Chaintech VNF4 + SATA + Windows XP 64

[shleepy]

Hello!

I'm helping my friend build his computer, as he really does not know much about PC's, and we ran into a small problem.

We followed the motherboard's (Chaintech VNF4's) instructions for installing Windows XP on a SATA drive, which was basically just putting specific drivers from the provided CD onto a floppy and then presing F6 during installation. What happens is that Microsoft setup says that the drivers are 32-bit and do not support the 64-bit version of Windows.

Where can I find some drivers (or something like that) that I can use for installing Windows XP Pro 64-bit? Chaintech doesn't have anything like that on their site, not even a newer version of the storage controller on there, and the same goes for Western Digital. Here are the specs for my friend's comp:

Chaintech VNF4 motherboard (NForce 4 chipset, I believe)
AMD-64 3500+ processor
Western Digital SATA HD - 160Gb / 7200 RPM
2x 512Mb black Mushkin PC3200 (level 1 or whichever is the black one)
DVD-ROM and DVD-RW drives
ATI X800 Pro

Also, as long as I'm here, what are some timings that I should try for his nice Mushkin RAM? I have an Intel-based PC, so I only know some timings that work well with some of the 478 pin chipsets, but I don't know the good AMD-64 ones. Also, should I raise the voltage or anything?

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

[customcoms]

As far as I know, their windows XP 64 Bit doesn't support 32 bit drivers; you need 64 bit sata drivers, and I don't think they exist (this is up to the board manufacturer, at this stage; the full release version of XP 64 Bit might include them). So, you will have to install a regular 32 bit windows copy on the system. As far as ram timings, you want to set them to the timings they are rated for (others feel free to chime in on more exact settings) and maybe start tighting them up some since your not overclocking. But, in general, this is only going to gain a few percent in some memory bench test (Sandra comes to mind), so leaving them at Auto until you have windows installed isn't a bad idea.

Sam

 

[fr0thing]

The 64-bit SATA drivers would have to be provided by nVidia. As luck would have it they've recently posted the 64-bit nForce4 Beta drivers in their downloads section:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_nf4_winxp64_6.39_beta.html