I've had a Gigabyte K8NS Ultra-939 (with a 3200 64bit CPU) for over a year and the only problem I've had was that when I set the BIOS to use Dual Channel DDR400 memory, the system seemed a bit unstable - but that may be a memory (hardware) problem - I never bothered to check. After disabling the Dual Channel feature everything runs out of the box. This Motherboard has lots of extra features that you may not need (in fact I guess I don't either) like dual Raid, 2 on-board LAN chips (10/100 & 10/100/1000) and even a Dual BIOS. It also has a hardware Firewall, but that feature is NOT supported by Linux (although I think it's only a problem with the front-end software which runs on Windows only).
In any case, go for a 939 pin board (not 754) since this will allow future upgrapes of the CPU. My system is Mandrake 10.1 (out of the box kernel - 2.6.8.1-12mdk). On Monday 26 December 2005 13:57, Oleg Goldshmidt wrote: > Hi everyone, > > I am looking into buying a new computer, and I am considering 64-bit > AMD. One of the things I am getting a bit uncertain about is the level > of support for AMD motherboards commonly available in neighbourhood > computer shops. It is going to be my main home station, and it is > important to me that things will work out of the box more or less OK > with modern distros (e.g. Fedora 4), and that I don't spend too much > time and effort downloading different drivers from assorted > manufacturers that will provide partial functionality with particular > kernel versions etc. In other words, I put a premium on minimizing the > hassle. I also don't want to buy new HW every year or two - I want a > box that will serve me for the next few years. It will not be greatly > stressed, but stability and longevity is very important. > > The more I read the more concerned I become. For instance, the latest > AMD mobo I've been offered is ASUS A8N-VM CSM. I tried to look through > 2.6 kernel configuration options and also read some reviews, > especially Linux-related ones. Here is a typical (and recent) one: > > http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/77909774/m/924000436 >731/p/1 > > - I certainly don't want any of the hassle and instabilities and > cooling problems listed there. > > Rather than reading more reviews of different mobos and getting more > and more worried, I would love to hear about experiences and > suggestions. > > * Have you got a mobo that worked out of the box and without a major > driver hassle? > > * Have you got a mobo that you would advise staying away from? > > * Will I be better off with Intel-based systems given my requirements? > CPU performance is not really critical for me, 64-bit Intel systems > seem to sell cheaper than low-end Athlon64's, possibly at the > expense of some performance, the mobos I've been offered have Intel > GPUs and Realtek NICs that seem to be better supported - is this > impression an illusion? > > Any relevant advice will be appreciated. -- Shlomo Solomon http://the-solomons.net Sent by KMail 1.7.1 (KDE 3.2.3) on LINUX Mandrake 10.1 ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
