rikona wrote:
One of the ladies I converted to MDV has what looks like a mobo
failure. Won't boot anything, and has lots of error messages re pci,
usb, disks, etc. She has come to really like MD2006. I'm VERY busy, so
I suggested she consider buying an inexpensive Win box as a
replacement, and she made it clear she does NOT want Win anymore now
that she has become familiar with MD. With her usual charm, she
convinced me to build her another comp. She likes MD enough to do a
major upgrade - mobo/cpu/memory/video, and add a dvd burner [she had a
cd burner before], larger disk [SATAs work well??], and perhaps even a
new 'nicer looking' case [the old one IS a bit junky].
I'd like to get the stuff locally since she is a bit anxious to have a
replacement, and I'm quite short of time. I'd appreciate any
suggestions for mobo/cpu/memory/video [and/or chipset] that I can just
'drop in' and have it work [it will be a new install]. This is NOT a
gaming machine, so it need not have the sometimes-messy driver issues
that seem to cause problems. Just want something easy, solid,
reliable, and trouble free. Cost is a big issue also. I'm thinking a
low end 64 bit cpu might be best for cost/performance/best-future
tradeoff, but please tell me if this is not a good approach.
I've checked the MD sites for some hardware suggestions, but would
like to find others that might be more easily obtained locally [Asus,
Abit, ECS come to mind]. If you know of some current hardware combos
that work well with MD2006, and don't need extra tweaks or drivers,
please let me know. Also, if you know of some stuff that HAS problems,
please tell me so I can avoid it.
Thanks VERY much, from both of us. :-)
Rikona,
Asking this question is like asking to start a flame war. Everyone will
have different opinions, but I suppose having a lot of info would give
you a good basis for your choices.
To get things started, here goes my advice;
First, go with Asus and try to pick a board that doesn't use an SiS
chipset, since 2006 doesn't support SiS SATA chips. If you go with a
standard IDE system, then SiS is fine, but Asus has a large variety of
chipsets and boards.
There have also been some problems with NVidia chipsets, which seem to
be related to ACPI or APIC and they vary with each board and hardware
combination, so you might want to avoid those as well.
Second, If you decide to go with an Intel CPU (my personal choice), make
sure that the board supports Pentium D or Dual Core CPU's. I don't have
any particular issues with AMD's or their 64 bit CPU's, but until most
Linux apps and software are re-written to run AS 64-bit apps, you'll end
up running 32-bit apps anyway.
If she goes with a Pentium D (dual-core) CPU (Or if she decides to
upgrade to one later), she'll be able to run a lot more intensive apps
at the same time. The Pentium D essentially has 2 CPU cores on board,
each with 2MB's of CPU cache and each one is capable of handling
Hyper-Threading, so it really means that she can run twice as many apps
at the same time, if she wants to.
The motherboard's Front-Side Bus speeds should be capable of 400, 533,
800 and the newer 1066 speeds and make sure that her ram matches
whatever speed that you want to clock her CPU at. DDR 400 will handle
800 FSB speeds nicely, while DDR333 will slow things down a bit. Check
with your supplier about the ram you'll need for the 1066 FSB speed if
that's your decision.
Using a SATA drive shouldn't be a problem as long as you stay away from
the SiS and NVidia chipsets (as mentioned above).
I also recommend a PCI-X video slot and the NVidia video cards seem to
be great in Linux. Not many people are having issues with them, while
the ATI ones are really a PITA to setup.
Don't waste your time with an onboard video adapter. They use system ram
and the CPU to do all the work and tend to slow the system down quite a
bit. Whether you go with an AGP or PCI-X card, either one will be fine
and will allow your CPU and ram to work they way they were intended.
If the board comes with an onboard adapter, disable it in the BIOS and
change the settings in the BIOS to use the AGP or PCI-X card instead.
I'll leave the DVD burner up to you, but try to go with a dual-layer
drive that has RW+- capabilities. That way she can use any type of blank
disk - DVD or CD without problems.
This set of hardware should last for at least 5 years and she doesn't
have to worry about replacing the whole system if she decides to upgrade
anything, so that would be the most logical choice and if she can't
spend the money on a Pentium D CPU now, the prices will drop in a year
or so, which means she can upgrade without rebuilding the system.
Last thing to note - If you change the case, make sure that the Power
Supply supports P4's and has at least 450 to 500 watts available. A good
power supply will go a long way towards having a stable system.
HTH's
DL
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