There have been a lot of these posts lately so I guess more and more people are getting into pc building like myself. I just have a few questions regarding assembly and installing drivers and what not... It seems farely simple until initial setup. But i cant imagine it being too hard. My first question is partitioining the hard drive... Somewhere I read that you should create different sections for windows files, program files and media files. But can you just partition the whole hard drive as one section? Next is installing the cd rom drive. Do you have to install any drivers for it and how do u do that? And for S-ATA HDD's you need a floppy disk with the drivers correct? Is there anything else that needs drivers? And finally do you just stick in the windows cd? And do the OEM copies of windows include SP1? And what is included in SP2? Is it worth the money to buy it? My last question is about hd coolers... are they necessary? Thanks for the help. This site has been great.
Building A Computer
- Thread starter EricM
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mighty_chick
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ok making a seperate partition for windows files and the like are to keep it so if u get a virus it stays to one partition while that windows files partition stays completely safe. yes you can just make one partition which is all the average person does, its alot easier. you probably wont have to install any drivers for your optical drives, usually wnidows installs everything for you although you may have to. you just pop in the cd and follow installation instructions. im not 100% on sata hd's but im pretty sure you do need a floppy disc with the drivers although u may be able to find them online. the video card will need drivers those are simple, you download them from Nvidia.com or ATi.com depending on which brand of card u buy. the sound card will also need drivers, if its a pci card they'll come with it if not they'll be on the motherboards cd. oh yea the motherboard also requires drivers but u install those as soon as you format your computer, that way you can access internet and stuff. you stick in the windows c.d and go to bios and set it to boot from cd-rom first then when it restarts it'll start booting from cd rom, create a partition and let it setup windows. OEM copies do not include sp1 that i know of but they may, i use an illegal copy so i dont mess with that stuff alot. sp2 is mainly security updates thats about it. dont buy sp2, download it from microsoft.com. you wont need hd coolers unless your case is going to be really hot.
kyleman999
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if you dont use a hdd cooler now, you have no need for one
You can...EricM said:
Where did you read it was a good idea to do that. TBH it doesnt make any difference to performance and what not. Mearly if you have a large hard drive it can make sense to creat a seperate partition for backing up music etc etc.
The days of Windows 98 and Atapi drivers are thank god, over!EricM said:
You should find once plugged in your computer will see the drive and be happy to boot from it for an OS install, assuming you tell it to in BIOS ofcourse. Considering the mess I've made of my SATA setup the past 2days, I feel rather hypocritcal answering that one, but bnone the less it seems you do need a set of drivers before XP, for example, can successfully be installed. Its simply a case of sticking a floppy in and pressing F6 when prompted by setup.EricM said:
Any hardware component will need drivers to make it work. Graphics card, sound, motherboard, Modems etc etc XP is pretty good these days and will support allot of stuff with generic drivers but you'll find anything that needs drivers will be supplied with them and the manual will enlighten you on the how, why and when questions... Its also a very good idea to keep drivers upto date, especilly if your a gamer or have designs on running the latest and greatest software apps.EricM said:
You wont get a new copy of XP without SP2 included these days. The most usefull thing SP1 did was add USB2 support.. I think the jurys still out on SP2.. LMAO!EricM said:
To install, set your optical drive as a boot device and pop the CD in. Note my answer to the SATA HDD question, it'll save you looking as newbie as me when XP wont stop crashing or refusing to boot...LOL!
Nope, they're not needed and TBH I'm not quite sure why anyone would bother with em, not like you can overclock your hard drive!EricM said:
HTH and welcome
Wow that was a lot of good info. As for windows I got a bit confused because if u buy a genuine version of windows XP pro... it is 400 bucks canadian??? And then there is some update ...http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10049510&catid=21236 that is 249 and I dont even know what it is. But an OEM version of windows xp pro is around 170. Why is the retail version soo expensive?? And does the OEM include sp2?
