On Dec 15, 2010, at 5:29 PM, Oleg Goldshmidt wrote:
An old desktop computer of mine is croaking - it still breathes, but
with difficulty. A quick check concluded that there are problems
with the MoBo, and some with the graphics card, too. Basically, it
looks like I need a new MoBo, and since there seems to be a shortage
of boards with sockets for Athlon 3800+ or support for DDR1 - also a
new CPU and memory. [Even if such boards can be found I am not going
to waste time or money on the effort.]
There are plenty of them around. No one wants them because you can buy
a new computer with 1g of DDR2 or DDR3 RAM for less money than 1g
alone of DDR(1) RAM.
The machine is for dual workstation / home server (ssh, web, NFS,
version control, bugzilla, stuff like that) use, maybe at times to
run a program or two (say numerical but not HPC), web/office/coding,
Skype and the likes, occasional video. Nothing particularly high
performance, no games, etc. Target distro - Fedora (well, I do
intend to use the old disk, which is actually new). I don't want
already half-obsolete components, I want it to be reasonably
reliable for a few years, I don't want any sluggishness in my normal
tasks, and I want it hassle-free.
"Hassle-free" is the topic.
I got a quote that seems to be reasonable for a GIGABYTE H55M-D2H
s1156 MoBo and Intel Core i5 650 3.2GHz with a GPU Core. Looking at
the detailed specs on the 'net (http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3572#sp
) I see that the MoBo has on-board Realtek network and audio. I
searched more, and found a fair amount of complaints about both
Realtek (especially audio) and Intel's graphics. I won't bother you
with URLs, but what I found was from 2009 and the first half of
2010. Oron posted very useful explanations on this list, too (http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il/msg55395.html
) but that was in May 2009 as well.
There are two different Intel Graphics chip sets. I don't know which
is which, but a quick search should answer the question. The earlier
ones are chips that Intel bought a license to manufacture. They are
not very good in general and have closed source drivers. This makes
them OK for Windows, a problem for Linux. The second are the newer
ones Intel designed and builds.
They are well supported by Intel to the point that the open source
drivers are as good as closed source ones. That's not a comment
against open source drivers, but an acceptance of the fact that
writing open source drivers for video chips that are poorly documented
(on purpose) is difficult at best. So look for ones that have 100%
open source drivers and you should be fine.
As for buying an I5 processor, there are newer I3's with similar
performance (for example 3gHz instead of 3.6gHz) for a lot less money.
As for realtek, they tend to have cheap chips, which generallty work
well. If you are concerend about support, check the exact model number
of the chip as they keep changing them and the linux drivers do not
always "keep up".
When you buy a mobo make sure you are getting one that supports full
64 bit addressing. Except for a sit it in a corner, use as a file
server type machine, I would recommend getting at least 4g if not 8 of
RAM. DDR3 RAM is currently very cheap.
Geoff.
Any comments? Experiences? Can anyone confirm that the onboard
component (graphics, network, audio) will work fine? Is there any
need for non-mainstream drivers (kernel, xorg, whatever)? I am not
religious about FOSS but I do want "yum update" to pick the drivers
for the new kernels up. Is the built-in i5 graphics enough for the
described usage or do I need a decent external card? I saw reports
(from about 9 months ago, e.g., http://www.linux-archive.org/debian-user/344759-intel-core-i5-integrated-graphics.html
- some doubts about Realtek there as well) that the i5 graphics
didn't work with a VGA cable but only with a DVI cable - is it true?
No idea. Be warned that most of the current production really cheap
(around 600 NIS) LCD screens only have VGA ports. There are not a lot
of things that run on Linux that use the extra acceleration in
expensive graphic cards, on the other hand if you are also going to
run Windows on it (see my other comment below) and play high end games
(Fallout New Vegas anyone?) you will need an extra "hot" graphics
card. NVIDIA are my favorite in that case, but make sure the exact
chipset is supported under Linux, although it may not matter. Most if
not all of the things you describe won't benefit from the accerelation
in the latest chips if it is not yet supported under Linux.
HW gurus: I realize there are other options from MoBo/CPU as well,
many/most of which are costlier. Any suggestions (besides "this
stuff won't work") why I should opt for something else, given the
described purpose? The proposed configuration was clearly with the
price in mind.
If you plan on running Windows on it, then IMHO you should buy a name
brand such as HP, Packard Bell, etc. The difference in cost between
them and a roll-your-own system is about the cost of a Windows
license. If you do not plan on running Windows on it, it pays IMHO to
buy a "local" company's product, e.g. Ivory or KSP and avoid the extra
cost.
Geoff.
--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, N3OWJ/4X1GM
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to misquote it.
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