new NF7-S SYSTEM SETUP advice needed

Hello all,

MOTHERBOARD/MEMORY/CPU:
I will be getting a brand new NF7-S (how can I tell which revision?) motherboard this weekend, with 2 x 512 PC3200 ram, and the Athlon XP 2800+ (Barton) w/ 512K L2 cache CPU (can the NF7-S support this CPU?)....

VIDEO CARD:
I don't know which video card to get... any suggestions? (since it's nForce2 chipset, will performance be sub-optimal if I buy an ATI Radeon card, like the 9600 Pro instead of using an nVidia video card with the nForce2 chipset?)

SYSTEM SETUP:
I will be installing Windows XP Pro from scratch on a low-level formatted hard drive. Can anyone that owns the same motherboard that has gone through setting up their system tell me the proper steps in order of what to update and install to get a nice clean system going please? Is there a guide somewhere to setup an NF7-S system with XP?

The first thing I should do is to make sure the NF7-S has the latest BIOS, right? After that, I dunno... when should I install the XP Service Pack 1a?... does AMD have anything to install like the Intel .inf drivers or Intel Application Accelerator for the Intel boards?

If anyone can list the exact steps in order of things to setup, or point me to an existing guide or something that would be much much appreciated.

Thanks in advance all!!!!!!

motherboard/memory/cpu: yup

video card: doesn't matter which brand you get.

system setup: install your vid driver first then the manual states its best to install the service packs before the nforce drivers. but then again i dont think it should matter when you install the service packs.

get the unified 2.03 nforce drivers off nvidias site. these cleared up all my sound issues in games ...and help your system peform much much better.

then install the rest of the software per your cd. you really shouldnt upgrade to the newest bios unless your having sata issues or ide problems. mine was fine, im not using sata...and i have a rev 2.0 board anyways. im using the rev 2.0 stock bios. and really havent had a problem.. well a few im working on

I try to install service packs and the latest stable version of directX first, then the drivers. I don't think it matters but the service packs have been known to break previously installed apps.

bios flash
install xp
install sp1
install vid drivers
install misc proggys

thats the order i do it in with a reboot between each one.

if you dont install sp1 before the Nforce drivers, usb2 wont work. Running the nforce driver setup without sp1 installed warns you of this

id suggest getting a different motherboard/cpu combo. both are excellent, but the nf7 is an overclocking board first and formost. it would be wasted on an xp2800 when you can match and surpass the performance with that board and an xp1700.

do u have to install SP1? i didnt even borther doing ti and my windows seems to be runing pretty much fine...

no you dont have to. i ran win2k without it for a few years.