Re: Best 64 bit motherboard for linux today?

From: Anton Ertl (anton_at_mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at)
Date: 06/27/04 

Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2004 17:31:52 GMT

"Martin" <x@y.z> writes:
>Hi,
>
>I'm specing a new system to run Fedora Core2 server. I want a 64 bit AMD
>system, with RAID ideally. But it seems device drivers are a problem.

I have not noticed driver problems with my ASUS K8V, and I don't think
that this board is special in this respect. However, I have also not
used all hardware; in particular, no SATA stuff, and not the on-board
sound (minor problems with the latter were reported here).

Concerning RAID, I would stay away from the "hardware" RAID on modern
boards. Better use just the Linux software RAID (md), which continues
to work even if you exchange the board, does not need any special
hardware drivers, reportedly uses similar amounts of CPU time as the
"hardware" RAIDs, is pretty easy to set up when installing Fedora Core
2, and can be done on a per-partition basis.

>Given the limited choice of device drivers, what motherboard is recommended
>to be the best for running 64 bit Linux at present?

I have not seen any driver problems yet. As for other experiences:

- I am not happy with the ASUS K8V (see
<2004May28.184754@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at> for details).

- A friend of mine has bought two Gigabyte boards (socket 754, don't
know more details). One works fine, one died after a few months and
had to be replaced.

- If you are looking for a larger server, we recently got two
Dual-Opteron Servers with Tyan boards (K8S Pro S2882G3NR or similar),
and FC2 installed without problems (with software RAID1) on both of
them. Not much other experience yet.

  - anton 

-- 
M. Anton Ertl                    Some things have to be seen to be believed
anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at Most things have to be believed to be seen
http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/anton/home.html

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