[svlug] motherboard recommendations

[Lord Sauron]

On 3/21/06, Jeff Frost <jeff at frostconsultingllc.com> wrote:
> My Athlon XP system is getting a little long in the tooth, so it's time to

If you don't want it... ; )

> build a new white box postgresql test box/workstation. I will need to run X on
> this box, so a PCIe slot is desirable. Have any of you folks evaluated the

PCIe is totally overkill.  I'm getting some great mileage out of a ECS
nForce 3-A socket 754 with a Athlon64 3k+ I picked up a Frys.  I then
threw in a nice shiny new hard drive and a overkill graphics card
('cause I'm nuts like that) and had a really nice system for under
$1k.

> latest Socket 939 boards on the market these days? I'd like to find something
> that doesn't have terrible SATA disk performance. I'm planning to install

I'm not aware of any problems with nFoce3's SATA150... at least, it
works fine for me.

> Gentoo x86_64 on it and run software raid, so I won't be using the fakeraid
> controllers as raid.  I have been eyeing the Abit AN8 32X board, but I don't
> really need SLI, though having an extra PCI-e might be nice in the future
> (assuming I could actually use it for a disk controller or something else).

Just wondering, but what on earth would you be using the mind-numbing
power of a PCIe card for?  The only reason I see to have that kind of
power is high-end stuff like real time rendering of scary things.  AGP
will give you great performance for much less money.

> If you respond off-list, I'll summarize and post the results back.
>
> Thanks for any input.

Right now nVidia is making some really good chipsets.  Look for their
nForce line in your next purchase - it's really impressive.  I know
they're not the _best_ (TM), but they're really good for the price.

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