A few months ago I decided to build my own PC for the first time. I did my research on the components and slapped together my new baby. I am now the father of a beautiful new computer of which I am very proud. Here's what I have:
*Intel P4 2.80c w/HT, 800 MHz FSB, 512KB L2 cache, stock heatsink & fan
*ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe MOBO
*1GB Kingston PC3200 RAM (2x 512)
*ATI AIW 9600 128 MB video card
I transplanted a 120GB ATA Seagate Barracuda and a 30GB ATA Maxtor from my old computer. (The Maxtor is now shot but that is unrelated to this issue)
I am very happy with my new computer but after a few months of "break-in" time, I am now eager to tweak her settings and do some fine tuning but I don't know where to start. Any input would be appreciated.
One issue I have is that I'm not really sure how good things are running right now. Compared to my old P3 550MHz w/256MB RAM, what I have now is a dream!! I downloaded and ran SiSoftware Sandra and tried running a few benchmarks, but the results are all greek to me.
Two results that caught my attention though were concerning my RAM and my CPU.
1)Sandra suggested that I use ECC/paired RAM and I guess I didn't. How much performance am I losing by making that mistake? Can it be compensated for with a little tweaking?
2)According to Sandra my hyperthreading is disabled or something is configured wrong. This is the exact response from Sandra:
"Warning W234 - You are using a Hyper-Threaded system on an Operating System that either does not support HT or does not support the total number of logical CPUs of the system. Thus Hyper-Threading is not properly utilised. You may as well disable it.
Fix: Make sure you are using the right Hyper-Threading kernel or update your Operating System for HT support (use Windows XP/2003 or later). Do note that some Operating Systems and software have licensing limits that may prevent you from using all CPUs or you may be in violation of your licence."
What in blazes does that mean?? I thought everything I had was compatible and fairly up-to-date. Can someone please tell me how to configure XP so that the HT will run properly? I have no idea what kind of performance I am lacking because HT is disabled.
All input is greatly appreciated and I apologize for the long post. I'm windy but I try to be thorough.
