On Friday 13 July 2001 11:02 am, Terry Smith wrote:
> A few weeks ago there was some discussion about mobos, specifically
> motherboard/chipset combinations that worked well or not well with
> linux.
http://www.linuxhardware.org/features/01/06/06/1821202.shtml
"The Soyo was a definite winner here with great support, awesome
performance, and rock-solid stability. It receives our
LinuxHardware.org Top Honors Award and our "Works with Linux"
Certification."
I got one (kt7vta pro), and have an oc'd Tbird 1.4 to 1.53g on it
(currently 11.5x135). I'd echo the above recommendation based on this
board, and prior Soyo experience. I went with Soyo 'cause: *that's the
manufacturer I previously used for a oc'd P3-450@600 I had (6ba+III,
Aopen case, Sparkle 230W PS)-- very impressed with Soyo quality,
features, and stability, **strong Linux recommends from both
Linuxhardware and Duke of URL, and many Windoze hardware sites too for
much the same reasons, and ***it's the only kt133a board still on AMD's
recommended list (which I suspect is for VIA-IDE reasons, ie, better
pcb and trace design), other than a Biostar (which doesn't have an ISA
slot).
The Soyo is also oc'ing friendly, and even if you're adverse to
that, it means the board has extra features, quality, versatility, and
stability built in that you may need or want even if you don't
overclock. Soyo also has one of the lowest RMA rates in the industry
and for this reason is favored by many OEM reseller's. Mine has no
flaws, is absolutely bulletproof.
I'm using it with old (one's damn near ancient ;) ram. 1 real old
stick of 8ns 128 mb sdram (pc100) and 1 stick of newer 7.5ns (pc133)
currently running together at 135 mhz cas2. The motherboard is as much,
if not more important than the actual ram used, for performance and
stability. Ram is what it'll do, regardless of it's marketing label,
and the motherboard is crucial to this. This same ram (the pc100)
wouldn't run reliably (ie, -0- errors under stress test) a few years
ago on an Aopen mobo at 133mhz cas3. Soyo just provides better dimm and
IO voltage support, even tho Aopen's are generally recognized as very
high quality boards. This kind of extra support is also important, and
needed for many newer high bandwidth AGP and PCI devices also.
>
> I'm still on my quest to build or buy a new linux box and have come
> across a company 'Indiana Computer Factory' (www.icfcomputer.com)
> selling 'bares bones' boxes and complete systems.
I would not recommend a bare bones solution. It only takes a few
minutes to install the parts that they will, and you have much more
control of buying quality parts than most all barebones vendors will
provide. Particularly case/power supply/mobo. Specially with recent
hardware, don't take chances on an off motherboard or case/power
supply. The motherboard will govern the results of any hardware and
peripheals attached to it. It's the very foundation of any system. A
clean power supply is nearly as important. Neither mobo's you cited is
recommended by AMD, or for Linux, or warranted by my months of research.
My first pick started out to be the Abit Kt7a, mainly because it has
no integrated sound, oc'ing friendly, an ISA slot, and excellent online
info and support. I went with the Soyo inspite of integrated AC97
sound. Which works well, but from my estimation, also is a drain on the
cpu/cache/ram subsystem, as any integrated or #!!$%^! win-hardware is.
The saving grace is that it has an ISA slot to use my old SB AWE64 and
the onboard AC97 is easily disabled. I tried this, but I'm back to
using the onboard sound, so I can have the ISA slot for my trusty old
Texas Instruments modem (even tho I promised myself I'd never use any
of Uncle Billy Goat's M$ inspired onboard anything).
I gave $95 for the Soyo, and despite being the best Tbird/Duron
board (IMO, et al), it's also one of the least expensive platforms for
an AMD proccessor. You can find an Enlight, Aopen, or Inwin case with
a Sparkle (AMD apprv'd) 300W power supply for ~ 55 to $60. I used an
Inwin full tower with some special features, and a 340W Sparkle (Power
Man label) for $78 locally in Houston. Shipping was the factor to buy
the case (heavy) locally here, rather than online. I bought the mobo,
1.4g Tbird w/hs-f bundle online from Mwave for $305 ( $95+210, who I
heartily recommend from doin much business with them for several
years). IIRC, the 1.2 Tbird would'a been $80 less at $225 for the
mobo/hs-f/cpu bundle. You can pay $9 extra to have it sent assembled/
tested, but I didn't. 3 day delivery to my door was $15, no sales tax.
If you need ram, it's almost to the point that they'll pay you to take
it off their hands ;>>
I also very much appreciated that the Inwin case HDD LED, PWR,
Reset, etc., cable labeling, along with Soyo's manual, made those
connections practically no-brainers. The only aspect of home-built
hardware I've ever found challenging ;) I'm a clumsy, half blind ol'
man :) Just assemble the parts while standing barefoot on a tile floor
(to eliminate static discharge), and thoro'ly scape the thermal pad off
the heatsink and use thermal grease in it's place (Radio Shack, $3).
Assembling a computer from scratch is easy, has been for a long time.
If it's your first time, just follow the instructions in the mobo
manual. No need to pay a premium for often lesser parts (ie,
barebones), plus you'll have the satisfaction of doin it yourself ;)
Just, whatever mobo you decided on, d/l the appropriate manual from the
manufacturer's webpage and give it a thoro read while you're waiting
for UPS to deliver it ;)
--
Tom Brinkman [EMAIL PROTECTED] Galveston Bay
