First Build - Next Steps

[JJC58]

I am in middle of first build and am seeking advice on two questions that are slowing me down. My configuration is listed below my questions:

- The Zalman 9500 CPU fan comes with a Fan Mate box to control speeds. It has three pin connector. The motherboard - Gigabyte EP35-DS3P has 4 pin header and motherboard instructions indicate it can handle both 3 and 4 pin. Motherboard instructions also indicate fan speed by voltage control through bios utility.

It would look cleaner to install and use bios utility but what would be functionally better or is it a flip a coin type decision?

- Also planning on installing Vista 64 but fearful of problems with drivers and older apps I rather like. Should I plan on dual booting? Should I install XP then Vista or other way around? All on same drive with different partitions? Would I have to install apps and drivers twice to get them in the XP and Vista64 registries?

- Ultra m998 Case
- PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750W Quad PSU
- Gigabyte EP35-DS3P Motherboard
- Intel E8400 Wolfdale
- Zalman 9500A CPU Fan
- Corsair XMS2 (4 x 2gb)
- Western Digital Raptor 150G
- (2) Western Digital WD3200KSRTL Caviar 320 GB SATA 3.5-Inch HDD
- MCI 8800GT 512gb, 256 Video Card
- HT OmegaPlus 7.1 Sound Card
- Lite-On Black 16X DVD-ROM
- Sony NEC Optiarc Black 20X DVD+R
- SIIG - 9-1 Card Reader with FDD

 

[akhilles]

Basically they achieve the same goal, but if you use fanmate2 to control the cpu fan speed, you'll be opening the case up pretty often. Which is a no no. Zalman should hurry up and come up with a fanmate3 bracket that installs in an expansion slot in the back with a speed control knob.

My preferred solution is to pick up a $20 fan controller that installs in a full-size drive bay, then hook the cpu fan up to this controller. You may have to disable the cpu fan speed warning in bios prior to this mod cuz the bios won't be detecting any cpu fan.

XP 1st, then Vista. On individual partitions/drives. Regardless, use the backup in xp & vista regularly.

Unless you have an absolute need for dual-booting, don't. A lot of people love to dual/multi boot. When it comes to repairing a failed os, it is a disaster. You need a plan B. Backup is it. I used to multi-boot like 5 different oses, but the maintenance was killing me.