opteron 146 thoughts on motherboards

[Robert L Cochran]

Peter Arremann wrote:

>On Sunday 08 January 2006 20:34, Robert L Cochran wrote:
>  
>
>>Peter Arremann wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>I can't recommend this board for a server use or a high end setup. But if
>>>you are looking for a cheap way to upgrade this board is unbeatable. At
>>>about $70 shipped you get something that will allow you to reuse your AGP
>>>card and then allow you to go PCI-E whenever you feel like it...
>>>
>>>Peter.
>>>      
>>>
>>Why isn't it a good server board? I'm not trained in how to evaluate a
>>board that can be used for server applications.
>>    
>>
>
>You'll probably get two very different responses back from me and Bryan 
>because we interpret the term "server" very different. For me, a server 
>doesn't have to have redundancy, expensive raid or anything - it is simply 
>something that is used to run server software. 
>
>While many people that run a PC as a server simply don't have the money or the 
>server task is not that important, you still want to get maximum stability 
>possible. And that is unfortunately where the AsRock board falls short. For 
>one, Asrock does not cross ship. If you have an RMA request, you're looking 
>at a week. Other vendors will cross ship - you give them your credit card and 
>as long as you return the borken board within 2 weeks they won't charge you.
>
>Another issue is the lm_sensor issue. For a server you want at least some 
>monitoring. If you install unpatched FC4, you won't get any sensor 
>information. 
>
>The thrid and for me biggest issue is the driver support. This board is exotic 
>and that is fine for a desktop board. But if you're somewhere at 2am trying 
>to reload a box, you surely don't want to hunt around for some weird bug you 
>might encounter. I have not found anything other than the lm_sensors yet, but 
>still - just because less people use it, its less well tested.
>
>In the end, as I said (after all I pointed you to this board), I think its a 
>great board for the price. Especially the dual agp/pci-e slots is cool. But 
>if I had to run it as a server, I would spend the extra $30, get a NForce 4 
>board and have something that 20% of the comunity runs... 
>
>Peter.
>
>  
>
Thanks Peter. I was just wondering, and you make some good points here 
that I haven't thought of. I'm not sure I fully understand what 
lm_sensors will give you -- is this the ability to remotely check things 
like the CPU temperature? Using SNMP? And yes, the driver issue is an 
interesting one. I had a tough time with the driver for the NIC until I 
installed the latest FC4 kernel. I really need to learn how to compile a 
Fedora kernel, even though in this case there wasn't the need -- it 
would have been more work.

I really I don't have any complaints about the board and I like it; I'm 
glad to have saved some money while I'm still focused on applications 
programming.  I'm using it as a desktop board obviously. I am more than 
pleased with the CPU speed. I recently did an 'rpmbuild -ba' of Firefox 
1.5 from source code that completed so quickly I didn't quite realize it.

Bob