Zenskas

Do any of you guys think that it would run comfortably on a P3 1GHz, 512MB RAM, 40GB IDE HDD, GF4 MX440 64MB? I would not mind dual booting it with a heavily nLited version of windows xp or maybe even win 7 (since that could run ok on that system).

XP SP4 sounds interesting... I'm guessing MS isn't going to make a SP4 so what would it contain? Apart from all of the standard MS updates post-SP3?

Wow utorrent is very popular. But it can be expected for something that is so small, free and just works!

I use DeepBurner as it burns ISO files. All you have to do is start it up, select data/audio/iso, select the files to burn then click burn! Nero is also pretty easy and I used to use that but couldn't be bothered getting the latest version as it is not free.

Ah just searched my registery and no sign. But I removed IE with nLite before I installed XP so I'm pretty safe in that way.

Takes me about 40 seconds from hitting the switch to the loaded desktop and tray icons (all 2+the icon for volume control). I have a moderately nLited system (mainly tweaks and OS features removed, not a huge amount of startup items have been disabled just the very unnecessary ones) and the NVIDIA+AVG Free icon are the only ones in the tray. It takes about 15 seconds to get from hitting the switch to the windows xp loading bar (because of slow POST...) so the OS takes well under 30secs which I am happy with. Shutdown is under 10secs (a lot of people have that sound that plays when you log off/shut down, but if you disable that it cuts shutdown time by a good amount).

Yes but if you have two running then there is even less risk. While one may let things slip through the other may pick it up etc. Personally I have a hardware firewall in my router plus the inbuilt windows xp firewall. I did have a comodo firewall a while ago but it asked me to block or unblock everything internet related I did. Reminded me of UAC.

I did know that, I was simply telling you that you can get large IDE drives as you said you were not sure IDE drives came in large capacities. EDIT: Fixed some grammer

Yeah looks like what Ponch said was correct however you can in fact get big PATA drives: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=297 500GB, 16MB Cache, 7200RPM, IDE drive. Not that I would get one over a sata drive so long as the PC supports it

Hey there, I have been using AVG Free for over a year now and have installed it on many other PC's which I have built for people. If you do not install link scanner, email scanner, and the plugin for MS office while installing AVG, plus do a few other things it can be very light weight too. Right now the AVG services in task manager is using well under 5MB of RAM. You must cut out things like the tray icon and a few others but to do that just read page 50 of the Tweak Guides tweaking companion for Windows XP (I'm sure it has the same information as the tweak guide for Vista): http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html EDIT: Fixed spelling mistakes.

Yeah my bed is a good place to test components I have to say Antec are a decent brand right now. The p180/B/2/3 is one of the quietest full size cases you can buy cheaply and the P182SE with a few LED fans and a window cut in the side looks extremely cool. And the gamer series is awesome. Coolermaster and thermaltake are my next favorites. Lian LI make some nifty cases too. Mine is just a foxconn but it does the job ATM until I build something special.

This is one of the lesser talked about features of Win 7 but looks to be very useful. Other lesser talked about feature include simultaneous disk defrags, new resource monitor, PC safeguard, burn ISO images without a 3rd party app, display colour calibration wizard, and new keyboard shortcuts. Of course there are plenty other new things but these are the ones I can remember right now!

Hey there, I would recommend a Netgear ReadyNAS Pro. Very fast (very, very fast), large drive capacity (up to 6TB I think), quiet, works with Linux and easy to share files over the internet. 5 year warranty for peace of mind. Upgradeable to 4GB Ram (from 1GB stock) and has a dual core CPU.

Nice! Even earlier than the early 2010 date I heard a while back. Even though it is earlier than expected, it does not seem rushed to me as they have already released very stable beta and RC versions this year so there is not much left to do.

alokcomp...we still don't know if this is a problem with the HDD... If it does not go past POST then it is unlikely to be a HDD related problem BUT: MarkJohnson: Is the HDD in it a Seagate? If it is then try unplugging it then booting up. Sometimes the BIOS may need an update if it is not resuming from sleep properly. All just ideas though!

Ha you think your country has a big monopoly? I have one of the best (if not the best) $50 per month plan in Australia. I get 1.5Mb/s DL and 256Kb/s UL with a 10GB cap after that it goes down to 64Kb/s. But as soon as my ISP puts a DSLAM in my area I can upgrade to 24Mb/s DL and 1Mb/s UL with a 10GB cap for no extra money per month. Much Better than Telstra's plans though (they own all the phonelines in Australia) which cost something like $80 per month for the same thing. Although I would recommend getting a wireless router, if running a cable outside has been working for a while (up until now) then I suppose you can stick with that if necessary.

Hey DC! I recommend not buying it unless you know it will help cool the Xbox a lot better than usual. As your Xbox is one of the newer revisions (with the 65nm CPU and if your lucky a 65nm GPU as well), then so long as you keep the vents uncovered and it is sitting in a dry spot out of the sun then I reckon it should be fine with the stock fans. EDIT: Definately read the link CoffeeFiend had at the end of his post...very interesting. Plus it will make your Xbox louder than it already is (they are already loud enough!)

Nice I might add Dark Messiah to Steam as I think I have a CD key for that! Thankfully all of my downloads off Steam are unmetered so 8GB for UT3 is no big deal (even though my cap is 10GB ). I have downloaded some of the dedicated server files too that I may use one day. Thanks again!

Just wanna revive this thread to say a little thanks to the OP for posting this. I did not have Steam before this was posted but after reading this I went and got Steam then bought The Orange Box (HL-2, HL-2 Ep1, HL-2 Ep2, Team Fortress 2, Portal, HL-2 Deathmatch, Peggle Extreme, HL-2 Lost Coast) for US$10 (AUD$13 or so). I then went on to buy the Counter-Strike Complete Collection just recently (CS, CS:CZ, CS:CZ Deleted Scenes, CS:S, HL-1 Deathmatch, Day of Defeat and Ricochet) for just US$30! And now today I just bought the Unreal Deal Pack off Steam (Unreal Gold, Unreal 2, UT1999 GOTY, UT2K Editors Choice and UT3 Black Edition) which is on special this week for US$20. So I would like to say thanks heaps for introducing me to Steam or I would not have bought this large game collection of 20 games/mods/expansions for just US$60!(about AUD$80 or something) I feel like I have got the best game deal ever so cheers for that

It is running under 40C anyway so why would I bother checking? Should the northbridge be hot at touch? Its wouldn't easily come off anyway. It is connected to four other heatsinks so would be a bit of a hassle. Thanks anyway

17C is very cool. It may just have a nice cooler, and your room temp must be well below average. I have had the mobo in my sig since November last year and it idles at just below 40C. Runs fine! EDIT: And when I touch the northbridge cooler while running it is only warm, not hot at all.

Sounds good, no heat problems there! Now you know how much heat PCs can handle

You could try the Windows XP 32-bit (or 64-bit, if you have 64-bit server 2003) drivers. I am not sure they would work but its worth a try. BTW 9.4 is the latest version of ATI drivers unless you are running an ATI card below the HD 2xxx series of cards. What is your card anyway? That could help

If it is OC'ed a little bit (3GHz-3.37GHz) on stock cooling (I assume) and getting 60C after 20mins full load then I reckon you are good to go! Your PC seems to be running nice and cool

Yes it would be misread. Try using hardware monitor and realtemp then see what they say. If they say around 30ish as well then I reckon it is plenty fine.