ssmokee

With single channel memory, different memory sizes arent a problem. Dual channel memory is where that will cause problems.

Those Opteron's (240, 242) are not the dual core parts. The dual core chips are numbered x65, x70, and x75 (where x = 1 or 2 or 8).

The example timing numbers you posted 2.5-3-3-7 contain four numbers (the dashes are just separators) that correspond to the four descriptions I listed. The first number 2.5 is CAS (Im 100% sure of that). The first 3 is RAS to CAS delay, second 3 is RAS precharge (tRP), and the 7 is Cycle time. As I was saying, Im NOT 100% sure about the order of the last three. If I have it mixed up, hopefully someone will correct me. As for definitions I dont know....except for these two things: CAS = Column Address Strobe RAS = Row Address Strobe

Most definately Of the timings you listed (2.5-3-3-7) the 2.5 rating is for CAS, and I think I have the others after in the proper order, but Im not 100% certain. Memory Timings (lower numbers are better): CAS latency (CL) RAS to CAS delay (tRCD) RAS precharge (tRP) Cycle time (tRAS)

The 6600 is the better card (see benchmarks). The scores their are going to be slightly higher than real world because of the 600MHz memory speed; real ones run at either 500 or 550. I dont think you would see much if any difference performance wise between 128MB and 256MB.

Nope

Im currently running a pair of these (CAS 2.5 pc3200, just like the PQI you selected) at pc1600 speeds with no problems. Tagan is a high quality brand. The only thing odd I see is that it only has a single 12 V rail, yet it claims to provide 28 Amps. I thought it was against some regulation to go above 20 Amps on the 12 volt rail. The 12 Volt rail is typically where the generic power supplies skimp, and can cause problems in newer systems because that is where PCI-E graphics cards draw power from. It has a 24 pin ATX connector and comes with a 20 pin adapter so it will work on older boards like the one you currently have. Most new motherboards coming out now use a 24 pin power connector, so it makes sense to just buy one now rather than having to upgrade the PSU again when you get a new motherboard. It has S-ATA power connectors which is good...wouldnt make much sense to get one that doesnt have them. If you look closely at the pics you might notice the braided cables, which are a nice touch. If the price of the Tagan is a little too high for you, take a look at the Seasonic S12-330. Seasonic is another high quality make. It has a little less power, but the dual 12 Volt rails combine for 22 Amps, which is still quite good by todays standards. It does have an active PFC (makes it a little more efficient) that the Tagan doesnt have. And like the Tagan it also has braided cables and comes with a 24pin to 20pin adapter.

Is this what you mean? (info is from the link you provided) Release Notes July 16, 2004: Updated kit to add support for International Languages Unified drivers with support for nForce, nForce2, and nForce3 products.

There are no nforce 4 win98 drivers there, or anywhere else AFAIK. What does that setting actually do? Ive installed win98 and win2k with that option set to yes and no, and I didnt notice any difference (not that I was examining it with a magnifying glass or anything though).

I was using 768MB system RAM w/ 256MB page file not too long ago. Doom3 forced me to raise it, so I increased the swap file to 512MB and it worked fine after that.

http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/faqpfc.html That is the link. He was just missing a "w". It doesnt matter if your board is mATX, because they still use the same power connector on the motherboard as ATX. How many expansion slots (for PCI/AGP cards) does your case have? mATX cases have 4, and ATX cases have 7.

Well yeah, but if you look closer it also reads "if necessary". If you check out the description or release notes of the updated BIOS should tell you all you need to know. I looked at the updates available for your board (there are only 2 minor updates) and I would bet neither of those pertain to you.

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=900 What power supply are you using codeblue?

That should really only be done if you need the BIOS update to fix a bug, or gain some newly added functionality. The general rule of thumb is if it works, dont try and break it.

Anyone know of one for ext2/ext3?

DDR 400/333 will run at DDR 266 speeds just fine. That motherboard has onboard video which uses system RAM. 32MB of it in your case, which is why XP is saying you have 224. The chipset that board uses doesnt have a dual channel memory controller either, not that it is really a big deal on an AXP board anyway.

No difference. Buying two identical modules effectively gives you a dual kit. I have noticed some retailers will price gouge customers on the retail packaged dual kits...becareful and compare prices. Socket 754 is single channel, socket 939/940 are dual channel.

I think youre right about the coralsoft task manager. I used it for a while, but I was never happy with it. Have you tried Cool Beans task manger? It also works on 2k/xp like taskinfo does. It has a good bit of extra functionality over the stock 2k/xp task manangers as well. The only thing Im not sure about it setting priorities under 98. I would say it is stands out as the best of the freeware taskmanagers that will run on 98.

The CPU is irrelevant. The only thing there you really need to be concerned with there is "ATX", since you will be using an ATX motherboard and ATX case.

Enermax and Antec both make solid power supplies. That Powmax you were looking at is a joke (better paper weight than a PSU). Here is a PSU quality ranking list if youre interested.

Are you going to be playing games? If no, then it doesnt really matter. If yes, then getting a fx5200 purely on dx9 support I feel would be a major mistake. The dx9 codepath in the fx series is flawed. I remember reading a lot about it when half life 2 came out and people were wondering why the performance was so bad when using dx9. Here is an here of dx9 half life 2 performance on the fx cards. Notice how bad the fx5600 did? Makes you wonder how bad a fx5200 would do doesnt it? If you will be gaming, do what SiMoNsAyS says and get a 9600 pro.

But there are win9x drivers for the nforce 3 chipset....it is the nforce 4 which does not.

By the time you can afford that video card, a 2.4 GHz s939 CPU will be cheap. I havent read anything about needing a specific CPU for that card either. Where did you see this?

The K8N Neo2 Platinum (nforce 3 ultra chipset) does have drivers for win98.

Realistically it will run at 99.99% of the performance. Dont worry about it.