1. Leave the system at
stock speeds when you plan to install your OS for the first time. Else if you're overclocking and the overclock is unstable, you run the risk of corrupting your installation ! Though you have already assembled your PC, have a look at the DFI Street forums (
www.dfi-street.com) as well , they have step by step install instructions for setting up your DFI board which will prove useful.
2. Once you get your video card, start up the system and install your OS (Win XP)
as you would do on any other system. The choice of OS is purely upto you - all will run fine on it. Since you are using PATA drives there should be no problem. Even with SATA drives (that are not combined in RAID) you do not need a floppy driver disk for XP to detect them on the Nforce4 chipset.
3. The Floppy disk included with the board is for setting up RAID (which you do not seem to intend doing). The CD included with the board has the chipset, audio, LAN drivrs, etc. Use this to install the drivers once you're done installing the OS (Of course, you can check the net for updated versions of drivers).
4. Flashing the BIOS is a separate matter altogether, and neither the XP CD, nor the floppy disk nor the CD will help you in that aspect. Your board will come loaded with the 6/23 BIOS by default which should be good enough to get your feet wet with overclocking. You can experiment with different BIOS'es later once you get the hang of things.
5. I see you have 1 x 256MB and 1 x 512MB stick. For running a Socket 939 system, its recommended to have 2 identical/matched sticks for running in dual channel i.e. (2 x 256MB) or (2 x 512MB).
