Windows XP setup for WD Raptor SATA
 

Trying to install windows on a brand new rig:
Motherboard: ABIT NF7-S
CPU: AMD Athlon XP-M 2500+
RAM: Corsair XMS3200
Harddrive: Western Digital Raptor 36GB

I'm trying to install Windows XP Pro on the Raptor drive but due to the drive being brand new its unformatted (although I did use the mobo's ctrl + s raid bios to perfrom 'low level formatting'). The problem is I don't have any other IDE drives and can't format and partition the drive thus windows installer can't use it. What DOS based program can I prepare the drive with?

Are you using a bootable Windows XP cd?
if so, just set the cdrom to primairy boot, when the setup starts press F6 when you see "press F6 to load..."

then insert the RAID controller floppy which came with with the Abit N7F-S board

after that you can just select the drive and Windows setup will partition & format the drive before copying its installation files. installation will continue afterwards without problem

managed to find out why it wasn't accepting the drive. Using the 134 sata driver, then tried using 132 and it worked fine. Ahh the joys of SATA.

on a seperate issue any recommendations on oc'ing an AMD athlon xp-m 2500+? Got it running at 11x200 at 1.6V (2200mhz = 3200+) solid as a rock with temps at 31C idle and 37C load. Should I drop the multiplier and up the fsb? and what voltage is it safe to go up to?

1.85v should be safe, be sure to provide enough cool air to the CPU, should be able to boost your CPU speed another 200-300Mhz with a bit of luck :)

increasing the FSB will also yield you a performance increase if your motherboard and memory allow low latency timings, otherwise you might be better of with 200 @ low timings vs 220 high timings.

I live in Scotland and do not like paying heating bills so cold air is in plentiful supply. Can I not keep the RAM at SPD thus fsb won't affect RAM settings? The RAM is really overclockable tho so I should be able to ramp up the fsb with RAM set to Auto?

what memory do you have, quite essential to the mix :)

Re: Windows XP setup for WD Raptor SATA
 

XL?

1.85V should be ok judging by the temps you have now.
My mobile already runs quite hot (50+°C) with a zalman cpns 7000 cu and Vcore @ 1.7 bios 1.65 CPU-Z reading.

If your Corsairs are XL, they'll probably reach 250mhz @ 3-4-4-8 timings (SPD timings?), judging by the reviews, so you should be capable of running high fsb on auto setting. you're motherboard may hold you back though...

PS: check these out, I found them very helpfull:

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=gethowto&howtoID=43
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=133

you should be able to get more thna 11x200 with 1.6v. especially if you've got as much cool air as you say:)

nice av btw, tupac's amazing

Corsair is Memory CMX512-3200C2
any good? I got ripped off when I bought it but thats another story..............

they're good sticks, just not top of the line.