SATA II Supported?

Yes! Your board does support SATA II for hard drives. In any BIOS, the First SATA and Second SATA refers to the number of SATA ports on the motherboard. If a particular board has four ports, then the BIOS will have four entries, one for each. These entries let you individually control the behaviour of each SATA port on the board.

A Tale Of Two Phones
I have allocated a budget of around Rs 12,000 to 17,000 for a cell phone, but I’m confused. Which is a better phone-the Sony Ericsson K750i or the W810i?
Devi Prasanna Bej

According to Sony Ericsson, the K750i is their imaging-oriented cell phone, while the W810i is targeted at music enthusiasts. The K750i is quite an old model, but still has a whole load of desirable features. The 2-megapixel camera is still one of the best amongst all brands, the music player sounds great, and, best of all, at a street price of around Rs 11,000, it’s a great buy.

The W810i looks terrific and rivals any MP3 player in terms of music playability. The 2 MP camera is similar to that on the K750i, but lacks lens protection. The W810i comes for around Rs 16,000. I still think the K750i is a better deal than the W810i; however, if you want something that looks and sounds better than the K750i, opt for the W810i.

Confused About Cores
I am in the process of buying a new computer. However, being out of touch, I have some confusion as far as the processor and motherboard combination is concerned. Intel manufactures so many processors-dual-cores, Extreme Edition, etc. I have assigned a budget of around Rs 7,000 to 9,000 for the processor-motherboard combo. Can you help me decide?
Jasdeep Lehri

Based on your budget, I am assuming that you will be using this PC for routine work such as word processing, Internet browsing, etc. Just to give you an update: on the Intel front, you get two lines of processors-the Pentium 4 and the Pentium D. The D version is the dual-core variant of the Pentium 4 line-up. Intel has already launched a new processor family called Core 2 Duo; hopefully, it should be made available for Indian consumers within a month. You can safely consider the entry-level E6200 model of the Core 2 Duo; it runs at 1.86 GHz, has 2 MB of cache, and should be available for Rs 7,500 to 8,000. If you don’t find the E6300, opt for the entry-level Pentium D805 processor.

You will have to opt for a motherboard based on the Intel 945 chipset. AMD has recently slashed their prices as well, so you can get a good deal on the entry-level Athlon 64 X2 processors. If you opt for AMD, pair it with a motherboard based on NVIDIA’s 6150 chipset, such as the Asus A8N-VM.

Serving Up Performance
I am planning to assemble my own computer and have kept aside Rs 65,000 for it. I am considering buying a server processor, most probably the AMD Opteron-I want something really different. This decision stems from the fact that I have seen AMD’s Athlon 64 performing better than Intel’s processors, so I thought the server processor from AMD should be even better.
Is the Core 2 Duo (Conroe) from Intel really better than the Opteron? If not, what motherboard and power supply will I require for the AMD Opteron processor?
Shirish Tiwari

There is no need to buy a server processor for a gaming machine. Server components are designed from a different perspective-fault tolerance is the key consideration. Moreover, other components such as the motherboard, power supply, memory, etc., required for servers are quite different too-overall, an unnecessary expense.

As of now, Intel’s new Core 2 Duo processors outperform AMD’s new processor, the AM2. However, since we haven’t reviewed the Opteron processors, I can’t tell you whether the Conroe beats it.

If you want to build a really good rig, I’d suggest you base it on Intel’s Core 2 Duo platform. For Rs 65,000, you can certainly build a great gaming rig. For the graphics card, opt for any card based on NVIDIA’s 7600GT chipset.

Wanted: A Registry Guide
I want to purchase a book on the Windows Registry. It should cover the Registry in detail. Is such a book available in India? What would it cost me?
Pradeep
 
There are lots of books available on the Windows Registry. Jerry Honeycutts’ Microsoft Windows Registry Guide is one book you should consider. Priced at $30 (Rs 1,350) at www.amazon.com, the book is expensive, but you might find a lower-priced edition as well. Check for it at your local book store.

If you’re looking for a beginner’s explanation and tweaking tips for the Windows Registry, we’ve published a Fast Track to the Windows Registry last month: read that first to get started!