Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Getback on November 16, 2007, 03:04:40 PM
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I'm plan on putting a new comp together with an Asus M2N SLI Deluxe, AMD 6000 x2 and a 8600 512 mb geforce.
Currently I own 4 unused OS, I have Win 2000, Win XP pro, and 2 Xp Home.
Any thoughts on the comp or which OS I should use? I believe the 2000 recognizes more ram and btw I have 2 gig ordered of crucial ballistix DDR2 800 (PC2 6400).
Obviously, I'm hoping this thing will fly.
Oh I forgot, I have windows 95 too LOLOL
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First off, you'll have no problems with any of those operating systems recognizing and using 2GB of ram... well with the exception of course of WIN95 haha!
Anyways... 2000 works great for a workstation system, but for a home computer, you'll be best off with XP.
The question is.. do you want to blow your only copy of XPPro on this or not. It's really up to what you're going to use this computer for.
If you're just wanting something to surf and play on, XPHome should do the job nicely for you. Also XPHome supports up to 2 processors, and your X2 will appear to be just that.
If you plan on using a RAID setup, or plan on using the computer for advanced reasons, especially if you'll be using it with work as well... then go for the XPPro.
But any of them will function just fine with your hardware.
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Thank you Tigger29, Really appreciate the input. This is strictly a gaming computer. I guess the only question is if I'm going to use RAID. I'll have to decide on that. Currently I have only one Harddrive ordered.
Again thanks, you brought up some stuff I didn't know.
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XP Home supports one physical processor which means maximum of 4 cores at current technology. X2 looks like a single processor from the OS standpoint.
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Ripley,
So it will recognize a dual core?
Thank you,
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Hi Getback,
Just to add that XP Home works just fine w/ a RAID 0 array-I have 2 WD 74Gb Raptors running in RAID 0 right now w/ no issues at all.
Read my sig for my box's layout.
:)
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Originally posted by Getback
Ripley,
So it will recognize a dual core?
Thank you,
It will recognize even quad core. The limitation is processor sockets i.e. as long as you have a normal motherboard that takes only 1 processor (single dual triple or quad core) you're fine. If you get a board with TWO processors then you need XP pro.
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Thanks all.
Really appreciate the input.
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You sure about that? I've learned that XP home supports 2 processors, and pro 4. My XP HOME shows my core-duo as two separate processors.
In either case, yes XP HOME supports a dual core processor.
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Yes, in fact XP Home only supports 1 processor and XP Pro two.
You might need SP2 for proper operation though.
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Computer is built after some minor errors on my part. I went with xp pro. However, I have discovered my x52 is funky. Oh well! Not sure what I'm going to do yet about that. I haven't had it more than a year.
Still though, the computer seems to be running exceptional. Boots in about 10 seconds or so it seems compared to the old one. Of course I need to install some AV programs.
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Unfortunately AV programs are nearly as bad as viruses themselves in most cases. You take a performance hit, sometimes a large one.
The most common anti-virus in Finland is F-secure. It can take up to 50% of your performance away and when you open large file folders on a new computer, it lags several seconds before displaying the contents. Gets even worse with network folders.
It's a curse of computing and the problem is they're very good at marketing deals -> every company has it.
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Originally posted by MrRiplEy[H]
Unfortunately AV programs are nearly as bad as viruses themselves in most cases. You take a performance hit, sometimes a large one.
I agree. Going to dred installing one. But what else is there to do. I'm thinking of going with Avast.
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OS and CPU support -
XP Home SP2 - Single processor with as many cores as they can shoehorn on it.
XP Pro SP2 - Two processors with as many cores as they can shoehorn on them.
So yes XP Pro SP2 supports 2x4 core CPU's.
Now it gets tricky.
2000 doesn't know the difference between an actual processor and a core.
So....
2000 Pro
2 processors with a single core each,
or
1 processor with 2 cores.
2000 Server
4 processors with a single core each
or
2 processors with 2 cores on each
or
1 processor with 4 cores.
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Ahh that's where I was confused.. I was thinking of 2000.
Thanks for clearing that up!
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dont know if this will help or not. I ve built 2 comps and upgraded another in last 6 months. Heres some of the stuff I encountered
Comp 1;
XP Pro 32bit (started with windows XP 64bit)
Asus M2n SLI am2 mb
4 gig ram
am2 6400 3.2 ghz dual core
Nvidia 8800GTX oc
150 gig Raptor 10k HD
22 in flat monitor
Frame rate in AH 59-60
Power probs, had to change from 550w pwr supply to 750w(180$) CPU heat prob (39 to 58c) New cpu fan ($55) still runs 39 to 55c
Nv 8800GTX s require two power plugs each. Tried Win xp 64 bit, worked with some games not so well with others. Win Xp Pro recognizes 3.5 ish ram. No difference in games with dual core.
Computer 2
XP Home
939 cpu SLI 2.4 ghz single core
Nvidia 7950GT x2
2gig ram
19 in monitor
Runs good,cool. Frame rate in AH 120-140
Comp 3.
Win XP Home
462 mb, 2.2ghz
Nvidia7600 gt
2 gig ram
Frame rate in AH 55-60 w 22 in monitor
Not much difference in AH with comp 1 and 2 visually. Slight loss of eye candy with computer 3 in AH. Computer 1 really shines with games like Call of duty. If you do most of your gaming in AH a super computer is not that big a necessity.