Volker writes:
I'm in the process of building an AMD64 System which I plan to run Debian on, and I would like to ask for your advice on the choice of suitable mainboards.
From what I gather from the list archives and google, both the
ABIT AV8 and the MSI KT8 Neo2-FIR are reported to be fully supported by current Linux versions (I plan to use Kanotix 64 for the installation), whereas I saw some troubles reported with the ASUS A8V.
I have the ASUS A8V and have had no problems using Debian-amd64. The A8V uses the VIA K8T800 Pro chipset with VIA disk controller on HyperTransport bus and Promise disk controller on the PCI bus. The 2.6.11 supports 4 SATA and 4 PATA with full support for the 6 PATA using a patch or probably the next kernel. The Marvel Gigabit works fine and the AGP works at 8x when X only allows 4x. The VIA audio does work except uses too much CPU so I have a Creative PCI. The ASUS is now getting old and the newer nVidia might be faster especially with WindowsXP. I don't know how VIA compares to nVidia with a Linux kernel.
Another question would be whether to get a 3000+ CPU or 3200+ - are the differences notable on a system used almost exclusively for desktop applications and software development?
There have been no problems with stability so I can overclock easily. The memory chips are better now and allow higher overclocks. The Athlon 64 3200+ easily overclocks from 2.0G to 2.4G. The 3000+ can probably also overclock from 1.8G to 2.4G except the memory would probably hold the CPU back because the A8V has problems reaching 500Mhz DDR. I almost ordered a 3000+ and am glad to have paid a little more for the 3200+.
The early A8V boards had problems with the AGP/PCI speeds when overclocking so be sure to get the Rev 2.0 and a newer BIOS. My 3200+ is a Winchester with 90nm silicon and stays very cool even when overclocking. I have no complaints with the ASUS board except the ASUS company doesn't pay much attention to Linux. I think that is just typical.
I have used the Debian-amd64 netinst iso Installers many times with the ASUS and only had to modprobe the sk98lin module until the more recent Installers so there is no more difficulty for that reason.
I have never tried the nVidia or AMD chipset based motherboards.
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AMD Athlon64 @2.4Ghz Corsair TwinX1024-3200XL @480Mhz DDR ASUS A8V Deluxe ASUS Radeon A9250Ge/Td/256
Creative SB Live WD Raptor SATA Maxtor PATA IBM/Okidata Color PostScript3 Lexmark Mono PostScript2
Debian GNU/Linux debian-amd64/pure64 sid Kernel 2.6.11 XFree86 4.3.0.1 Xorg X11R6.8.2 1.5 Mb DSL
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