Before I continue on with more discussions on OC tools and Benchmarking, I wanted to touch on the subject of Hard Drive Formatting and updating...It can make a huge difference in your performance!

Recently, a computer I built for a friend of mine ($SOLID$ Treeman) came back to the Garage for a Tune-Up.

For the record, under the hood he has an Athlon XP 2500+ (Unlocked) and some of my old hardware including a Shuttle AN-35N Ultra (N-Force2) Kingston Hyper-X PC3000 (CAS 2-2-2) and a Geforce 4 MX-420 and an Old Zalman copper HSF.

He uses it for his Tree Service to do office work, and occasionally plays Wolfenstein: EnemyTerritory..so it does a fine job, and has been in service since last December with no major problems.

When I picked it up, it was coughing and spitting, full of viruses and tons of corrupt files....

Fortunately, I had recently set up my apartment (Just for such an occasion!) with a Linksys 100MB home network, and enough Monitors and accesories to have up to 3 computers going at once, and there is room for 6 more if I plug my old 10MB Hub (Lan Party Compliant! )

My main rig (Sempron 3100+ DFI Lan Party) is used to surf the net and game, and I have a back up rig to store files and is my network server (Mobile 2500+DFI Lan Party)

I plugged his box into an empty spot, next to my back-up rig, and copied all his important files and pictures to my server.

Then the fun begins!

I am not going to get into every last detail, just the highlights and things of note when Installing Windows XP.

When you get the the part of the install where its time to Format the hard drive, it will give you the choice of Fat 32 or NTFS.
I always use NTFS (Windows NT File Sytem)...it is more secure than Fat 32 (File Allocation Table)
It was designed to work with large hard drives that give ME and older OS's fits!
FAT 32 was used for Windows ME and earlier, it is said to benchmark slightly faster than NTFS, but it's not worth the miniscule gains.

It will also give you the choice of Quick Format, or the Standard Format, I never use the use the quick version, it takes a bit longer...but I like to be sure I have a good clean drive.

Once done with the basic install, I run Disk Clean Up and Defrag the HD. I know this sounds like overkill, but I do that after every software update too!

Next up is Windows Update, I get all the security updates right off the bat, your computer can be infected within minutes of getting on the net..better put anti-virus software on there too.
I don't get any Drivers for my Motherboard or Video card from Windows Update, I got to ATI, Nvidia or whom ever made the hardware and get the latest version directly from them.

You will also need to upgrade to Direct-X 9c, and double check in your Device Manger to make sure all the hardware has drivers and no problems.

Then, its off to PCPitstop.com to do a final check out! I always do a baseline series of tests so I can keep track of my OS health, casue if my score drops off drasticaly , I know it's time for the "Format Boogie" again

http://www.pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/default.asp

That is the basics for now, I will cover some basic tweeks for Win XP next time to rev up those scores!

EDIT: For those of you who have never been to PCPitstop, I have a thread started that explains how to use it. It's a Online Benchmark that tests for many problems (Virus, AdWare, Improper hardware config, drivers etc...)
For reference, My Sempron 3100+ gets 20K, and his 2500+ gets around 15k.

http://forums.pcapex.com/showthread....ight=pcpitstop

I do everything the same way except I don't defrag as often as you do. Definately good advice!
Only time my rig has been "infected" was when I let my roommate use it.

Good solid (snicker) advice for anyone with a computer. However, keeping up with continually updating your virus software, running Ad-Aware, and defragging is a scheduling chore in and of itself.

Rob

I think you got serious overkill on the server you have there. M2500 running at 260FSB is a tid bit for a server, but when you upgrade you cant just throw away all that money.

Quote: Originally Posted by Red02 I think you got serious overkill on the server you have there. M2500 running at 260FSB is a tid bit for a server, but when you upgrade you cant just throw away all that money.

LMAO!..It will also be a back-up gaming rig when I get my 9600XT back (On loan to a friend)

Right now it has a S-3 Verge PCI..good enought to surf and Fold!