[olug] Mobo/Video recommendations

[Obi-Wan]

Thanks for all the info, Phil.

> I will be up front: I think AMD motherboards suck. I think it's a lot
> easier to find very very stable and well-designed motherboards for Intel
> processors than it is AMD processors.

My primary rational there is that I just like AMD as a company better
than Intel.  I group Intel into the same "evil empire" camp as Microsoft.
Competition is good for the consumers, so since AMD is the underdog,
I'd prefer to give them my money.

Of course, if stability really was a problem, I'd rethink that, but
I've not heard of any specific examples of AMD reliability problems.

> Motherboard -> Intel DP965LTCK:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121035

Onboard firewire is nice.  I worry about the future expandability
of a board with only one PCI-e x16 slot, especially with no onboard
video.

What's the availability like for PCI-e x1 cards?  I'd never even
heard of those little things until I started looking at mobos lately.

> Video -> MSI NX8400GS  yes it's an entry-level card but if you're not
> going to play video games you might be surprised how powerful this stuff
> has gotten:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127316

We just put the 8600 GTS in our new machines at work.  That's more
than enough for what I do.

> Memory -> Crucial 2GB DDR2-667, Quantity 4:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148164

I was thinking I'd start with 4 GB and leave room for expansion.

>> AMD mobo with at least 2 IDE ports (4 drives)
> 
> The days of IDE going the way of the dodo have come and gone, it will be
> far easier finding something with 4 or 6 SATA ports and 1 IDE port (or
> even no IDE ports at all).
> 
> If you're lucky you might find something with a really crappy
> third-party chipset, but anything event remotely current (ie Intel 945
> and newer - that's 1 generation ago) has almost completely done away
> with PATA, and the latest stuff has no PATA period (save the
> previously-mentioned crappy third party PATA).

I understand what you're saying, and if I were starting from scratch,
I'd agree with you.  However, I've got four (perhaps three now) IDE
drives worth over 1 TB, and I'm not inclined to replace them until
they die or fill up.  Therefore, I still need a mobo with good IDE
support.

I do have a PCI IDE card (Promise brand, which has flaky support in
Feisty, unknown with Gutsy) that I suppose I could use for my drives
if it's supported.  I should plug it in and see what happens.  It worked
fine with Edgy, but got really flaky in Feisty.  I'm not sure if the
mobo will allow me to boot off the Promise, though, which I'd want to
do for the time being.

All future drive purchases will be SATA, of course, which is why
I'd like 6 SATA ports as well.

> Personally, I'm happy with integrated video.

And I might be as well, but I'm seeing fewer & fewer mobos with
onboard video these days.


-- 
Ben "Obi-Wan" Hollingsworth                             obiwan at jedi.com
   The stuff of earth competes for the allegiance I owe only to the
     Giver of all good things, so if I stand, let me stand on the
       promise that You will pull me through.  -- Rich Mullins