help with mobo installation please!

[split]

how big a partition do you think i should split off for XP sp2?

This soo much depends on what you intend to install.

For instance, stuff like Office / Nortons and many other programs use .DLLs that hook into windows, so if you formatted the C: partition at a later date thinking you wouldn't have to re-install the 2 progs I listed, you'd be wrong.

I would only ever use another partition to back up me music / documents etc.

Steam (half life CS etc) is a fine example of not using windows .DLLs, and that can be put in another partition without need to re-install, but many other games can't.

 

[drandy]

split, if i have a partition dedicated to windows, will that mean that i don't have to back up my photos, saved games etc when i next upgrade the mobo despite having to reinstall those programs associated with windows?
or will it just be simpler in the long run to not partition the hd?

 

[thermg]

thanks thermg! that looks like it's going to do the job nicely- so how big a partition do you think i should split off for XP sp2? i guess i'll need a bit of room for updates... also, since i'm formatting the hd, i won't really need to uninstall the existing drivers?

again, thanks for all of the help- i'm much happier about the prospect of this operation now! i've got a tiny bit of fancy absinthe left from before xmas, and i think that i'll celebrate with it once i'm done (touch wood).

Since its a 74GB hard drive i would give XP about 15GB, it should be more than enough room to install with updates as well as have enough room for any programs that must be installed on C: by default. You wont need to uninstall any of the drivers from your previous setup as the format will wipe all driver including the motherboard.

 

[drandy]

awesome- time for me to pop home now then and get bizzay. is ethanol ok for cleaning thermal paste?

 

[split]

As I said, it depends on what you use.

There seems little point having programs on another partition if you are going to have to re-install them if you decide to format C: at a later date.

I find a 74 gig drive manageable but it really depends what progs you use.

I would ALWAYS recommend another partition (or even drive) to keep all the data you produce and want to keep on.

Just depends how much data you have or produce.

Many people don't produce much, but if you have a camera, and lots of music files then it mounts up.

I'd prolly split that drive into 2 equal pieces, but again that depends on what you do on your PC.
Some people might only have one or 2 progs but masses of digital photos, and for them it may be better to have C: as a smaller partition.

 

[thermg]

Good point split. Well worth considering your options drandy. Not sure about ethanol, I started a thread about suitable cleaning fluids, just find more posts from me by clicking on my name on the left and you should find it in there somewhere.

 

[thermg]

Sorry, just had a look and its not in there, will try and find the thread. I think people suggested isopropyl alcohol (tape head cleaning fluid). Or something very similar that evaporates quickly and is pure if its a chemical, e.g. done use nail varnish remover instead of acetone as it includes a load of other stuff as well as acetone.

 

[drandy]

i've not got much data, but i guess the photos and music might accumulate, so i think i'll go with thermg and put win on it's own 20GB partition, just in case. mostly games though, and i'll install them on the other partition whenever i can.

 

[drandy]

the EtOH is pure... it should do the same thing as iso eth, it'll just need a little more ventilation.

 

[thermg]

as split said, the best thing to do with your data would be to get a second hard drive to store it on, rather than having it all on the one, that way if it were to mess up you would still have it, although the same applies even if it is in its own drive.

 

[drandy]

here goes nothing- see you on the other side! it's been emotional.

 

[drandy]

man, what a mission! i got back from work at 5ish, started the op, went to the circus at 7, got back at 10.30 to finish at 4.30! i am happy to say that mother and baby are happy and well. thanks team for all of the support- i would be the proud owner of a smouldering lump of fused plastic and steel were it not for your assistance. i had a little trial go on battlefront 2 and pacific fighters (the latter came with the card), and everything went well. all that i have to do next is try to get the old a64 3500 back up to 2.51GB!
thanks again for the help thermg and split- thermg's guide was tres useful.

 

[thermg]

Hey drandy, glad you got it all working well in the end. If you need to resize any partitions in future as they get full there is a great program call partition magic, its by powerquest, it allows you to resize all the partition info within windows, then you set it going and it does it automatically upon reboot. Good luck with the overclocking! Glad the guide was useful.

 

[drandy]

nice working with you mate. have you got a fan on your big typhoon?

 

[thermg]

Certainly Have, Ive got a thermaltake 120mm fan hooked upto my fan contoller. Its a great HSF, About 30 degrees when idle and not much above 40 under load. I overclocked the CPU to 2.4GHz the other day and i think the load temp was about 43.5-44 degrees.

 

[drandy]

nice! oh there was a question, the vf700Cu fan doesn't plug into the fan socket in the graphics card, so i've stuck it into the vacant socket previously supplying the northbridge fan on the mobo. there is another socket near the pcie slot that i could use, but i thought that this (using the northbridge fan power) would be a good idea since the power input into this socket from the mobo is apparently coupled to the cpu fan power, and increases when cpu temps increase. what do you think?

 

[thermg]

Not sure which would be better, I dont think it matters really. Try them both out with benchmarking and see which one seems to perform better, if one is better than the other at all.