Hi Peter,
On 11/09/13 12:21, Peter Alefounder wrote:
I have been considering what new motherboard + processor to get that
will work with Linux without any problems. I like the look of this
one, MSI FM2-A75MA-E35:
http://uk.msi.com/product/mb/FM2-A75MA-E35.html
There days, with the notable exception of the wifi on some laptops and
horrid chipsets like those from SiS, I don't worry about the "will it
work" question any more. I've not installed on any machine in the last 3
years that was a total brick. All my recent machines have been Intel
chipsets, which were very well supported.
It has a VGA socket and a sufficient number of USB sockets. It
appears to come with something called Winki 3, "a free Linux-based
O/S which is based on the Linux core". Has anyone any experience of
using that? Is it safe to assume that the board would work with
Debian?
One possible problem that I have noticed is that I currently have a
board that uses a single 20-pin ATX connector. The FM2-A75MA-E35
requires a 24-pin connector and a separate 4-pin 12v CPU power
connector. I will have to investigate whether my PSU has a 4-pin
connector. Maplin have an 20 to 24-pin adaptor, and for that to
work, no extra voltages would be required. So why was the change
from 20-pin connectors made and would I be better advised to get a
new case or PSU?e
I generally reckon on 3-5 years' life for a PSU. If your PSU is older
than 3 years then I would pension it off or, more likely, get a new case
so my new toy is shiny too. If your PSU is that age, it may not have
SATA power connectors for newer drives either. Has the old PSU got
enough watts for the stuff you intend to put into the machine? If the
machine has legacy PATA (IDE) drives then they are probably towards the
end of their service life too and you would get better performance, and
freedom from the worry the drives are going conk out on you, from going
to modern SATA drives.
The web page also gives links for a number of drivers. Are boards
supplied with the latest drivers or would I have to install these,
something I have no idea of how to do?
It's been my experience with Ubuntu that almost every driver is already
rolled into it so it should just be a matter of install-and-go.
I gave up building new machines a while back. I found that I just
couldn't replace the board, RAM, drives, graphics card and PSU for less
than I could buy a well-chosen new machine. Have you looked at the Dell
Outlet Store (go to Dell.co.uk, go down to the navigation box towards
the bottom of the page and you will find the link at the bottom of the
first column). They sell production-failure and warranty-return machines
there that have been fixed and retested. You only get a 3 month warranty
but the price is very good and I'm of the opinion that if it lasts past
the first month, it's a good machine and it's generally not going to
self-destruct. I would see how much you could get an equivalent or
better brand-new machine in the outlet for.
What is your intended use for the machine? I'm into 3D rendered games
and handling video. The highest performance CPU I could find that would
fit in that board was a dual core. For my usage, I would consider it a
little underpowered.
Bests,
Paul.
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