Mark Allums wrote:
> ... rethinking the brand loyalty.
> The point being that an Intel chip is, in my opinion, the current
> overall winner.
I was an Intel guy for many years, after having been burned on no-name
motherboards. Intel's products and technical support were top-shelf 10+ years
ago. Then I got a CC820 board (recalled). Then they started releasing buggy
BIOS updates (D945GNT). Then their technical support got arrogant. Then Intel
shut down their open technical support forums. Etc..
So, I switched to AMD and Asus/NVIDIA about ~3 years ago. They work with
Windows; mostly. But, Linux or BSD is another story. The reality is that
there's more to a computer system than the CPU -- you need a motherboard,
chipset, memory, video, sound, Ethernet, serial, parallel, USB, Firewire,
eSATA, etc.. Assuming that the hardware is done right, much of that stuff
requires software -- e.g. kernel support and/or device drivers. Outdated,
reverse-engineered, and/or minimalist software might work for a plaything or
headless ancillary server, but forget about production servers, graphical
desktops, or even thin clients.
Companies that get in bed with Microsoft and pay for Windows Hardware Quality
Labs (WHQL) testing ensure that their products work with Windows. (NVIDIA
didn't/doesn't; therefore the problems.) But there is no single WHQL
equivalent for free/ open-source software (FOSS). So, it's up to the vendors
and the projects, and they don't have the Microsoft Windows tax to supplement
the costs. Intel supports FOSS -- paying employees/ contractors to work on it,
giving presentations/ classes, releasing technical information, releasing
source code drivers, etc.. Can someone name another major PC hardware vendor
who does the same? (If so, please do; I'd like to know.)
The end result is that, in general, Intel stuff is better supported in the FOSS
world. There are always exceptions; if you're willing to do the homework, get
out your wallet, and/or do the integration/ testing. I prefer a fast, easy,
and successful out-of-the-box experience, so my next motherboard and CPU are
likely to be Intel.
Ron Johnson wrote:
> I looked into Intel, but I'm trying to reuse the CPU and RAM.
There's a saying -- "throwing good money after bad". I mix, match, and run the
old stuff until it drops or becomes useless, sell or give away the leftovers:
http://www.crc.org/
and save the money for my next machine.
HTH,
David
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