My computer isn't working very well after 3 years on the same XP install so I plan on reformatting and at the same time, making small upgrades. One thing I would like to try is setting up a RAID 0 setup with the onboard RAID hardware. I have two 40gig Western digital drives and I downloaded the drivers from the Abit website, but I don't understand what to do with the driver files. The driver zip file has WinXP driver files, a file called TXTSETUP.oem, and some files inside a folder called BIOS. Next, I heard something about flashing the BIOS. I downloaded all the files needed from the Abit site and put them on a floppy disk; is it a bad idea to flash the BIOS? I've heard that I can permanently wreck the mainboard by doing it. Finaly, I would like to upgrade the CPU from the 1.5 ghz P4 (400mhz bus) to something faster. I need recomendations for a suitable replacement that's compatable with the TH711 mainboard. Thanks in advance to those who can help.

I wouldn't bother with RAID 0. Raid 0 provides no redundancy and might provide some increase in performance because data read/writes is split between two disk. Reports show that improvements in performance is minimal and you have the added problem that if one disk fails are gets corrupted you have lost everything. There is no data recovery from a broken RAID 0. As for a BIOS update. You are right, a failed BIOS update can render the computer useless. Therefor it is recommended that you only update the BIOS when it is necessary. If you have a problem that you know can be fixed with a BIOS update then fine, go ahead and do it, with caution. Don't just update the BIOS because there is a later version. As for the possibility of a CPU upgrade, your motherboard manual will tell you which is the fastest CPU you can install. It may be that to install the fastest CPU possible, a BIOS upgrade is required. This would be a good reason to upgrade the BIOS, but if you have never done it before, read the instructions carefully and if there is anything you do not understand, ask. Stuart

ok, so don't use RAID 0. What would be the best way to use my two drives as one large drive?

Dont. For what reason do you need to have 80 Gbs of continuous storage space? Whitch ever method you use to combine two drives into one large one you will still have the problem of having all you eggs in one basket. Just use them as two drives. I cant imagine why you should need to combine them into one. Stuart