Here's a tip for Linux users (and anyone willing try Linux):
Install a new version with kernel at least 2.6.22 and install PowerTOP. Since 2.6.21 the kernels are tickless, while PowerTOP is a tool for seeing which processes are causing the CPU to wake-up out of more efficient states. It also gives advice about what to change and how. PowerTOP was supposed to be for extending battery life in laptops, but you can use it in desktops also. Plus, both Linux and PowerTOP are free
I've been on Linux for almost 10 years now (Fedora 9 on the destop, F6 on the laptop to be upgraded soon). I have a small partition with WinXP programs which weren't writen for Linux, though I could just use the Wine emulator.
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e·co·mod·ding: the art of turning vehicles into what they should be
What matters is
where you're going, not
how fast.
"... we humans tend to screw up everything that's good enough as it is...or everything that we're attracted to, we love to go and defile it." - Chris Cornell
[Old] Piwoslaw's Peugeot 307sw modding thread