Building a Supercharged Family Computer for Windows XP
Published: February 4, 2002
By Jerry Honeycutt, Windows XP Expert Zone Community Columnist
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I'm writing this week's story on the new family PC that I've talked about for the last few columns. Let me say, Windows XP rocks on this computer. Wow! Windows XP on a fast computer, juiced up with a fast chipset and memory, is an experience to enjoy. If you have the budget, this is the way to go.
I deviated from the plans I laid out just a bit. I changed monitors. I also changed display adapters and mainboards, and I'll explain why in detail.
And Windows XP also performs well on slower computers. I have two other desktop computers with slower processors and, after sticking a few extra sticks of memory in the box, I have no complaints. They work well.
Blowing in the Wind
On the whole, I stuck with my plans. And that was to turn everything you see in Figure 1 in to a reasonable facsimile of a working computer.
Figure 1
As I mentioned, I did depart from my plans on a few points. The first is that I went ahead and tried out the VisionTek Xtasy 6964. Aside from being a solid and good looking display adapter, it screams. I haven't tried out all my games, but I have noticed a big difference with the games I play regularly (Asheron's Call). The only drawback is that the NVIDIA drivers built into Windows XP didn't work with this adapter. More on this later.
Another significant change is the flat panel monitor I chose. I purchased a ViewSonic monitor and came up with a few dead pixels. I know the industry has a tolerance for about five dead pixels, but I have a tolerance for none. The monitor I finally settled on is the NEC LCD1700 M+, which gave me more screen real estate, has reasonable specifications, but doesn't have digital inputs. It'll do for now, and I have no dead pixels.
The last change I made was to go for the Intel D850MV mainboard, which you see in Figure 2. I originally stayed away from the Intel 850 chipset because it uses RDRAM, which is more expensive. Prices drop, though, and I got a really good deal on 512 MB of RDRAM, so how could I refuse? This chipset consistently scores higher on the benchmarks than the Intel 845 chipset, which uses the less expensive DDR SDRAM. This mainboard has built-in audio, which I'm not using, and a built-in network interface card (NIC). The NIC supports PXE, so the extra 50 bucks that the mainboard costs is worth while, since I don't have to buy a NIC for it.
Figure 2
Device Driver Joys
Two of my chosen devices aren't supported by Windows XP natively because they're too new—the display adapter and my SoundBlaster Audigy. Drivers happen. While testing the new PC, I installed the drivers that came with both devices. They work well, but this isn't the way that I like to install Windows XP. I prefer to install Windows XP so that it comes up cleanly the first time, rather than installing drivers afterwards.
To solve this issue, I built an answer file for Windows XP. The answer file points the setup program to a folder that contains the device drivers. I described how to do this in A Basic Box Can Rock. I copied the i386 folder from a Windows XP CD to the network. Then, I created a subfolder in i386 called $OEM$\$$\Drivers, where I stuffed the device drivers for the Xtasy 6964 and Audigy. Keep in mind that you only copy the .inf, .cat, and other files required for the device. You don't copy the setup program, etc. If in doubt, look in the .inf file for a section called [SourceDisksFiles], which lists all of the files that the device driver requires. Last, I created an answer file, called it Unattend.txt, and installed Windows XP by running the following command from the folder that contains the i386 folder. i386\winnt /s:i386 /u:unattend.txt.
Here's the portion of the answer file that installs the device drivers (See A Basic Box Can Rock for more information about each property).
[Unattended]
DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore
OemPnPDriversPath=\Windows\Drivers
OemPreinstall=Yes
Learn from My Mistakes
Beginning to end, I put this computer together in three hours. You see the final results in Figure 3.
Figure 3
I went a bit quickly, and made a few small mistakes along the way. Don't repeat them yourself.
First, I hooked up the DVD-ROM, CD-RW, and hard drive without much consideration. The mainboard has two IDE channels, and you can connect two drives to each channel. One drive is the master, and one is the slave. On the primary channel, I installed the hard drive and configured it as the master. On the secondary channel, I installed the DVD-ROM, which I configured as the master, and the CD-RW, which I configured as the slave. The problem with having the DVD-ROM and CD-RW on the same channel is that it makes copying CDs an error-prone process. So, I moved the CD-RW to the primary channel, allowing me to copy CDs. I would have preferred to have the CD-RW on its own channel, and the DVD-ROM a slave to the hard drive on the primary channel, but a small-space-and-short-cable problem kept me from doing that. This is a problem that I'll be fixing very soon.
The other mistake I made was really stupid. The display adapter supports an AGP retention mechanism, which just secures the card in the AGP slot. I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and I installed the retention mechanism backwards. Before you laugh, it could happen to you one day. These things are difficult if not impossible to get off once they're installed. But, I folded two pieces of paper so that they were rather thick, and then slid one down the left side of the AGP slot and the other down the right side of the AGP slot. I managed to pop the retention mechanism off of the AGP slot without damaging the mainboard even a little.
Blazing Windows XP
Windows XP on the new family PC is amazing. With a 1.8-GHz processor, 512 MB of RDRAM, and the Intel 850 chipset, this thing is on fire. And, I didn't spend as much on the box as I thought I would: about $2,000.
Windows XP's menus snap open, they don't just pop. Files open instantly. Programs launch and open their windows before I've let go of the mouse. I'm feeling a very serious bond with this computer right now.
But, alas, I have to turn my attention to my next project. I'm going to show you how to take an inexpensive, store-bought computer, and turn it in to a Windows XP powerhouse. I'll also tell you how to get components on the cheap.
Expert Zone Columnist Jerry Honeycutt is a writer, speaker, and technologist who has written over 25 books, including Microsoft Windows XP Registry Guide (Microsoft Press, 2002). He frequently writes about customizing and deploying Windows XP.
