Ok, I am starting a new thread to avoid cross topics. I am receiving a new XP 2500+ and A7N8X ASUS mobo. Would it be the best of interest of stability sake by leaving O/C at last and install the XP O/S first? Umm, guess I answered my own question. What do you all think?

Humm, it makes sense, doesn't it. It even sounds logical.

I think I'll second the above motion.

Definitely install OS first! U need software to run to see if your OC settings r stable and/or to run a benchmark. I have same board (Deluxe ver) and the Asus Utility software that comes bundled is INDESPENSIBLE when OCing. It has a great feature of allowing u to record the monitors (CPU/Mobo temp, Voltages etc) so u can see how the temp is effected by your OC. Ii may help u to know what I OCed my XP2400+ to: I leave the Mem setting to Auto and gradually increase the External clock until the RAM timings pre-charge CAS etc jump above 6-2-2-2.5 and then drop it back to get these figures again. 139Mhz is highest I get here (DDR333 RAM). I find this gives best RAM benchmark under Sandra (compared to manual setting of the RAM to higher clock and higher CAS etc) Then start bumping up the CPU multiplier. I get 16.5 no probs (15.0 default) which gives me 2.3GHz (2.01 default). U may need to increase the CPU voltage a little. To get the full range of ext. clock speeds u need to set 'System Performance' to 'User Define' in BIOS (if u don't u only see about 5 clk rates) and set everything else to 'Aggressive' where possible. I found leaving Mem on Auto does give the best performance. 1 more thing. DON'T use the cooler that comes with the XP chip! Get a better one (pure copper base) and use a good dolop of Arctic Silver heat compound between fan base and CPU core (This alone makes an xtra -3 deg difference on my machine!)

Thank you Gagey. You must be a happier then a pig in s--- no? :P Seriously, I am upgrading to WIN XP. Just a matter of time right? Well, new pc, new O/S. Not that I want to, but since my effort in preserving my old WIN ME will only cause issues later on. So forget all that garbage and move on to a new frontier ... AND IF WIN XP is not as good as everyone claims to be, I am going to be really bogged.