what amd64 motherboard?

[snakattak3]

I just picked up an Asus k8n (not delux) for $99.99 (US) + Tax. Its a pretty nice board. It uses the 754 pin AMD processors, so if your planning on upgrading later, I wouldn't get this board. I bought it because when I upgrade my processor, I ALWAYS upgrade my motherboard, so it was a Non-Issue for me, and the 754 MB/Processors are much cheaper than the 939 pins right now. It has the Nforce3 250 chipset, and seems to work flawlessly with linux. It did take me a week or so of tweeking/trouble-shooting to get this system set up, partly because I was new to gentoo on amd64 platforms, but now everything works great. Cool&Quiet works, when my system is idle, CPU goes down to about 900Mhz, and jumps right up to full speed when something goes on. The onboard sound works quite well with the snd_intel8x0 drivers from alsa in the kernel, all I had to do was enable arts to use realtime priority to fix a crackling sound. I don't use wake-on-lan, but the bios says I can enable it. Board is here if you want to look further. All in all, I am pleased with my purchase, and would recommend this board if you want to save a few bucks.
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[hvengel]

I have an ABit AV8. For the most part I am pleased. My only disapointment so far is that the sensors and PWMs are not accessable in Linux. So you can not monitor temps, voltages or fan speeds using lm-sensors. You also can not control fan speeds from Linux. So if this stuff maters to you then you should not get this board.

[scruff]

I just finished a new build using a DFI Lanparty NF4 UltraD and it is awesome. Rock solid, fully compatible, smoking fast, and has more OC'ing options than most people will know what to do with. There's a pretty good review here: http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews05/dfiultrad/index.php?file=1. I posted quick review at the LQ HCL here: hmm... it hasn't been approved yet. You will find it under this link though: http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/showcat.php?cat=42
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AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ @ oc'd to 2.3ghz
DFI Lanparty UltraD nForce4 SLI
2x1gb Geil PC4000
GeForce 7800GT
Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum
200gb Maxtor DiamondMax 10
74gb WD Raptor 10k RPM

[infiniti_guy]

Tyan is releasing a new K8E board with 4xSATAII, 4xPCI, PCI-E 2 x1 and 1 x16, dual GbLAN, integrated video (no need to buy a video card for the server), etc. PCI-e can be used for new PCI-e RAID Card.

http://www.tyan.com/products/html/tomcatk8e.html

I think this may be an ideal solution for a SOHO or MEDIA server, but I have never had a Tyan. Anyone have experiences with Tyan?

[Sheepdogj15]

DFI Lanparty! their NF3 board is great.

not too expensive these days, either.

[evil_device]

Hi, I have both motherboards: asus K8V SE Deluxe and a MSI K8N Neo nForce 3 250 for my 754 AMD Athlon +3400 processor. But my processor is plugged into my MSI motherboard now. I always had good experiences with asus, most of their products were (and some of them still are) predictable and reliable, until something changed. I had also a Asus dual PIII motherboard and I had the best version but it still was crap. I spoke to other people with different versions of the same board. They were not so happy etiher (integrated SCSI related issues). I think asus BIOS stuff is of lesser quality than it used to be. Who wants to rely beta BIOS drivers? I had to in those days. And now I have another bad experience with Asus. However I am very pleased with nVidias' nForce chipset and MSIs' implementation.

I don't use linux because gaming is my first priority(then I would use windows crap on a overclocked less stable hardware). I use linux because I want to be in control and want the system to be predictable and reliable. So why would I use an Asus motherboard which is not? How about the value for your money and your specific use?

Sale: a free PC if you order our pizza
What kind of PC/pizza you would get? If you want do decent RAID you either buy a hardware RAID (see handbook) or use linux software raid. All the motherboard's which have raid integrated while being unmistakely lesser quality software raid (see handbook).

The same goes for sound. If you're really into sound, then you also probably buy a decent sound card (for example a RME Hammerfall, see the kernel) accompanied by a good set of monitor speakers (a Mackie sound system) and you feel alienated between those too-much-money-for-value pc soundsystems). Consumer sound systems have the worst cost/quality ratio if compared to the professional equipment. Still happy with normal soundcard, that's great. Talking about good sound; why even mention integrated audio devices on motherboards???

Asus (K8V SE Deluxe) vs MSI Platinum nForce 3 250 Gb
The the BIOS of the asus motherboard is crap. If you update the BIOS it won't boot. You have to open up your box, find and reach for a jumper and battery somewhere between the cables. You then have to switch a jumper and remove the battery wait a moment and the put both things back again. Really old school labour and then find out it still sucks. And how do they talk about their BIOS:
ASUS CrashFree BIOS2
The CrashFree BIOS 2 feature now includes [...] and go through the simple BIOS auto-recovery process. Their description for their board: The King of AMD Athlon 64 MBs....

Little details about how you can configure the BIOS separates the boys(asus) from the men(nForce). Just to name a few:

The boot order chooser of asus is cyclic, which means it doesn't give you all that freedom. MSI however has a decent noncyclic boot order chooser with a lot of devices to boot from (especially all sorts of usb equipment) and is far easier to configure. All these fine details are proven to be important when you most need them.. Everything Nvidia and MSI put on this board looks to be integrated with care (without noticing all marketing pushed bells and whistles) and more stable than the Asus board. Some examples:

My exotic hardware imager (used for harddiscs) was really being messed around, because the boot order couldn't be really adjusted as how I wanted it to be. MSI however does everything how it should be done.

I didn't change the settings of the bios or plugged in modules and I am very aware of static electricity etc. And after a while suddenly the asus motherboard just started to give errors after a while. the King of AMD Athlon motherboards performs ill.

Conclusion
If you just want a stable, reliable, easy to configure motherboard optimized for a fast and affordable 64bit AMD 754 socket processor. Then use gentoo with the MSI Platinum nForce 3 250 Gb motherboard. Especially knowing that nVidia also took care and effort to provide decent linux drivers for their graphics cards(though closed source). Credits where they are due.
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[infiniti_guy]

I liked the other quote about integration better It was mostly, but not entirely true (take cell phone service providers for example...), still a good quote.

Above-- I was talking HW RAID Card. Do you think Linux RAID would run stremaing video? I have seen it work well on RAID 5 Cards with cache, but never tried it on Linux SW.

[MrIch]

hmm you should think about following details first:

noise ( all nforce boards have fans)
stability and 32 bit support ( I hope you do not have an ati radeon card)

[infiniti_guy]

I have 8 nForce boards... none have fans on the motherboard (MSI, ASUS).

[evil_device]

MrIch

I have also a nVidia Graphics card, good linux AMD64 support, very cheap, good enough to use two monitors in linux for non 3D usage.
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"Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." Quote: Edsger Dijkstra

[evil_device]

infiniti_guy. If you want to use a HW RAID, that's the best option in most occaisions. I don't know enough about streaming media stuff. But I do know that RAID (if using some sort of striping) can be practical to get a higher troughput for your data. In such cases you don't want to use linux RAId, I guess. Since linux raid uses your processor, which you probably want to use to encode or other services. It sounds really like a HW RAID is the best option. But be sure to pick good and supported hardware if your business depends on it, before you buy anything, of course.
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"Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." Quote: Edsger Dijkstra

[infiniti_guy]

RAID - Am headed for Areca.. until someone else comes out with a good PCI-e card.

What about Tyan? Their new nForce 4 board looks great for a home server. Anyone have good or bad experiences?

[Poe]

Hi. I make think for MSi Neo4 Platinum and Abit AN8 Fatality. How do you thing?
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[royw]

Howdy,

I've been running x86 gentoo as dual boot for the past month and am looking to build up a new box for amd64 gentoo. These are notes on selection criteria and I'd appreciate any comments.

Requirements:
* A64
* low noise (not necessarily quiet, target of 20dBm at 1m)
* development system, not gaming system. Would like to try home theater with it.
* upgradable in a couple of years
* none to mild overclocking (thermal == noise)
* components on the price/performance elbow or a little on the performance side
* Gigabit LAN (about half my home network is now gigabit)

* CPU - ADA3500DIK4BI
I've settled on the 3500+ 90nm CPU. Basically it's currently at the price/performance elbow and is the fastest A64 using 90nm, which is less heat to deal with. Socket 939 upgradable to dual core in a couple of years.

* CPU cooler - Thermalright XP-90C
I've been using the XP-90 on my P4 and it is great. Compatible with most motherboards.

* HDD - WD Raptor 74GB
I've been using Western Digital Raptors and like them. Requires SATA I.

* Video - undecided
I run dual monitors so that is the primary requirment. Secondary is DVD playback. Cheap now, upgrade when needed. I've had real good experiences with nVidia and I like their Linux support.

* Memory
Understanding the memory issues is spinning my head. Here's what I have.

On x86 gentoo, 1GB ram is seldom used while 800MB is seen regularly. I'd like to start with 2GB of ram, but if necessary will fall back to 1GB.

Dual channel offers some benefit (haven't found numbers yet)

A64 benefits a lot from low latency ram. Ideal would be 2-2-2-5-1T. 3-3-3-8-2T costs the system about 15% performance (yes, the number varies a lot depending on benchmark, but is usually between 8-30%).

A64 only supports DDR400 for two ram banks. At four ram banks the A64 slows to DDR333. Rumor that later processors can support DDR400 for four banks (unconfirmed).

Four banks slow command rate to 2T (3-4% performance hit).

I can only find 2-2-2 DDR400 RAM in 512KB modules. The best I've found for 1GB DDR400 modules is 2.5-3-3, but that is double sided.

So I don't see how to get 4GB DDR400 at all. I don't see how to get 2GB DDR400 at low latency. Best performance seems to dictate only 1GB using 512KB DDR400 modules. Am I missing something?

* Motherboard - MSI K8N NEO4 Platinum/SLI
Reviews are this is a feature rich, good overclocker (not quite as good as DFI LanParty). I've had good experience with MSI hardware in the past plus with SoundBlaster Live on-board that's one less card needed.

This is not a hard decision yet.

I'm primarily concerned with kernel support for nForce4 chipset.

PCI-E is the future, but I don't see AGP dying totally for a couple of years. SLI is only for gaming, not needed.


TIA,
Roy
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Experience is what you gain just after you needed it.

[sn99520]

I bought Amd64 3000+(939), ASUS A8V Deluxe, VIA K8T800Pro with 2x512MB Twinmos Dual Channel PC3200. Few days ago, I bought another 2x512MB Twinmos Dual Channel PC3200 => both dual chanels occupied => TOTAL 2GB. If I let MB to set RAM frequecy automatically it slows to DDR333, but I can set the frequency manually to DDR400 and works just fine. My box has been running non-stop since last Friday without any problem. I don't use any case, MB is on the floor (very good cooling) and the system is extremly quiet even with boxed CPU cooler. I use cool 'n quiet, q fan control, passive cooled VGA, PSU. The system is very stable, fast, quiet.

[perry]

[royw]

Thank you for the feedback.

I've looked (ok drooled) at the XP-120, but found most motherboards I'm interested in have interfence problems according to Thermalright's site. Then I found reviews showing the thermal efficency of the 90C is about the same as the 120. So my preference is the 120 (quieter fan) with a fallback to the 90C depending on motherboard.

My current system uses the Zalman northbridge cooler plus the Zalman video cooler. They do help a lot on noise reduction.

I'm designing the case currently. Basic concept major air intake in back, powersupply on bottom near the front exhausting rearward thru a muffler. One 12cm exhaust fan out top back. Suspension drives. And made of wood in an organic shape (basically no straight lines

I tried a couple of the nexus fans in my Sonata case. Both fans had a reliability problem in that they don't always start spinning. Notice the past tense

Have fun,
Roy
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[pwe]

[makton3g]

I have an ABit Ax8 MOBO and thing only thing I hav not got to work yet is the gigabit NIC. This runs f***ing FAST, and stable. Even with have of the stuff being "~and64" or hacked to "~amd64"... AKA "ati-drivers-extra" "xmms" and a few other things. I guess I need to sheare what I have working ATM.

[Wolfie]

I have the Asus K8V-SE-Deluxe. I had nothing but problems for 2 months untill I replaced the RAM with some on the certified list from Asus & AMD. Now it works like a charm. No more seg faults, no more freezing.

**********************************************

AMD3200+
Asus K8V-SE-Deluxe
1Gig Samsung PC3200
2x160Gig WD SATA drives
NVidia 5200 /w 128MB

[royw]

Howdy,

Reading "AMD Athlon 64 3800+ CPU: E3 Processor Core aka Venice at the Door" at http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlon64-venice.html, I found some of the answers for my memory questions:

" If there were four single-side DDR400 SDRAM DIMMs installed in a system with a Winchester based Athlon 64 CPU, they could only work with the 2T timing, which caused a few percent drop below the usual performance level. If there were four double-side memory modules installed, DDR400 SDRAM would not work at all and its working frequency would automatically drop down to 333MHz."

FYI, the new Venice core (Revision E3) CPUs " can work with four single-side DDR400 SDRAM modules without any limitations, and if there are double-side DDR400 SDRAM DIMMs installed, they can work at 400MHz with 2T timing."

Have fun,
Roy
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Experience is what you gain just after you needed it.

[Apatrid]

Would some of the owners of MSI Neo4 Platinum who have USB working be so kind to help me here:

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-324683.html

TIA

[tam]

I just have bought a Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra-9, nForce4 Ultra, but I have no results yet, since I have to install gentoo first.

[re_re]

I just built an amd64 box with a MSI K8N Neo FSR mobo and i am exeedingly pleased with it, it is rock solid and overclocks well, I have a 2800+ oc'd 2016 mhz and ran the Prime95 stress test for 24 hours and not one error, and it runs pretty cool to

I've built 3 MSI boxes for myeself and I would recommend their mobos to anyone
I have no experience with asus

one more thing....... this motherboard is cheap (price not quality) and for the money you'de be hard pressed to beat it....... I got the motherboard and the cpu together for $165 shipping included

Looking at $68 for an k8n neo fsr on pricewatch.com right now
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MSI 865PE Neo2 FISR, p4 2.6c, nv 5600

MSI K8N FSR, athlon64 2800+ @2016mhz, nv 6800xt

Compaq Deskpro Pentium3 500mhz

Macbook Pro 1.83ghz 1.5 gig pc5300

[longship]