Hey guys, I'm building a DAW based on Phenom II 720BE and this Asrock M3A790GXH/128M mobo:
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.as...790GXH/128M&s=
My soundcard is an old Delta 1010. I will be using Windows XP Pro 32-bit. It's been a very long time since I last built a DAW. I've fallen so behind the times and I need your help. I'll be asking a lot of questions, some of which may seem stupid, so please bear with me.
The M3A790GXH/128M supports DDR3 and is very similar to the older Asrock AOD790GXH/128M which supports DDR2. I would be glad to hear from any users of the M3A790GXH/128M especially, but if you have the AOD790GXH/128M or even another mobo brand, please share your inputs as well. My first few questions:
1. Should I install Win XP SP3? Are there any issues with SP3 that I should be aware of?
2. Back in the single core days, I remember a recommendation to install Win XP using "ACPI Uniprocessor PC" option. What is the current recommendation now for multi-core systems? Is it "ACPI Multiprocessor PC"?
3. I'm seeing the following downloads for my mobo from Asrock's site. Which of these do I need to download and install?
a. AMD All In One driver
b. AMD Cool n' Quiet driver
c. Gigabit LAN driver
d. Onboard HDMI HD Audio driver
e. Realtek HD Audio driver
f. SATA 2 driver
g. AMD VGA driver
NOTE: This machine needs to be connected to my home network. I won't be using the onboard audio. I have one SATA 2 and two IDE hard drives. I will be using the onboard video and no other video card. Maybe the answer to this question is obvious but I still would like to check with you just to be sure.
4. Do I need to download and install the "ATI Catalyst Display Driver" from AMD's site? ...
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...3&lang=English
Is this different from the "AMD VGA driver" available from Asrock's site?
5. Which of the following processor-related downloads from AMD's site do I need?
a. AMD Clock Version 2.0.1
b. AMD Virtualization Technology and Microsoft Hyper-V System Compatibility Check Utility
c. AMD Power Monitor Version 1.2.3
d. AMD Processor Driver Version 1.3.2.0053 for Windows XP
e. Machine Check Analysis Tool (MCAT) Version 1.1.4
f. AMD CPUInfo Version 2.2.0
6. How about the "AMD 7-Series Chipsets Disk Performance Utility" download from AMD's site -- do I need this?
Man, so many downloads, it gets confusing!
I would be very relieved even if only half of my questions are answered. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!
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Please share your AMD multi-core system builds even if different motherboard. Let me know what drivers you installed and the order you installed them. At least it would give me an idea.
