I have been building/repairing computers since about 1989,,, from XT's/286's all the way to Athlons,, so I think I got it down pat,, I also have a huge supply of thermal grease and anything else I could possibly need... What I was asking,, is just this: 1. Are their any motherboards or Chipsets I should stay away from? 2. Are their any that perform exceptionally well? 3. Are their any that have problems with linux. 4. Are their any with onboard hdd controllers that cause linux problems? You get the idea, I have to decide on a AMD mainboard tomorrow, These are my current choises,, if they are all crap, ,then I'll go with another wholesaler. The first group are 266 FSB.... PCCHIPS 810LMR ABIT KT7A VIA-KT133A. ABIT KT7A-RAID VIA-KT133A. ASUS A7V-133 VIA-KT133A, 266FSB. ASUS A7M266 AMD-761, 266FSB. ASUS A7A266 ALi, 266FSB, 2xDDR & 3xSDRAM Dimms, ATA/100, 4xAGP-PRO, 4xUSB, Duron Ready, ATX This second group are 200mhz FSB ASUS A7V VIA-KT133, 200FSB, ASUS A7-E VIA-KT133, ASUS A7VI-VM Via-KM133 Transcend AKT4 VIA KT-133, 200FSB So I am trying to find one that doesn't cost the farm and won't have any issues with MDK, Any suggestions??? The Asus boards are the most expensive.... Anyone know anything about the PCchips or the Transcend??? regards Frank -----Original Message----- From: Lanman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, 11 May 2001 7:27 PM To: Franki; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [newbie] HELP CHOSING A DURON 900 MAINBOARD. Franki; I just attended the AMD conference here in Montreal on Tuesday. Depending on what your server is intended for now, and what it will be used for in the future, the chipset can be a critical choice. There are many boards that can run both types of RAM (SDRam and DDRam). For now, it seems to be the Ali chipset that can run both. I personally prefer the Via chipset, but it doesn't support dual RAM yet. Obviously you wouldn't be able to run them at the same time, but when the price of DDRam drops, you'd be in a position to switch. Tom's Hardware (www.tomshardware.com) is saying a lot of good things about the MSI boards, and there's a new player called DFI (www.dfi.com) that had some interesting stuff, as well as that tried and true board maker ASUS. I think that the significant point here is that these are all AMD reccommended boards. Just play close attention to the installation of the CPU as AMD has been getting enormous amounts of CPU's coming back because of faulty installation procedures, and these are not covered by warranty. A little FYI here, never push down on the CPU when installing the fan! OEM CPU's are fine, but make sure that you use "Thermal Grease" when installing. The retail CPU's come with a small tube of the stuff, and many of the cooling fans have a small square wafer of it on them. BUT, make sure that you pull off the sticker that covers the grease! I know that sounds stupid, but that was the biggest problem AMD was having with their warranty calls! Good Luck On Friday 11 May 2001 6:11, you wrote: > Hi all, > > I have just been offered a free upgrade to my server, > > I am going from a celeron 300 running at 450 to a Duron 900 running at well > at 900.... > > So I now have to chose a motherboard for it... and after hearing all the > things said with regard to this, > > I wonder if anyone could tell me the best chipset to aim for??? > > I have a 20 gig ata100 7200 rpm in my current server and I'd love to make > use of the extra speed if possible..... > > > So, ,my questions is just what is the motherboard least likely to cause > troubles or problems??? > > any suggestions would be most appreciated. > > > kindest regards > > > Frank -- Dan LaBine Maximum L.A.N.'s Ltd. Registered Linux User # 190712
