Re: [Semi-OT] Need advice on AMD mobo

ron.l.johnson@xxxxxxx wrote:
Just got an ASRock A780GXE/128M, and it seems to have difficulty seeing more
than 4 devices. (I've got 4 SATA HDDs, a SATA DVD-RW and a PATA HDD.) Here are my needs: - AM2 socket - ATX form factor, - 6 (or even 8) SATA sockets, - 4 DIMM slots. On-board 1394 would be useful. The A780GXE has all those features, but apparently doesn't implement them well. Just in order to get it to boot from CD-ROM (I'm now running from an Ubuntu 9.04 Live CD), I had to disconnect the lone PATA drive. I'd break down and get an AM2+ CPU if the mobo were *great* and didn't support AM2.

Also, I'm running Sid with 2.6.30, so "modern" doesn't scare me.
Thanks




I have had the best luck with ASUS and MSI MBs.

My advice is, if you are forced into getting not just a new board, but a new CPU as well, for a desktop machine, then you would be better off with rethinking the brand loyalty.

Right now, much as I hate to admit it, Intel X58/Core i7 is the way to go. The Core i7 920 is a very good good price v. performance choice, and it overclocks very well. I like the ASUS P6T Deluxe V2, a Core i7 board I have successfully installed 5 times, so far. Debian runs fine, with a recent enough kernel.

The down side is, the memory is DDR3, so you can't reuse the old sticks. But, you can put in six of them! Garden-variety sticks from OCZ or somewhere will take it to 12GB, or you can pay a premium, go with 4 Gig sticks, and have 24GB.

(If you like to overclock, though, stick with three memory sticks. Yes, three, not two or four. The LGA 1366 processors---i.e., Core i7s---are triple-channel, they have an onboard memory controller that supports three memory channels. Anyway, higher clocks on all-slots-filled configurations are not supported.)

I have installed one GigaByte X58/i7 board, the EX58-UD5, and I dislike it. Not recommended.

Core i7 boards are somewhat pricy, though. The new P55 chipset is cheaper, and it supports the new Lynnfield CPU, that is, the core i5 chips. i5 just has double-channel support, so less costly to get started. But I have no experience with them.

The point being that an Intel chip is, in my opinion, the current overall winner.


MArk Allums



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