OK, can you help with Vista x64 Install

[friday0164]

OK, here's the guts:
* Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P MB / * 6Gb Corsair DDR2-800 RAM (2x1GB + 2X2gB) / * Intel E8400 CPU / * Pioneer 20X SATA DVD-Burner
* 640Gb Seagate 7200.10 HDD SATA2 / * Xigmatek S-964 HSF w/ 92mm Fan / * Xclio Coolbox Advanced Case / * Xclio Smartpower 850W PSU
* Gigabyte HD4850 w/ 512Mb GDDR3 / * Saitek Eclipse USB KB / * Logitech G5 Mouse / *SAMSUNG 500GB HDD in a Rosewill RX-358-S SLV Enclosure
* SONY External USB Floppy Drive

OK, now here's the questions I hope you all can answer:
1) I have read/heard that Vista x64 cannot be installed with more than 2Gb RAM on the MB (but you can add the rest later). True?
2) I want the Seagate 640Gb HDD as AHCI. I know I can do that by loading the RAID/AHCI driver on a USB flash drive and installing from the flash drive. Can I also load them from a USB Floppy Drive?
3) I have read that optical drives sometimes have problems with RAID/AHCI drivers. So, should I connect it to one of the GSATA ports and leave those ports as IDE? Or can I connect it to a RAID/AHCI port?
4) Is there a fail safe priority list of drivers to load after Vista is installed (ie. MB, LAN, AUDIO, VIDEO, etc...)? And, should those drivers be loaded BEFORE or AFTER updating Vista?
5) I also have MS Office Pro 2007. Should I install this before or after I update Vista?

I know, I know...I should read the forums....I have, and searched the net, but, for every question I get an answer, I find a contradiction. Like the pre-load memory amount you can have on board. Some places I have checked say no more than 2GB, others say load it all. Some places say DVD burners work fine on a RAID/AHCI port, others say no-way...So, you can see my problem.
I have used XP since the SP1 days and had alot less to learn, it seems.

Please, I would appreciate any help you can lend.

 

[notherdude]

I think you are overthinking this a bit, though it is good to be cautious.

OK, now here's the questions I hope you all can answer:
1) I have read/heard that Vista x64 cannot be installed with more than 2Gb RAM on the MB (but you can add the rest later). True?

Not really, only on some motherboards was this an issue. You can always install with 2 if you want to be safe or you can read up on it at MS and find out if your board is affected.

I have read that optical drives sometimes have problems with RAID/AHCI drivers. So, should I connect it to one of the GSATA ports and leave those ports as IDE? Or can I connect it to a RAID/AHCI port?

I would for sure put it on a regular SATA port and set port to IDE mode.

USB floppy? Not sure, would think so.

As for updating sequence I dunno. I've installed Vista a few times and I never bothered. Vista has a boatload of drivers pre-installed so by the time you ever get it booted so you will probably have sound and network and what have you and what you will be doing is seeking newer versions of drivers.

 

[friday0164]

Thanks for the reply. But I am too fearful of having to install/wipe/reinstall and I need more upfront knowledge. I spent 2-3 weeks researching XP before installing the 1st time. Still spent about 2 hours prepping before the last re-install.

So, anyone else have some ideas as well, I'd appreciate it....

 

[cjl]

I have never had a problem with RAM and vista installation - on my latest build, it installed just fine with 6GB installed and detected.

As for AHCI, I run all modern drives in either AHCI or RAID mode, and Vista has never had a problem detecting and installing to them. No drivers needed unless you are using something like a PCI SATA controller card. No problems with DVD drives either. Maybe I've just been lucky.

For driver sequence, I tend to get the antivirus and drivers installed immediately. After that, I'll let it update before installing anything else, such as Office. I don't think it's critical though. The main thing I would make sure of is that you have SP1 installed fairly early. Sometimes, SP1 has trouble installing on more cluttered systems, due to odd things with drivers. Of course, any remotely recent Vista disk will have SP1 on it already, right from the installation.

 

[friday0164]

Good to know. My version is Vista Home Premium 64 w/Sp1 - OEM
I am going to install this weekend, so I am hoping to get as much info as possible by then...Thanks cjl for the info....

 

[cjl]

I would bet that that would work just fine - sounds like you have the latest version install disk. I don't see any problems, though 6GB is kind of odd on that kind of setup with dual channel. Did you have some extra RAM lying around or something?

 

[friday0164]

Yeah, from my XP build. I'm giving my daughter in Arkansas the XP box and I got her some new RAM and am keeping the 2x1Gb sticks I had in that box.
Everything in the new Vista box is new.

OK, since the MB has 2 SATA controllers (the ICH10R and the Gigabyte controller), I am connecting the HDD to the Intel controlled SATA ports, which will be AHCI/RAID) and the opticals to the Gigabyte controlled ports, which will set as IDE. From what I have read, this should work fine, right?

Also, I have DL'd all the latest VISTA drivers for all my hardware (MB/LAN/SATA/Audio/Video/Mouse/Printer/Router (if I even really need those)) and have it on my USB drive. Should make life easier.

So, how long do you think it will take to install Vista with all the bells and whistles? A full XP install took about 2-2.5 hrs. (of course, I didn't pay EXACT attention the whole time).

 

[friday0164]

Does ANYONE have more help to give? Any more answers? Please, I just do not want to screw my new system up.
I have a couple of new questions:
6) My current 250Gb IDE drive is going into an AMS Venus IDE to USB external enclosure. Will this be hot-swappable?
I have a 500Gb in a Rosewill SATA to eSATA enclosure. If I connect to a RAID/AHCI controlled port, I am presuming it will be hot-swappable. Right?