AMD64 chipset Linux support ....

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Tue, 2006-07-11 at 14:27 -0500, William A. Mahaffey III wrote:
> .... I am looking at the Asus A8V Mbd (Via K8T800 chipset,
> ~$62.00 on pricewatch) for a hypothetical Opteron box, lightweight
> LAN server.

You don't want to buy a desktop chipset for a server.  People do this
all-the-time, even for Intel (e.g., i845/i865), and pay the price in I/O
limitations and stability.

Paying $200 for an entry-level, but true _server_ mainboard instead of
$100 for a desktop mainboard is well worth the added $100.

The entry-level ServerWorks HT1000 is a nice solution with a single
PCI-X channel for Socket-939 for under $200.  Adding a HT2000 typically
brings up the cost over $300 to what the nVidia nForce Pro with 40 PCIe
channels plus the AMD8131/8132 dual-PCI-X typically costs.

Intel's entry-level 72xx series (based on a license of the ServerWorks
IV/Grand Champion) starts with dual PCIe x8 I/O in the 7230 for under
$200 (sometimes under $150) and you can add an ESB6x00 series for PCI-X
for under $300.

Again, _never_ use a desktop chipset for server duties.  And especially
_not_ a "consumer" rated/tested (e.g., i865 instead of i875).

> How is Linux support for this chipset ?

ViA typically has ATA controller issues (long story).
Off-chipset is recommended in many cases.

> I have an older (S370 PIII) box, this one as it happens, w/
> a Via 694 chipset & love it.

The 694 had many performance and stability issues.  Especially early
revisions.  Latter 694X versions fared better, but were still _not_ a
_server_ chipset.

E.g., the 694 still had only 1/4-1/8 the I/O of a ServerSet IIILE which
started at $250 when they were new (and under $200 later on).  I
replaced many i440BX/GX and 693A/694X dual-processor systems with the
IIILE and file server performance was instantly 3x (literally, +200%).

> Can I look forward to the same great performance & reliability under
> Linux (FC5 most likely) w/ the K8T800 ? TIA ....

I guess if you're idea of performance and reliability is low, yes.  ;->

-- Bryan

P.S.  William -- you're not going to believe this, but I wrote this and
was just about to send and just realized you posted it.  I honestly
wrote it _before_ I noticed it was you.

P.P.S.  Lay off the desktop chipsets -- seriously.  I'll loan you an
Intel 72xx (or even a 75xx) series -- you'll see what I mean!  ;->

-- 
Bryan J. Smith          Professional, technical annoyance
mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org    http://thebs413.blogspot.com
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