Newbie Build - Can you Help ?

[PaulBrum]

Hi all - system ordered (through a lot of help from you guys)

http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...se-kind-6.html

I've never built a PC from scratch before and I think I'm going to need a lot of help

A few questions before I start the build:

1. How do I partition the hard drive and how many partitions should I have? - 640Gb, was going to go for 3 partitions, 1 for system and apps, 1 for storing pics / music and video and the other for....I dunno what really
2. Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate, what do you advise?
3. I will be installing 64bit Vista, will I need 64 bit versions of Office 2007, Nero 9, F-Secure etc etc or will my current versions work?

I realise these seem like really stoopid questions, but I'd like to get an idea before I start knocking the thing together over the weekend................as always, help really appreciated

By the way, is this post in the right section of the forum - happy to move it if not.

Paul

[staffsMike]

When you install windows you will have the option to create partitions, or should do.

Home premium, not much point in ultimate.

Install any versions you have/like. Any 32bit program should (most likely will) work on 64bit.

[PaulBrum]

Cheers Staffs, Home Premium it is and looks like I'm going to save a few quid on re-using my software rather than shelling out for new

Anyone got any thoughts on size and numbers of partitons ?

[Pob255]

Ok the actual capacity once formatted of a 640gb Hard drive is actually around 594gb
Personal knee jerk guess would be 200gb main for windows and programs, the rest in a 2nd partition for storage. (based on 1/3 OS+software, 2/3 storage)

[Ciber]

Make a 10gb partittion at the beginning of the drive for the swapfile.

[PaulBrum]

Make a 10gb partittion at the beginning of the drive for the swapfile.

At the risk of sounding stoopid - whats a swapfile ?

Paul

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

A swapfile is a section of the hard disk reserved by the OS as additional "memory" for the computer.

[watercooled]

I agree with making a partition for the swapfile - stops it getting fragmented. If you have 4GB of RAM, make the partition about 12GB (the swapfile is should be about 8GB but if you make the partition too small, you keep getting 'running out of disk space' warnings). After you've installed Vista, Control Panel> System & Maintenance> System then click Advanced System Settings in the left of the window - you'll need to accept a UAC popup. Now, make sure you're on the Advanced tab of the new popup and click the button under Performance then go to the Advanced tab. Click change. Untick the 'Automatically manage...' box, select the partition you created and click on custom size. Personally I set the minimum and maximum to the same size, and since you have a seperate partition, you have no reason to do otherwise. Set the values to 8192MB and click Set. Select all other partitions and make sure they are set to 'No Paging File' and click set. When everything is done, click apply on everything and restart your PC.

Edit: You can modify the Registry to disable low disk space warnings, but AFAIK there is no way to do it for only one partition/disk. If anyone does know, please post as I'd also like to know how to do it. Also, make sure you don't store anything on the swapfile partition - it should always look empty from My Computer.

[alexfyxodef]

You don't need to keep the ratio RAM-Swapfile but is good idea to separate a partition for it. Save few quid and go for Home Edition. And for 64 bit OS you don't have to have 64 bit programs just the drivers.

[watercooled]

I wouldn't recommend Home Edition. You're getting far fewer features for a small cash saving. I would however get the OEM edition - just bear in mind it's tied to the motherboard.

[PaulBrum]

I wouldn't recommend Home Edition. You're getting far fewer features for a small cash saving. I would however get the OEM edition - just bear in mind it's tied to the motherboard.

Thanks - this looks like good advice - by the way, whats OEM ?

Paul...............learning more by the minute

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

An OEM version will be tied to the motherboard you have. If it dies I think you cannot re-install it!! However with XP OEM it seems this was not implemented and people managed to re-install it a few times. I am uncertain if this the case with Vista OEM at all??

The full retail version is not tied to a component and hence can be transferred to a new motherboard.

OEM versions are the versions which are supplied to system builders for pre-installation on systems. The main advantage is that they are FAR cheaper than full retail versions!!

[moogle]

An OEM version will be tied to the motherboard you have. If it dies I think you cannot re-install it!! However with XP OEM it seems this was not implemented and people managed to re-install it a few times. I am uncertain if this the case with Vista OEM at all??

People phone up making stories (or telling the truth) that their mobo died and they could not get a replacement so a new one had been given and Microsoft allow them to re-activate. Goes against the OEM licence but hey it's up to you.

[watercooled]

OEM is exactly the same software, but comes without a fancy box and technical support. The license is also different, as mentioned above. Don't worry about no support, though - you can ask questions here

[Pob255]

I wouldn't recommend Home Edition. You're getting far fewer features for a small cash saving.

What are the actual differences? esp for your avarage home user?

[moogle]

What are the actual differences? esp for your avarage home user?

Premium is where it's at iirc. Home basic is missing a few things like aero, volume shadow copy, scheduled backups, bitlocker, media center, fax and scan etc...

Not major things but everyone always recommends to spend £20 more and get home premium.