workstation mobo

[Ken Gunderson]

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 19:42:46 -0400
Jason Morgan <jwm-freebsd at sentinelchicken.net> wrote:

> On Fri, Aug 12, 2005 at 04:33:35PM -0600, Ken Gunderson wrote:
> > On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 22:53:56 +0200
> > Juergen Lock <nox at jelal.kn-bremen.de> wrote:
> > 
> > > On Fri, Aug 12, 2005 at 08:58:23AM -0600, Ken Gunderson wrote:
> > > > Greets All:
> > > > 
> > > > I'm liking these amd opteron servers so much that I am considering
> > > > building an amd based workstationn.  Assumed it would be Athalon based
> > > > but in searching archives I note that some folks seem to prefer the
> > > > opterons for workstation use. Perhaps to some degree in reaction
> > > > to the "chipset mess".  I'm not averse to spending a bit more for the
> > > > opteron system but it seems to me the Opteron's CPU heatsink/fan might
> > > > be a bit noisy for workstation use.  And I have buddies shouting in my
> > > > ear to "stick w/ Intel" for workstation.  But then I also know others
> > > > who run AMD for their desktop machines.  Any recommends based on current
> > > > state of affairs in the ADM hardware world?  
> > > 
> > > I just got a new box with an Asus A8V Deluxe board (VIA K8T800 Pro,
> > > Socket 939), and so far everything seems to be working.  The only
> > > unusual thing i had to do for FreeBSD (5.4-R) was adding a patch
> > > to the sk nic driver (see other thread.)
> > 
> > Thanks to all who responded.  I've got a buddy who swears that the 2MB
> > L2 cache P4's, e.g. the 640 et.al. are kicking butt on the Athalons.  I
> > know to some degree it boils down to personal preference and don't want
> > to beat the topic to death but input is appreciated since I've mostly
> > been building opteron as of late (and xeons before that) server class
> > machines so am kind of out of date on the workstation side of things.  
> 
> If you're simply looking for the most powerful system you can get, I'd 
> check out Toms Hardware or one of the other numerous sites that have 
> up-to-date benchmarking. If you're worried about FreeBSD and the 
> hardware getting along, then that's another matter. I have been running 
> a socket 939 AMD 3500+ for some time - never had an issue. However,  
> it's not usually the CPU that will give you issues in FreeBSD. My 
> advice is to find the best MBs out there (ie work well with FreeBSD) 
> and make your choice based on the features provided by those MBs.

Thanks for the suggestion but I pretty much don't believe anything I
read at Tom's anymore.... >;-P  I can do some research other places but
basically if they run a single banner ad then their opinions are
suspect.  Whereas... freebsd-amd64 ROCKS!!! -;)

This doesn't need to be "most powerful system" I can get.  I'll be
targeting the "sweet spot" w.r.t. "bang for the buck".  Don't need
to be on the bleeding edge.  

These boards are making the short list:

-Abit AV8
-Abit AX8	(anyone can report how this runs under 5.x?)

-Asus A8V Deluxe
-Asus A8V-E Deluxe

The AX8 is probably top of my list at this point in time assuming I can
get it to run under 5.x.  Hence I would be particularly interested if
anybody could confirm one way or the other.  I like Asus mb's but also
have a fondness for Abit since I have about 8 AbitBX6r2's w/700MHz
PIII's still going strong after all these years ...

I don't really need PCI-E at this time but all other things being equal
it would be nice to add a bit more future proofing....

 -- 
Best regards,

Ken Gunderson

Q: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
A: Why is putting a reply at the top of the message frowned upon?