Current best recommendation for Athlon 64 motherboard?

[Axel Thimm]

On Wed, Mar 02, 2005 at 07:51:08PM -0700, Maurice Hilarius wrote:
> Justin Crabtree wrote:
> >Rob Kirkbride wrote:
> >>Axel Thimm wrote on 01/03/2005 13:42:
> >>>what are currently considered good high-end motherboards for desktop
> >>>use of Athlon 64s? Chipset recommendations are welcome as well!
> >>I bought an Asus A8V-Deluxe and built a machine around that and it
> >>works a treat. Very stable - the onboard sound and ethernet work
> >>fine too. It does have a Wireless port on it as well but I haven't
> >>downloaded the driver from sourceforge because I haven't needed
> >>to.  I've tried both FC3 and CentOS4 beta on it and it works fine.
> >As far as the best motherboard, that depends on what you need it
> >for.

The purpose of these machines are to become Linux desktops and/or
number crunchers for scientific staff. Ethernet and IDE are important,
graphics and sound is not (although some staff members may think
otherwise :)

Also stability and projected long life (e.g. good manufacturing
quality, low dissipation etc.) to keep the support from the IT staff
minimal.

In a nutshell:

o needs to run on Linux ;)
o needs to run
o needs to run
o needs to run
o (optional: good performance in disk/network/memory IO)

> >I would recommend looking at one of the new boards based on the
> >NForce4 or K8T890 chipsets.  Both of these chipsets support
> >PCI-Express, which if you are building a new computer is the best
> >way to go for future compatibility.  Both chipsets have a just
> >about everything you would need in a desktop machine.  Check some
> >reviews on reliable sites like AnandTech or Tom's Hardware and good
> >luck.  HTH.
> I second this.
> The nForce4 is the current leader, mainly because the VIA is so
> darned new.  I think the ASUS and MSI SLI and non SLI versions are
> the current performance and reliability leaders.
> The Gigabyte, ECS, and so on are cheaper, but I think at this time
> you "get what you pay for".

Thanks for all suggestions.

I remember (from the dark ages) that the nforce Linux drivers were at
first non-existent, then closed source. I'd prefer a motherboard that
runs out of the box on a recent kernel, or one that has a chance to do
so in a couple of kernel releases (patching kernel sources or building
open source kernel modules externally wouldn't break my leg).

But if nforce4 is the best recommendation, we'd even bite the bullet
and package up closed source nforce4 drivers.

Thanks!
-- 
Axel.Thimm at ATrpms.net
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