Epox 8K7a+/Athlon ---HELP!

[VideoPhreak]

Hi I am really new to this game and I love this place! I have read the forums here for a week before purchasing my stuff and deciding to post this question so here go's

my equipment list is as follows:

Epox 8K7a+
Athlon 1.4 and 1.3 (i have one of each, i'll explain later)
512MB Crucial Premium DDR PC/2100 (2 x 256)
(2) IBM 20 gig Deskstar 60GXP drives (for RAID hopefully)
2CoolPC Turbo
Swifttech MC462A Rev.1 hsf
ThermalTake Memory Cooling
Antec Case w/300 PS
ATI Radeon 64MB DDR
Antec case/300 W PS
this is it for now, I am trying to build a fast system for games, I built the system tonight and seem to have a few problems.

Can anyone outline the complete steps to getting this thing up and running (STABLE) as soon as possible?

Also I have a couple 3 specific questions.....

(1) how do I stripe the drives (raid 0) prior to installing system software?

(2) Are there any specific jumper settings I need to make to get the mobo to see the 1.33 Ghz of this processor? it shows as a 1000 Mhz in the intital BIOS screen (sorry I am really green with this whole process)

(3) Is it advisable to set this machine up as a DUal Boot system if I want to use it for productivity stuff like photoshop etc.. as well as gaming?

As for having a 1.33 and a 1.4 Ghz chips (the 1.33 said AYHJA on the packing slip by the way) I bought a mobo/cpu combo and built a basic system for my girl before I went crazy and bought all the recomended stuff to make an OC machine...I can use either one for my project...she wont care....so tell me which one to use!

THANKS for being here and thank you for any reply...it is and will be greatly appreciated!

VideoPhreak.........

[Pitspawn]

First off, that system rocks pal!!! (Oh and WELCOME to the forums, ever extra member is a welcomed member)

You are one lucky chump to have that hardware lineup, expect a very good overclock esp with the swiftech m462. I would get one if it wasnt so fricken expensive.

1....Ok, first off your going to want to set up your raid. I think your board comes with a seperate bios page for raid. Read your manual on how to access this. From there you can setup what sort of raid you want and what drives are on the raid. After that all you need to do is format and partition your drives.

2....I think the EPOX has a 133 setting in bios. If it does not then there is a jumper on your board somewhere (Prolly pretty obvious like in bright yellow) but you can consult your manual.

3....Dual bios's take up a lot of space and a lot of time to configure but its worth it. I personally would skip it because its a lot of hassle. Just get Win2k Pro for general use or Win98 SE for gaming, your choice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To make your system stable you will want to...

1...Apply your hsf to your cpu with a thin coating of AS2. Dont skimp and buy cheap thermal compound ESPECIALLY with your heatsink.
2...DONT run your cpu fan off of your motherboard. That 80mm fan is very powerful and can damage your motherboard fan headers. Get a 3-4pin molex convertor (If your fan doesnt already have one).
3...Ensure your case is adaquately cooled. Its pointless you getting a decent hsf to have your case temp put your cpu temps up. A big case with heafty intake and exaust fans would be perfect!
4...Try a whole range of settings! Dont ever be satisfied with what setting you have until all settings have been tried. Different FSBs with Multipliers.
5...Work your way up from your rated cpu speed upto your maximum overclock slowly. If you do it to fast you may end up resseting bios quickly.
6...Learn your motherboard like the back of your hand. It would really be helpful to read thoroughly through your mobo bios settings because mobo tweaks can improve performance considerably.
7...Use the programs that all other overclockers use to test stability and benchmark your system with different tests. Prime 95, 3DMark 2001, SiSoft, CPU Mathmark Blah Blah Blah.

Good Luck!

My main piece of advice is that you read forum posts and reviews and tips covered in the front of www.overclockers.com They are VERY handy, quite often a lifesaver!