First off, I've been lurking on the forums for a few days, and I am really impressed with this place. Glad I finally had time to register so I can sit down and learn from you fine people!
At any rate, I have an Inspiron 9100 on the way from Dell. I ordered it on 3/7 and waited, along with the rest of the soon-to-be 9100 and XPS owners, and mine now shows as going through the boxing stage. For whatever reason, my computer sat for 3 weeks as "InProduction" without even starting kitting, and somehow this morning it has gone all the way to boxing. Hopefully, it should be on its merry way here in a day or so. To add to that, my complaining with customer care upgraded me to overnight shipping, so I expect to have plenty of time this weekend to sit down with and run the living crap out of it.
Notebook performance is something very new to me. I know my way around a computer, but I will probably never play some of the graphically intense games a lot of you folks play. I mostly will stick with a few classics and will also be using the computer for media editing. First and foremost, however, the notebook has to get me through college, which I am already 2 semesters into.
Before I get too far in, here is my configuration...
Inspiron 9100
15.4" Widescreen WSXGA+ display
2.8Ghz Pentium 4 w/HT
512 mb PC 3200 RAM
64 mb ATI Mobility Radeon video card
4x DVD-RW drive
40 gig hdd
This notebook will be the upgrade from my current 350mhz desktop machine. So, this machine will blow the doors off whatever expectations I may have going into this, and I am very excited to use the machine for the first time.
My question is this though, what is the best way to go about wiping the PC clean and what tools should I have for benchmarking and fan control? I have a complete copy of XP Pro waiting to go, but I am concerned about missing drivers once I wipe the slate clean. Is there a seperate disc that will come with my Dell containing all drivers I will need?
Also, what benchmarking tools should I have and where can I get them? I plan on testing the living crap out of the machine to make sure everything is OK, so I would like to find these tools and have them ready to go.
Fan control is another point. I have heard talk here about FanGUI. Where can I find this, and how effective is it when used with the 9100?
Thank you in advance, and I look forward to participating more in these forums!
At any rate, I have an Inspiron 9100 on the way from Dell. I ordered it on 3/7 and waited, along with the rest of the soon-to-be 9100 and XPS owners, and mine now shows as going through the boxing stage. For whatever reason, my computer sat for 3 weeks as "InProduction" without even starting kitting, and somehow this morning it has gone all the way to boxing. Hopefully, it should be on its merry way here in a day or so. To add to that, my complaining with customer care upgraded me to overnight shipping, so I expect to have plenty of time this weekend to sit down with and run the living crap out of it.
Notebook performance is something very new to me. I know my way around a computer, but I will probably never play some of the graphically intense games a lot of you folks play. I mostly will stick with a few classics and will also be using the computer for media editing. First and foremost, however, the notebook has to get me through college, which I am already 2 semesters into.
Before I get too far in, here is my configuration...
Inspiron 9100
15.4" Widescreen WSXGA+ display
2.8Ghz Pentium 4 w/HT
512 mb PC 3200 RAM
64 mb ATI Mobility Radeon video card
4x DVD-RW drive
40 gig hdd
This notebook will be the upgrade from my current 350mhz desktop machine. So, this machine will blow the doors off whatever expectations I may have going into this, and I am very excited to use the machine for the first time.
My question is this though, what is the best way to go about wiping the PC clean and what tools should I have for benchmarking and fan control? I have a complete copy of XP Pro waiting to go, but I am concerned about missing drivers once I wipe the slate clean. Is there a seperate disc that will come with my Dell containing all drivers I will need?
Also, what benchmarking tools should I have and where can I get them? I plan on testing the living crap out of the machine to make sure everything is OK, so I would like to find these tools and have them ready to go.
Fan control is another point. I have heard talk here about FanGUI. Where can I find this, and how effective is it when used with the 9100?
Thank you in advance, and I look forward to participating more in these forums!
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