Isn't RAID 5 a bit overboard for a home pc??

lol, yea.

But isn't 1gig of RAM, 2.8ghz processor, a gefroceFX 6800 and 100GB+ of HD space a bit much?

My next box I'm building will be dual (or quad) 64bit dual core. Then you can tell me I've gone overboard. Besides, I'm not the one with SLI video cards.

I don't think you can ever overdo it in terms of raw power...provided you don't spend too much on it.

K dudes, another one for you to answer: I just checked my system properties tag (whoever does that on a regular basis, eh) and it said that my processor was running at 1.24 GHz. But my processor is an AMD Athlon XP2600+ (could also be a XP2800+, don't matter much), so I should be at around 1.6 Ghz.

I did a quick search and found this

http://forums.amd.com/lofiversion/index.php/t48625.html

The guy seems to have a similar thing going on, and has the same basic mobo (mine is a modified version of that one iirc). So, would you recommend trying to change the CPU speed in BIOS? Or should I keep in mind some other things (hardware and other) before giving that a shot.

screw what windows says.

When you first boot up, right above the memory count, should be your processor speed. Check what that is. It's probably wrong also. If that's the case, you need to go into your BIOS and set your processor speed appropriately.

By default, most motherboard (in my experience) choose very safe settings. You have to go into BIOS and tweak your shit to work the way it's supposed to. For instance, I always have to tweak up the processor speed and memory timings at a minimum. There's plenty of other stuff in there to tweak too.

So...figure out what BIOS settings you should have for your CPU and then go make it happen.

Aight, will do...reboot to check processor speed coming up.

Mm...as my opening screen flew by, I didn't get to see anything but the memory frequency, which apparently is at 100 mhz. Something tells me that's not right, but what the fuck do I know.

memory frequency should probably be 133. Which will screw up what your CPU clock speed is, too. Just go into BIOS and see what you got.

I went into BIOS and changd the memory frequency to 133mhz, and now my processor is going at 1.66 ghz. Nice. Think that did the job, or should I tweak some more stuff?

And any chance I should/could put it at 166 mhz?

depends on your memory. What level you can stick your memory frequency at depends on the memory. A small chart



FSB speed is what you would set in the BIOS. And then you can always overclock. of course.

Mm, so if my ram is at 333mhz I can switch to 166mhz FSB, gotcha. I'm pretty damn sure I've got 333 thingie ram, but I'm not going to gamble on that. Guess I'll have to find those receipts.

Before I go looking for them, any other suggestions to see what sort of ram i got? Other than opening up my pc, I mean.

you might be able to find a 3rd party app to look at it. I was trying out all kinds of things to figure out wtf my mom had in her OEM-built box. Can't remember what they are now, but just google it. Look for system information programs or something.

Try a program call SoftSandra.

SoftSandra? Isn't that porn?

Actually, I think it's SiSoft Sandra. That may work, good idea.

Thanks dudes...I'll give it a shot.