed with a specific figure, like 1.8v, while others have a range, 1.9v-2.1v. I was reading some memory-related threads on a forum and someone commented that it's possible the motherboard wouldn't boot if the memory required voltage over 1.8v, and that you'd need to temporarily use some cheap DDR2 to get the board to boot so you could get into the BIOS and change the voltage settings to support higher voltage. The post was from 11/2006. Also, I'm not sure how much of a speed/performance difference I'll see between 2GB and 4GB. Thoughts? Thanks again.

HH.exe is shown as the file association for .CHM files. It's version 5.2.3790.309 (srv03_gdr.050413-1540)