My future system

[Topha]

Okay, tomorrow i will finally order my new system:

Athlon XP 1533Mhz
MSI K7T266 PRO2-RU mobo
2x ST380021A 80GB HD raid-0 (Win XP Pro version)
512 MB Ram
Soundblaster Audigy Platinum ex (wenn schon, denn schon, hehe)

This will be built into a nice black Silentmaxx Big Tower

I will use my g400max to until the AIW Radeon 8500 becomes available.

In addition to that, i will add 2 older HD's, one for Linux and one for Win ME.

This will be my first multi OS system, and im looking forward to it.

Can any of you guys give me advice on how to install the OS's? which one first, what to use as a boot-manager etc., or just give me a link to an article in which it is explained (i know there are plenty out there)?

After living without a PC for 3 months, except when i visit my parents who live 750 kilometeres away, I decided to go for the expensive version

[CHHAS]

Are those harddrives Seagate Barracuda IV's ?

I've read a lot about problems with those in RAID 0, you might want to check out this before ordering

[Topha]

oh bloody hell

are there any comparable drives out there that work with raid? from what i read the WD XX00BB Drives are too noisy (the PC will stand in my living room)

thanks for pointing that out CHAAS, probably saved me a lot of frustration (although im kinda frustrated now, my last seagate drive worked well, i will use it as a linux HD)

[Indiana]

Is this the MSI model with the KT266A chipset? If not I would strongly suggest you take the A one.
OR - even better - the EPoX 8KHA+ since the MSI didn't score too well in the reviews I've seen...

[Pneumatic]

I agree with Indiana!

I did a TON of research and I went with the KT266A for my new XP1800+

Spend a few extra dollars and it will be worth it.

[Topha]

yep, its 266A, and im not gonna go with the epox, becaues i like the features of the MSI better, and even if they dont fix the speed with bios updates etc, it will still be fast enough for me, especially with an xp 1800+

but what HD should i get now??

PS: The MSI board even has USB 2.0

[agallag]

As Kyle of Hard|OCP says:

MSI has done a great job with the K7T266 Pro2 as it is certainly one of the top performing motherboards being sold today. I have no qualms about suggesting you purchase one for your new AthlonXP rig, as MSI has certainly aimed to please with this board.

I'm going out this afternoon to buy the basic K7T266 Pro2 (without the raid and usb2, since I have no need for those features). All the reviews I've read so far have basically agreed with Kyle, so this is the one I be gettin'

[Topha]

you and me both, agallag

[Pneumatic]

agallag: What day did Kyle say that?

[agallag]

http://www.hardocp.com/reviews/mainboards/msi/kt266pro2/

Just got home with my board and a new Athlon XP 1700+... off to install it now.

[Reverend Maynard]

You mentioned dual booting OS'es WinME and WinXP. If you don't need WinME I would reccomend sticking with 98 as your second OS. I dual booted 2k and 98 for quite some time before I took the step and went 2k only. I have just had/seen too many problems with ME to recoomend you use it.

[Topha]

I had win ME on my last system as the only OS, and it worked much much better than 98 or 98SE for me, i guess it depends on your hardware (its a little bit like gambling).

And, if I have to reboot all the time anyway, at least i can do that fast with win ME

[Colin Morey]

as for order, I'd go with this,..

me/98,
win2k,
linux,

(win2k will recognise the 98 install and put an entry in the boot loader, and lilo will quite happily boot anything, (as will grub, the new bootloader in redhat 7.2))

C

[Technoid]

I'l probably get the MSI KT266A-PRO2-RU.

Not that I need the USB2, but the differense betven the basic and the RU is 40$ tops...

Buying a Stand alone Promise raid is atleast 100$

And our supluyer only sels the basic or the RU

[Wombat]

Buying a Stand alone Promise raid is atleast 100$

Or, $30.