[olug] Mobo/Video recommendations

Thu Feb 7 20:32:36 UTC 2008

Favoring AMD myself, I've found few motherboards that really have any problems with any O/S.  I HAVE run into one situation where the BIOS was so far behind that I had to have a stick of old RAM to get it to boot and then flash, but that's an extreme case, and for many of us complete geeks, not much of an issue.  The average user doesn't have RAM laying around, but the average user isn't building his own system, either.  (For the record, the mobo I have isn't technically rated to handle the Sempron CPU I got with it, without a BIOS flash, so I expected issues during the install).
As far as video goes, I pulled my ATI x1600 Pro/512 and replaced it with a 7800GSOC because 3D just didn't install (that's been over a year ago, so maybe that's changed).
I don't do bleeding edge myself, since if you wait a year the parts can cost half as much; my Sempron 3400+ is probably around $30 now, and this old AGP board still plays every game I have at 1680x1050 resolution.
For a small server, if you were getting along fine with a PIII, a dual core Athlon or even one of the older Sempron CPUs may be more than you need for quite a while (I recall the 6000+ being under $200 quite a while back at Newegg). Chances are that's more than most people will need for a long while, and this includes gamers.
I always go for some overkill as far as making sure things can be expanded to suit my needs; extra PCI slots, lots of RAM capability, higher CPU speed handling (if I'm not already buying the highest the mobo will take).

http://www.ericshaus.com
I ran the Harry Potter books through a spell checker; none of those spells should work.

----- Original Message ----
From: Phil Brutsche <phil at brutsche.us>
To: Omaha Linux User Group <olug at olug.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 7, 2008 2:00:17 PM
Subject: Re: [olug] Mobo/Video recommendations

Obi-Wan 
wrote:
> 
Of 
course, 
if 
stability 
really 
was 
a 
problem, 
I'd 
rethink 
that, 
but
> 
I've 
not 
heard 
of 
any 
specific 
examples 
of 
AMD 
reliability 
problems.

It 
more 
that 
99.99999% 
of 
all 
AMD 
motherboards 
are 
geared 
towards
enthusiasts 
that 
will 
abuse 
their 
systems 
by 
overclocking 
the 
dickens
out 
of 
them.

I'll 
prefer 
equipment 
that's 
designed 
for 
consistency 
and 
reliability
any 
day.

There's 
also 
the 
*platform* 
stability 
issue 
- 
if 
I 
build 
a 
machine 
with
an 
Intel 
or 
Supermicro 
motherboard, 
and 
suddenly 
find 
I 
need 
to 
drop 
in
a 
replacement 
2 
or 
3 
years 
down 
the 
road, 
you 
better 
believe 
I 
can 
get 
a
perfect 
drop-in 
replacement 
off 
eBay.

I've 
had 
horrible 
problems 
with 
that 
with 
AMD 
boards 
- 
the 
manuf. 
will
change 
the 
MB 
revision, 
and 
will 
change 
the 
ethernet 
and 
audio
controllers 
at 
the 
same 
time!

> 
Onboard 
firewire 
is 
nice.  
I 
worry 
about 
the 
future 
expandability
> 
of 
a 
board 
with 
only 
one 
PCI-e 
x16 
slot, 
especially 
with 
no 
onboard
> 
video.
> 
> 
What's 
the 
availability 
like 
for 
PCI-e 
x1 
cards?  
I'd 
never 
even
> 
heard 
of 
those 
little 
things 
until 
I 
started 
looking 
at 
mobos 
lately.

A 
year 
or 
2 
ago 
there 
were 
very 
few 
options, 
but 
that's 
changing 
quickly.

These 
days 
you 
can 
get 
single-lane 
video 
cards, 
SATA 
JBOD/fakeraid
cards, 
SATA 
RAID 
(real 
hardware 
raid) 
cards, 
ethernet 
cards, 
sound
cards, 
wireless 
cards, 
TV 
capture 
cards 
for 
Windows 
MCE 
or 
MythTV...

> 
I 
understand 
what 
you're 
saying, 
and 
if 
I 
were 
starting 
from 
scratch,
> 
I'd 
agree 
with 
you.  
However, 
I've 
got 
four 
(perhaps 
three 
now) 
IDE
> 
drives 
worth 
over 
1 
TB, 
and 
I'm 
not 
inclined 
to 
replace 
them 
until
> 
they 
die 
or 
fill 
up.  
Therefore, 
I 
still 
need 
a 
mobo 
with 
good 
IDE
> 
support.

Unfortunately 
such 
boards 
no 
longer 
exist.

There 
are 
boards 
out 
there 
with 
PATA 
ports 
provided 
by 
an 
additional
on-motherboard 
controller, 
but 
the 
add-in 
controller 
is 
hardly 
any
better 
than 
the 
Promise 
cards.

One 
example:
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Core2Duo/G33/C2SBA+.cfm

> 
I 
do 
have 
a 
PCI 
IDE 
card 
(Promise 
brand, 
which 
has 
flaky 
support 
in
> 
Feisty, 
unknown 
with 
Gutsy) 
that 
I 
suppose 
I 
could 
use 
for 
my 
drives
> 
if 
it's 
supported.

You 
should 
be 
able 
to 
get 
an 
older 
3ware 
7000-series 
PATA 
PCI 
card;
they've 
been 
well-supported 
under 
Linux 
for 
nearly 
a 
decade, 
work 
in
JBOD 
mode 
and 
are 
pretty 
cheap 
on 
eBay.

One 
example: 
http://search.ebay.com/110222119557

-- 

Phil 
Brutsche
phil at brutsche.us
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