nmX.Memnoch

It's not directly on the Windows XP page. You have to go into Top Downloads. It's the very first one listed there. You need SP1 or SP2, but that's it. It will slipstream properly into RTM media, but to install onto a running system you need SP1 or SP2 installed. Yeah, see...that's what I don't get. If an SP is "all inclusive" I would assumed it would install whatever it needed from SP1 or SP2 to get it installed. But that's just my thinking... No big deal anyway because everyone should have SP2...I was just wondering.

@cluberti, What's up with the recommendation to have SP2 installed before SP3? In the past service packs have been all inclusive so I'm just wondering why there would be a recommendation to have SP2 installed first.

Ummm... The one I downloaded from MSDN this morning is 316MB. The ISO itself is 544MB. ISO = 571,322,368 bytes / 1024 = 557,932 KB / 1024 = 544MB EXE = 331,805,736 bytes / 1024 = 324,030 KB / 1024 = 316MB If that's wrong please tell me now before I install it.

When is the last time you called them for an activation? You don't have to talk to anyone anymore...it's all automated. And it only takes about five minutes...if that.

Bleh @ the new interface. Ok, the only real beef I have with it is the new menu. Once you select a product it's actually a bit of an improvement...I just don't like the process of selecting the product...and the "What's New" list has been neutered. Let's not get this thread edited/closed too...

I really wish people would stop saying that. Let me put it in plain terms. If an application--whether it be a game, image editor, Excel (yes, 2007 is multithreaded for functions) or any other application--is multithreaded it will use any and all available CPU/cores. The CPU determines which core(s) those threads will run on. Can an application developer artificially limit it to a certain number of threads (i.e. 2 threads)? Yes, but it's generally not recommended to do that, and there's no guarantee that those threads will run on Core 0 and Core 1. Plus, it's not about whether or not the single application is multithreaded or not. If you run multiple applications at once (and who doesn't?) then the additional cores will definitely help. The price of quad core CPUs has dropped so much that it's almost a no brainer if you're building a new system. Upgrading from a dual core to a quad core is a different story though, unless you're looking for the latest architecture as well (65nm Core 2 > 45nm Core 2+SSE4, Athlon 64 > Phenom, etc). I'm actually going through this same process right now. I'm about to upgrade my file server/domain controller/one-stop-serving-in-a-box machine and I'm looking at the Core 2 Quad Q9300. I keep flipping back and forth on whether or not to put the Q9300 in my machine and move my X6800 to the server. MHz wise the Q9300 is slower, but it's double the cores, half again as much cache and includes the newer SSE4 instructions. BUT, I plan on running Hyper-V on the server machine with severals VM's running at once so the extra cores would really help out there. Now you can see why I'm conflicted...

I'm not going to be leaning on it that hard. All my other systems are Intel LGA775 based anyway so I can interchange CPUs if necessary (also, old parts from upgrading my main PC get rolled down to the other machines, or used to build new ones). I'm still torn on whether or not to put the Q9300 in my machine or in the server (my machine currently has a Core 2 Extreme X6800). One thing is for sure, either way it'll be better than the Dual 3.06GHz Xeon rig I have right now. Intel just did some price drops as well so I may have other options within what I'm willing to spend for the upgrades. The rest of the system will be: 2 x 250GB Seagate 7200.10 RAID1 - OS 4 x 400GB Seagate 7200.10 RAID5 - Data (files and VHDs) 4 x Misc Drives - Data 2 x 3ware 9550SX-4LP (upgrade to a single 8/12/16-port PCIe controller later) 1 x WD 500GB My Book Home Edition connected via eSATA 1 x WD 250GB Media Drive connected via either USB or FW400 (FW if the drive supports it)

My bet says it has to do with chipset support. Intel used a little trick with i815 chipset. Most boards had three DIMM slots and you could run one double-sided and two single-sided, three single-sided or two double-sided, but you couldn't run three double-sided because the chipset only supported four "banks". This probably isn't the same exact issue, but I bet it's something close. Here's the supported memory configurations for that motherboard: http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/...b/cs-008808.htm Note the 512MB DIMM configuration listed in the table.

I also recommend taking a look at the Dell 2408WFP. The cost is a bit more, but if you take my recommendations below on the CPU you'll have a bit of extra money for it. Save yourself a little extra money on the Extreme Edition. I'd recommend trying to find a Q9550 for something that's very close to the same specs (only 70MHz less) and costs roughly half as much. Here's a side-by-side comparison. Unless you need the WiFi AP, I'd recommend looking at the P5E3 Deluxe. I would do that anyway and get a seperate WiFi AP if needed. Instead of going with two 2GB kits to get to 4GB just go with a 4GB kit (2x2GB). Corsair has the TWIN3X4096-1600C7DHXIN G, which is the 4GB version of the kit you listed. The price should be comparable and it'll give you some upgrade room later. This one is a tough one. You're obviously going for some of the best components available and the 9800GX2 is certainly nice. What remains to be seen though is how well NVIDIA is going to support the product. They're also working on getting their new GT200 core finished and out the door, but this probably won't be available for several months.One thing to note is that SLI is not available on Intel chipsets. Yes, a single 9800GX2 will work, but you won't be able to get a pair of them to work together (which is just overkill in my opinion anyway...they don't scale well enough to justify the price premium). No, you don't need it. NVIDIA is buying Ageia anyway and I expect we won't see the PhysX cards on the market for very long after that happens. They've announced plans to incorporate those capabilities into the GPU and it's drivers. In other words, that card will never pick up mainstream support. Don't split up the OS and software installs. There's really no need to (if you reinstall Windows you have to reinstall 95% of the applications anyway so what's the point?). Also, WD just announced a new drive in the Raptor lineup that pretty much blows away the previous Raptor drives. The new one is also SATA 3Gb/s where the previous ones are SATA 1.5Gb/s. This is the first drive I've seen that definitely would've been held back by a SATA 1.5Gb/s interface. If you're not going to RAID them then don't get the RAID Edition of the drive. As was mentioned, 1500W is definitely overkill. Take a look at what NVIDIA recommends for the 9800GX2 and use that as a baseline. One word of warning...if you plan on running Vista don't expect to use your Audigy 2 ZS. Creative doesn't hold a high opinion with me (or many other enthusiasts) right now. There are some hacked drivers floating around out there that'll make it work, but it would be nice if Creative would support their own products.

Cool...I appreciate that. I've thought about using ISA Server as well but I haven't had time to test it either. Honestly, I'm holding off on Server 2008 on my home server until I upgrade it (no 64-bit capability right now). Those upgrades are (8GB) coming soon though.

Wait a minute...it's going to be on the Download Center on 29 Apr but not on MSDN/TechNet until 2 May? So much for developers being able to test it before public availability...

Well I should hope it would since that's where all of the textures are stored and worked on. 512MB would work for now. How often do you upgrade your video card though? I upgrade mine about every year and a half or so, so I tend to get the best I can for the money I'm willing to spend at the time. At 235W it's probably not PCIe compliant nor would it provide enough power for the entire system to run under load...so yes, you'll need a new PSU.

IIRC I had problems getting it to complete an install in Virtual PC 2004 and 2007. I haven't tried Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 yet. I'd also be interested in whether or not it runs under Hyper-V since I intend in making heavy usage of that on my home network (WSUS, IIS testing, maybe a little WDS testing as well, etc, etc).

Ditto. Double Ditto.

It's the same as the new MSDN download site.Back on topic though.... No, no build # that I've seen yet.

I haven't used this personally but Untangle is supposed to be pretty good as well. It does a whole host of things but you can select to only use certain features (such as the spam blocking). Best of all...it's free if you have an existing box to install it on. I found it when I was looking for a WebFilter to put on my home network (I have kids...neither of which are old enough to worry about yet, but I'm trying to get a jump on things). Currently I'm using K9 Web Protection but that has to be installed on each PC...I want to centralize it and force their domain accounts to use it (but not mine, of course).

I just read the TechReport review. At idle it's one of the quietest drives in their test (of over two dozen drives). When seeking it gets a bit louder, but still much quieter than the previous Raptor drives. It was pretty much in the middle of the list for seek noise.

According to earlier reports it should be on MSDN and TechNet today. Speaking of MSDN...I'm not too fond of the new download site...

Western Digital has just announced a new drive in their Raptor lineup, called the VelociRaptor. It's a 2.5" form factor drive fitted into a heatsink that adapts it to 3.5". The basic specs are 10K RPM, 300GB, SATA 3Gb/s, 16MB cache. Announcement http://www.westerndigital.com/en/company/r...A2191EB887F4%7d Product Page http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=459 Reviews http://www.pcper.com/article.php?type=expe...d=548&pid=2 http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/Wester...ciraptor_300GB/ http://www.maximumpc.com/article/the_new_f...hard_drive_ever http://techreport.com/articles.x/14583

4096 to be exact (when using Unattended setup, sysprep or RIS...it's 1024 if you use winnt.exe). http://support.microsoft.com/kb/312535

Try 8MB EDO SIMMs for over $300 each!!

LCDs and Plasmas don't refresh the same way CRTs do. They don't use a scan line, they refresh individual pixels (subpixels to be more exact). There's really no such thing as a "refresh rate" on LCD monitors. The figure you want to look at is the response time...the lower the better.

I'll throw in a vote for the Corsair as well. I've also used Crucial for years with good success (although I'd have to caution against the current batch of Crucial Ballistix modules...they seem to have hit a rough patch there). OCZ also gets a vote from me.

Since the components appear to be a "standard PC" type machine I would also ask what the drive subsystem is in the WDS box.

You'd be surprised in the enthusiast market.