Hi,

First, I am sorry for the long post.

I’m posting here because I own the Asus nForce2 deluxe motherboard and with all its features, I figure this is just of good of place then any other.

Now some questions are going to be beyond the scope of the motherboard itself, so feel free to ignore it if it seems inappropriate.

My goal here is to pool in users with specific experiences with similar setups as mine to get their advice to how to get the most out of my computer. Please do not quote reviews or general consensus when replying to this thread, unless you have that general equipment/part or experience.

First here is my system setup.

Asus nForce2 deluxe – 1.04 with BIOS 1006
AMD Athlon XP 1700+ @2.0 GHZ (12x166)
RAM PC2700 333 MHZ 2x256 MB (in sync with CPU) – Infineon 7-3-3-2.5
ATI (Built) Radeon 8500LE 128 MB @275/275
LG Burner 52x
DVD Player 16x
Maxtor HD UDMA 133 2 MB cache 80 GIG
56K Generic modem
2.1 Yamaha speakers
Logitech quick cam express (web cam)
HP Photosmart 7150
MS multimedia keyboard
MS optical blue mouse
Sony Trinitron Multiscan G410R 19 inch
Kodak Digital camera with base
Labtec microphone
450 watt power supply
A very loud volcano 7+ copper heat fan – heat sink.
Linksys Router – internet sharing.

Integrated systems
Sound Storm (currently in use)
nVidia LAN (currently in use)
USB 2.0 1.1??? (WEB CAM, printer, mouse, digital cam base)

Here are the questions

1. CPU: I’m looking to upgrade my CPU very shortly; I’m looking to get the best over clocker from AMD… The Barton has peaked my curiosity with its additional cache. What would you recommend? Is it true the Barton 2500+ can OC to the 3200+?
2. RAM – with an upgrade to the CPU; would I need to purchase faster RAM – especially if I’m OC – I would like to hit the 200 FBS if possible.
3. Give my suggestions on what graphic card to buy. I like ATI but I have problem with stuttering graphic at times. Would an nVidia graphic card work better in an nVidia chipset? I’m looking into mainstream cards like the Radeon 9600 pro ultra with at least 128 MR of ram. Please suggest one that has good OC capabilities.
4. Keeping my burner, I love it, it’s the best low cost item I ever bought, and I would recommend this burner to anyone. Paid $80 in CAN… previous burner was a Yamaha, and it sucked. Wouldn't read any disk in less than one year of owning it.
5. Looking to upgrade my HD too! Now this one is important because I’m very ignorant about HD but I think it’s a major bottleneck in a system. Now I want one of those new 8 MB cache drives, but who has the fastest? WD or Maxtor. The WD is only UDMA 100 and the Maxtor has UDMA 133 but I heard that the WD uses its 8 MB cache differently and more effectively than Maxtor. But what I really want to know is; is my board capable of SATA and RAID? And if so, what fast drive should I get? Do I need two drives of the same size to make RAID and SATA work? Basically please help me setup my HD situation to get the fastest performance possible and does my Asus motherboard give me everything I need to make it so.
6. Phone modem. I don’t use this for the internet connection, so far I only have used it to fax from Word. But can any one suggest more usage out of this device? I would like my computer to answer the phone, and have an automated answering machine. Is this possible? A long time ago I had a program called BITWARE and it did something like this, but it was very Win3.1 looking and very flaky. Do you know of any other?
7. Ah my speakers, Soundstorm is great, minus the distortion I get on my speakers, but I’m hoping it’s because I’m using analog. Now I always dreamed of having a good sound system. I’m not an audiophile though. But I would like something above average. I saw the Logitech Z680 digital speakers, and they make me salivate. Now this question is for people who actually own them. A) Do they sound good? B) Is the hissing problem solved c) will I hear any distortion on them like I do with the analog channel? If so, what else can I get that have the same features? Ultimately I’m looking for loud, crystal clean sound.
8. I would like to stick with SS if possible
9. Logitech quick cam express, I got this working OK, I just want to know how can I put it in to good use? Is there websites and clubs where I can join and talk with people online using video and sound (MIC) – I don’t have any social buddies online and would love to make friends with CAM and MIC, and also, beyond the hardware, what kind of software would I need? Is the MSN messenger able to help me here? Oh, and if anybody wants to be my online buddy then add this to your contact krbeland@hotmail.com
10. Looking to purchase a Digital Camcorder soon, I’m wondering, what should I get, and what is fire wire? Is this built in my Asus board? Is it for importing Digital footage into my computer, what should I look for when I purchase one? Again I’m very ignorant with multimedia computing.
11. Would like a game pad for gamming, what should I get?


That’s the bulk of it, just want to recap.

1. What is RAID and SATA and do they work together? Do I need matching drives; can someone this ignorant about these technologies be able to set this up? Most important would I see a major performance increase?
2. What is fire wire, do I need this for a Camcorder purchase. How is beneficial?
3. How to make my computer answer the phone, with personalized greeting and individual mail boxes for family members.
4. How to make online friends
5. How to sup up my computer with best OC parts? Most bang for the buck
6. And last, but not least how to I get the most of my board?

Thanks you so much for any help you provide,

-pied

From your original questions.

1.) Probably
2.) No
3.) No, I'd stay with the Radeon 9600 Pro if I were you.
4.) OK
5.) The fastest drives still can't transfer at much over 60MB/s, so ATA133 is a nonfactor concerning performance.
6.) Any Voicemodem can do those functions with the right software. Supposedly Creative has the best voice functionality
7.) Try listening to them yourself
8.) Good for you
9.) MSN works fine for me
10) I believe your board has a Firewire port. Firewire is a trade name for the IEE1394 transfer standard, it was originally intended to be a replacement for external SCSI device interface, with many of the advantages of USB such as thin cables and automatic configuration. It predates USB 2.0 and works fine with digital camcorders so equiped.
11) Go to a store and try some out, each one fits a different hand differently.

And for your recap
1.) SATA is meant to add Firewire like convenience to a fast ATA drive. It uses thiner cables. RAID is something else mentioned in the hard drive faqs, you should read it. RAID can work with SATA, ATA, or SCSI hard drives now.
2.) You don't need Firewire, but it's handy. It allows you to directly send a digital media file from some camcorders into your computer without converting to analog.
3.) Find the software for it.
4.) Hang out in chat rooms and tell people your a 19 year old blonde bisexual female virgin.
5.) Just do it.
6.) Give it to me.

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