With all nu stuff, in what order install drivers?

[[Sg]ShotGun]

got a AMD fx60 with fan
asus an8sli premo  MB
2 eVGA 7800GTX 256s
680w PSU
starting with 1g mem will bump that up to 2g soon.

Question:
I have winxp pro, that I want to install on a fresh drive but:
7200rpm drive, 10000?, IDE, SATA?

next, the Vcards have drivers and so does the MB. of these 2, which
drivers to install first?

no AH2 is NOT my only game I play  

[Edbert1]

I'd do a clean install, then apply all system drivers (sub-category) first, I'd check the mfgs website and use the newest drivers for the entire system section unless you have an OEM copy of XP designed FOR that system. Once all the yellow "!"s are knocked out it doesn't really matter which goes first soundcard/videocard. But when you get to the video drivers I recommend a driver-only install, both Nvidia and ATI will load your system up with all kinds of crap that does NOT improve performance unless you are into overclocking your vid-chip.

[38ruk]

I always install the MB chipset drivers first , followed by the VC drivers , then the sound card .  

If your asking about hard drives , a 10,000 rpm raptor is a great drive if you want to spend the extra money , I noticed a nice jump in overall system performance when upgrading from a 7200rpm ide to a 10k sata raptor .

[Easyscor]

The SATA drives are rated 150 while the ATA drives come in 100 and 133.
You will definately notice the difference when the game hits the drive for skins and textures. 7200 rpm minimum.

For installation:
XP
Mother board driver
Nic card driver (if XP doesn't see yours)
Video card driver
Sound driver

PS, I'd make sure to have a working nic card in the machine when installing Windows.  One less background task to worry about.

Originally posted by [Sg]ShotGun
got a AMD fx60 with fan
asus an8sli premo  MB
2 eVGA 7800GTX 256s
680w PSU
starting with 1g mem will bump that up to 2g soon.

Question:
I have winxp pro, that I want to install on a fresh drive but:
7200rpm drive, 10000?, IDE, SATA?

next, the Vcards have drivers and so does the MB. of these 2, which
drivers to install first?

no AH2 is NOT my only game I play  

[Darkish]

Is there not some thinking that it's better to get directX installed before the vid and sound card drivers?

[[Sg]ShotGun]

Well i went with the normal SATA 7200 WD 160g drive..it was on sale for 80$. the 80G 10krpm WD was 150$  I disabled skins.

 textures...i gotta reed up more about them...hmmm.

I think DX9 is on my VC driver CD..gotta check that.

also, cant i use the onboard LAN??

the onboard sound is 8ch..i want to use that too.

[Easyscor]

Yes, you're right about Dx9 and I forgot to say I usually install Service Pack 2 right after the mother board drivers.  That's another reason that nic card comes in handy and that's when I also install Dx9.  Most people are going to be better off doing the automatic update to pull down all the parts they need.  You can usually disable what you don't want but don't install Media Player 10.  Once you get that junk you can't delete it or turn it off.  I'll be reformating again soon because of it.

So you bought a mother board with built-in sound and ethernet.  Welcome to the club I made the same mistake, and in the future when I retire this machine I'll be glad it's there.  The problem is they use cpu cycles and usually have less then stellar software drivers.  At least that's my experience, and forget about updates, your motherboard is already obsolete and the programers are busy working on the new stuff. I disabled my onboard sound and ethernet and installed separate cards to relieve the cpu of the functions.

[[Sg]ShotGun]

Originally posted by Easyscor

So you bought a mother board with built-in sound and ethernet.  Welcome to the club I made the same mistake, and in the future when I retire this machine I'll be glad it's there.  The problem is they use cpu cycles and usually have less then stellar software drivers.  At least that's my experience, and forget about updates, your motherboard is already obsolete and the programers are busy working on the new stuff. I disabled my onboard sound and ethernet and installed separate cards to relieve the cpu of the functions.

reelly...what socket 939 MBs DONT have onboard sound or LAN??

[Easyscor]

I don't know what's available, I haven't looked into motherboard in a while so I don't know the current options.  Besides, you said you have the board already.  If not, then I'd be looking at some more boards, but that's only because the extra bells and whistles impacted my machines proformance playing AH.