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jdubbish

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22 years ago

J

jdubbish

25 Posts

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8917

December 6th, 2004 16:00

Quick Questions about 8400 BIOS

1. Would it be worth my while to update from A02 to A03 BIOS? I've been having some weird Windows XP issues (Bad_Pool_Caller and No_More_IRP_Stack_Locations to be specific), and though the BIOS wouldn't be the cause of these, I want to have the most reliable system when i reload Windows this time. This means have the most compatible BIOS. Heck, i may have answered my own question.....what's your opinions?
 
2. ATA or AHCI? AHCI is obviously recommended, but which is more reliable?
 
3. To HyperThread or not? Is it recommended to NOT turn this feature on, as DELL as it turned off. Would it offer better performance and/or less reliability?
  • DM

    Dream Master

    118 Posts

    63

    0

    Posted December 6th, 2004 20:00

    1. Would it be worth my while to update from A02 to A03 BIOS? I've been having some weird Windows XP issues (Bad_Pool_Caller and No_More_IRP_Stack_Locations to be specific), and though the BIOS wouldn't be the cause of these, I want to have the most reliable system when i reload Windows this time. This means have the most compatible BIOS. Heck, i may have answered my own question.....what's your opinions?

    1. I downloaded the new BIOS and have had zero issues with it on my 8400.

    2. ATA or AHCI? AHCI is obviously recommended, but which is more reliable?
     
    I have left mine set at the AHCI although I have no clue what that is nor have I found info on the Dell site about it.
     
    3. To HyperThread or not? Is it recommended to NOT turn this feature on, as DELL as it turned off. Would it offer better performance and/or less reliability?
     
    Hyperthreading is ONLY about speed, not reliaility. To get speed from Hyperthreading, applications must be able to actually take advantage of it. *I* have been told that very few if any applications recognize hyperthreading and take advantage of it. So, leaving it off loses you nothing.
  • A

    AZtoSD

    362 Posts

    63

    0

    Posted December 7th, 2004 11:00

    1. I've been waiting for a BIOS fix to a vid card compatibility issue so I've installed all the updates when released.  I installed A03 with no problems--didn't fix my issue though.

    2. After clearing CMOS one time I chose one of the other options (can't remember which one) and my system wouldn't fully boot.  After a heart-stopping few moments where I thought I'd really messed up, I changed it back to the AHCI default and everything was fine.  I'm not playing around with that one again.

    3. I also have read that hyperthreading needs application support to be fully utilized.  I've played around with it on and off and haven't noticed any difference.  Since I paid for (!!!) I leave it on.

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