If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Good motherboards for AMD 64 bits
Hello In the last few years I bought quite a number of AMD-based computers. Unfortunately the reliability of those computers was disappointing. In particular a room full of computers (16) which use a VIA chipset (the boards are Gigabyte GA-7ZX) had no end of problems. Another room, with older computers (Athlons 550 and 600 Mhz) and FIC boards was not so bad, although they were still less reliable than the room next door (slightly older Celerons 466 MHz using FIC VB-601 motherboards with Intel 440 BX chipset). So, in recent months, I got very weary of AMD computers and I have bought almost exclusively Intel processors with Intel motherboards (which obviously use Intel chipsets). Recent * Intel configurations I have bought a Low-end Medium Processor Celeron 2.7 Pentium 4 2.8 Chipset Intel 845 GL Intel 865 PE Board Intel 845 GLC Intel 865 PERL Ethernet 100 Mb/s ? 1 * Gigabit Analogue Audio out 5.1 5.1 Analogue Audio in stereo stereo Digital Audio out coax + optical coax + optical Digital Audio in no no USB ports 4 * USB 2.0 8 * USB 2.0 variable speed case fans 1 2 Memory 512 MB 2 * 512 MB Video integrated in MB Nvidia FX5200 128Mb * I just noticed that there are a lot of new models available and so these configurations might be a bit outdated. Time to research again ... After a bit of research I was disappointed 1 - When I first read about PCI-Express I was pleased that soon it would become possible again (as it was before the AGP) to use multiple video cards instead of special cards for multi-headed machines. Specially because now the software handles that well, which IIRC was not the case back in the old PCI-only times. But in fact, despite both being called PCI-Express, there are still two different buses: PCI-Express x1 and PCI-Express x16 Graphics. 2 - Current Intel boards using 9xx chipsets have only 1 IDE connector. I don't like this since I might still want to use either IDE hard drives or more than one DVD/CD reader/writer. URLs: http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets...sk+chip_845gl& http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets...sk+chip_865pe& http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd...ards_d865perl& http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd...ards_d845glva& One exception to the "Intel-only" rule was a server for which I bought a Opteron with a Tyan motherboard (using a AMD chipset). It also failed ! Both gigabit Ethernets (which are Broadcom, not part of the AMD chipset) stoppped working, one after the other. And the Portuguese Tyan importer's policy for warranty replacements is not very good (we had to send back the board before receiving the new one). We could have suscribed a better warranty but that would cost the price of another board because that is what the importer does: he gets another board to be kept as spare, so to be able to offer 24 hour replacement. We have now received a new server, a bi-opteron sold by Fujitsu-Siemens (inside it there is also a Tyan motherboard. I hope it is more reliable this time). After all this I am not very willing to risk buying AMD again. But, OTOH, I had intended to buy only 64-bit processors for linux machines as soon as they were available at decent prices. So is there a decent AMD option ? What would be a configuration with an AMD processor comparable to the Intel ones I mentioned above ? Unfortunately AMD doesn't sell motherboards so it would have to be an Asus, Tyan or other brand. And AMD's chipset are probably obsolete by now (does the current model have gigabit ethernet, USB 2.0, good audio ?), so it would have to be a Nvidia ? Asus has one board using Nvidia nForce3 pro: http://uk.asus.com/products/mb/socke...n/overview.htm It has a 940 pin socket (for Opterons and Athlon 64 FX). It seems that it doesn't support the 939 pin processors (Athlon 64). BTW, I don't remember the difference between the 939 and the 940. Is it related to multiprocessing ? IIRC, the 754 pin only has one memory bus, right ? After looking at some of the motherboards listed at: http://www.nvidia.com/object/motherboards.html I am not very convinced that I will find a board that I like. Suggestions ? Thanks in advance -- http://www.mat.uc.pt/~rps/ ..pt is Portugal| `Whom the gods love die young'-Menander (342-292 BC) Europe | Villeneuve 50-82, Toivonen 56-86, Senna 60-94 |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Rui Pedro Mendes Salgueiro wrote:
It has a 940 pin socket (for Opterons and Athlon 64 FX). It seems that it doesn't support the 939 pin processors (Athlon 64). BTW, I don't remember the difference between the 939 and the 940. Is it related to multiprocessing ? IIRC, the 754 pin only has one memory bus, right ? As far as I can tell, Socket 940 - registered DDR SDRAM & dual-channel memory controller Socket 939 - unbuffered DDR SDRAM & dual-channel memory controller Socket 754 - unbuffered DDR SDRAM & single-channel memory controller What has me confused is that recent models of the Athlon FX (e.g. FX-53) are available for socket 939 *AND* for socket 940. Do the socket 939 models only work with unbuffered RAM, and the socket 940 models only work with registered RAM? Or can the memory controller somehow adapt? -- Regards, Grumble |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
On 22 Oct 2004 14:30:12 +0100, Rui Pedro Mendes Salgueiro
wrote: Hello In the last few years I bought quite a number of AMD-based computers. Unfortunately the reliability of those computers was disappointing. In particular a room full of computers (16) which use a VIA chipset (the boards are Gigabyte GA-7ZX) had no end of problems. Another room, with older computers (Athlons 550 and 600 Mhz) and FIC boards was not so bad, although they were still less reliable than the room next door (slightly older Celerons 466 MHz using FIC VB-601 motherboards with Intel 440 BX chipset). I came to the conclusion, after a couple of tries that FIC was too close to bottom-feeding - BIOS support was not what I need and though the FIC mbrds I used were "tolerable", there was better out there. You didn't say what your problems were but I've never had any chronic problems with VIA chipsets - once set up they've worked fine for me but I've never tried any exotic add-in cards with them. 1 - When I first read about PCI-Express I was pleased that soon it would become possible again (as it was before the AGP) to use multiple video cards instead of special cards for multi-headed machines. Specially because now the software handles that well, which IIRC was not the case back in the old PCI-only times. But in fact, despite both being called PCI-Express, there are still two different buses: PCI-Express x1 and PCI-Express x16 Graphics. 2 - Current Intel boards using 9xx chipsets have only 1 IDE connector. I don't like this since I might still want to use either IDE hard drives or more than one DVD/CD reader/writer. Some of the new DVD+R-R/+RW-RW drives are SATA though personally I'd also balk at only one IDE connector. I haven't looked at the 0xx chipset IDE count but is this just a case of scrimping on the connector and mbrd traces?... if so that's miserable. URLs: http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets...sk+chip_845gl& http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets...sk+chip_865pe& http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd...ards_d865perl& http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd...ards_d845glva& I'm not sure that Intel branded is any better than the major mbrd producers now - sub-contracted. One exception to the "Intel-only" rule was a server for which I bought a Opteron with a Tyan motherboard (using a AMD chipset). It also failed ! Both gigabit Ethernets (which are Broadcom, not part of the AMD chipset) stoppped working, one after the other. And the Portuguese Tyan importer's policy for warranty replacements is not very good (we had to send back the board before receiving the new one). We could have suscribed a better warranty but that would cost the price of another board because that is what the importer does: he gets another board to be kept as spare, so to be able to offer 24 hour replacement. Are you his only customer? That kind of policy is intolerable - cross-shipment on an RMA is the standard in the U.S. though some outfits will not do that with CPUs... overclockers have damaged that. As for your Ethernet failures, are you sure that what you're connecting them to is not blowing them?... always a risk when integrated devices connect to the outside world - I've seen my share of such things with parallel and COM ports. We have now received a new server, a bi-opteron sold by Fujitsu-Siemens (inside it there is also a Tyan motherboard. I hope it is more reliable this time). After all this I am not very willing to risk buying AMD again. But, OTOH, I had intended to buy only 64-bit processors for linux machines as soon as they were available at decent prices. So is there a decent AMD option ? I've come to the same conclusion: no more 32-bit only CPUs/systems... which means AMD64 for the moment. What would be a configuration with an AMD processor comparable to the Intel ones I mentioned above ? Unfortunately AMD doesn't sell motherboards so it would have to be an Asus, Tyan or other brand. And AMD's chipset are probably obsolete by now (does the current model have gigabit ethernet, USB 2.0, good audio ?), so it would have to be a Nvidia ? Asus has one board using Nvidia nForce3 pro: http://uk.asus.com/products/mb/socke...n/overview.htm It has a 940 pin socket (for Opterons and Athlon 64 FX). It seems that it doesn't support the 939 pin processors (Athlon 64). BTW, I don't remember the difference between the 939 and the 940. Is it related to multiprocessing ? IIRC, the 754 pin only has one memory bus, right ? Though there have been uni-processor 940s, yes I think you're correct that 940 will be devoted to multi- as things settle out. After looking at some of the motherboards listed at: http://www.nvidia.com/object/motherboards.html I am not very convinced that I will find a board that I like. Suggestions ? That list is ancient and doesn't even mention nForce3-250. I used to use only Asus but more recently, I've been using MSI, www.msi.com.tw, with success - 3x nForce2 socket As and 2x VIA socket 754s which were all smooth installs and no probs so far. I've got a VIA socket 939 on order right now - wanted a nForce3-250 but this week's drop in A64 939 pricing has sucked the 939 mbrd channel dry apparently. Rgds, George Macdonald "Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me?? |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 15:49:08 +0200, Grumble wrote:
Rui Pedro Mendes Salgueiro wrote: It has a 940 pin socket (for Opterons and Athlon 64 FX). It seems that it doesn't support the 939 pin processors (Athlon 64). BTW, I don't remember the difference between the 939 and the 940. Is it related to multiprocessing ? IIRC, the 754 pin only has one memory bus, right ? As far as I can tell, Socket 940 - registered DDR SDRAM & dual-channel memory controller Socket 939 - unbuffered DDR SDRAM & dual-channel memory controller Socket 754 - unbuffered DDR SDRAM & single-channel memory controller What has me confused is that recent models of the Athlon FX (e.g. FX-53) are available for socket 939 *AND* for socket 940. Do the socket 939 models only work with unbuffered RAM, and the socket 940 models only work with registered RAM? Yes. Or can the memory controller somehow adapt? My guess is that the chips are the same, but the packaging determines what it grows up to be. This strategy is not new. My bet is that this will continue as memory technology marches (DDR2, etc.) on too. -- Keith |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
On 22 Oct 2004 14:30:12 +0100, Rui Pedro Mendes Salgueiro
wrote: ....snip...(long story removed) So is there a decent AMD option ? What would be a configuration with an AMD processor comparable to the Intel ones I mentioned above ? Unfortunately AMD doesn't sell motherboards so it would have to be an Asus, Tyan or other brand. And AMD's chipset are probably obsolete by now (does the current model have gigabit ethernet, USB 2.0, good audio ?), so it would have to be a Nvidia ? Asus has one board using Nvidia nForce3 pro: http://uk.asus.com/products/mb/socke...n/overview.htm It has a 940 pin socket (for Opterons and Athlon 64 FX). It seems that it doesn't support the 939 pin processors (Athlon 64). BTW, I don't remember the difference between the 939 and the 940. Is it related to multiprocessing ? IIRC, the 754 pin only has one memory bus, right ? After looking at some of the motherboards listed at: http://www.nvidia.com/object/motherboards.html I am not very convinced that I will find a board that I like. Suggestions ? Thanks in advance I can't claim a lot of first-hand experience with K8 boards, but from what I experienced with my current system I would recommend it to anyone who wants to have dual Opteron on the cheap (if the term "cheap" is applicable to a system that cost roughly $1200, monitor not included). It's MSI Master2-FAR board. Yes it's VIA-based, but either I am lucky or we should admit that KT800 is "not your father's VIA chipset". Now it's outfitted with 2x Opty242, and in a year or so it will run 2 dual core chips making it effectively a quad system. Yes it takes only registered memory, but this is the case with all today's multiprovessor boards. It has gigabit ethernet and USB 2.0. Not sure if the AC97 onboard audio is good because I used the spare Creative SB card. So far no crashes. I use it primarily for .NET development, also video encoding and some occasional game. It's fast and rock-solid, no BSOD ever (knock on the wood) yet. Not sure about Linux - never tried it with anything but Windows. Good luck. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
On 22 Oct 2004 14:30:12 +0100, Rui Pedro Mendes Salgueiro
wrote: In the last few years I bought quite a number of AMD-based computers. Unfortunately the reliability of those computers was disappointing. In particular a room full of computers (16) which use a VIA chipset (the boards are Gigabyte GA-7ZX) had no end of problems. Another room, with older computers (Athlons 550 and 600 Mhz) and FIC boards was not so bad, although they were still less reliable than the room next door (slightly older Celerons 466 MHz using FIC VB-601 motherboards with Intel 440 BX chipset). So, in recent months, I got very weary of AMD computers and I have bought almost exclusively Intel processors with Intel motherboards (which obviously use Intel chipsets). Recent * Intel configurations I have bought a Low-end Medium Processor Celeron 2.7 Pentium 4 2.8 Chipset Intel 845 GL Intel 865 PE Board Intel 845 GLC Intel 865 PERL Ethernet 100 Mb/s ? 1 * Gigabit Analogue Audio out 5.1 5.1 Analogue Audio in stereo stereo Digital Audio out coax + optical coax + optical Digital Audio in no no USB ports 4 * USB 2.0 8 * USB 2.0 variable speed case fans 1 2 Memory 512 MB 2 * 512 MB Video integrated in MB Nvidia FX5200 128Mb * I just noticed that there are a lot of new models available and so these configurations might be a bit outdated. Time to research again ... One bit of research I could suggest is to DEFINITELY avoid these old-style Celerons at all cost! The new Celeron D 3xx series of chips cost about the same but a WAY faster (about 25% faster at the same clock speed). After a bit of research I was disappointed 1 - When I first read about PCI-Express I was pleased that soon it would become possible again (as it was before the AGP) to use multiple video cards instead of special cards for multi-headed machines. Specially because now the software handles that well, which IIRC was not the case back in the old PCI-only times. But in fact, despite both being called PCI-Express, there are still two different buses: PCI-Express x1 and PCI-Express x16 Graphics. There is actually a PCI-Express 4x and 8x as well. I know that some of the upcoming boards are planning to have a pair of 8x slots that can be used for a pair of video cards. I'm not sure how much of a market there would be for such a thing though, doing video to two monitors from a single card is a trivial task these days, and even 4 from a single card is no big feat. 2 - Current Intel boards using 9xx chipsets have only 1 IDE connector. I don't like this since I might still want to use either IDE hard drives or more than one DVD/CD reader/writer. For Intel's own boards, yes I believe that is the case. Most other manufacturers of the 9xx series of boards have an extra IDE chip on-board to add another channel or two. Of course, this does slightly complicate things by giving you two separate IDE controllers to worry about. After all this I am not very willing to risk buying AMD again. But, OTOH, I had intended to buy only 64-bit processors for linux machines as soon as they were available at decent prices. So is there a decent AMD option ? Just as a FWIW, Intel does sell 64-bit x86 chips now in their Xeon line. They are still a bit rare in retail channels and you might have a tough time tracking one down in your neck of the woods, but they do exist. Just look for a Xeon "EA" model (ie the "Xeon 3.2EA GHz") with EM64T (that is Intel's name for AMD64/x86-64/x64/name-du-jour). Probably not really cost-effective for what you're looking to build, but it's something to keep in mind for other projects. What would be a configuration with an AMD processor comparable to the Intel ones I mentioned above ? Unfortunately AMD doesn't sell motherboards so it would have to be an Asus, Tyan or other brand. In my experience Intel boards are nothing to get too excited about anyway, not to mention the fact that they don't even make the boards (Intel outsourced all their production long ago). And AMD's chipset are probably obsolete by now (does the current model have gigabit ethernet, USB 2.0, good audio ?), so it would have to be a Nvidia ? Gigabit ethernet - no USB 2.0 - yes Good audio - not really, but it's pretty much the exact same as the audio on Intel's i8xx chipsets, ie AC97 going through a third-party codec of variable quality. Asus has one board using Nvidia nForce3 pro: http://uk.asus.com/products/mb/socke...n/overview.htm This uses the rather dated nForce3 150 chipset. It has since been supplanted by the much improved nForce3 250 chipset and the new nForce4 chipset was just officially unveiled, though no products are shipping with it yet. It has a 940 pin socket (for Opterons and Athlon 64 FX). It seems that it doesn't support the 939 pin processors (Athlon 64). BTW, I don't remember the difference between the 939 and the 940. Is it related to multiprocessing ? Despite their visual similarities, these are actually VERY different sockets. It's definitely NOT just a question of removing a pin! The whole layout was completely redone. Both have 128-bit wide memory controllers (ie dual-channel), though where Socket 939 uses unregistered memory (cheaper and slightly faster, ie good for desktops), socket 940 requires registered memory (slower, more expensive, but you can get a lot more memory on a board, ie good for servers). There is also a different in terms of multiprocessing capabilities. In short, Socket 940 has 'em, Socket 939 does not. Socket 939 has only a single hypertransport connection to the outside world, and that is used to talk to the chipset. Socket 940 chips have 3 hypertransport connections which, depending on just which Opteron you have, can be used to build a system with up to 8 processors. IIRC, the 754 pin only has one memory bus, right ? That is correct. After looking at some of the motherboards listed at: http://www.nvidia.com/object/motherboards.html I am not very convinced that I will find a board that I like. Suggestions ? For you're "low-end" system above, I would probably stick with a Socket 754 Athlon64, maybe the 2800+ or 3000+, whichever seems to offer the better bang for your buck. In terms of boards, I would probably go either for an Asus K8N or an MSI K8N Neo FSR, both using the above-mentioned nForce3 250 chipset. Now, keep in mind that there is currently no good integrated video solution for an Athlon64 (one of the downsides of moving the memory controller on-chip, makes it hard to get the memory bandwidth to the video chipset), but it only takes about a $30-$50 video card to beat pretty much any integrated video anyway. For the more high-end systems I wouldn't really change much except to go to a Socket 939 Athlon64, probably the 3500+ or maybe the new 3200+ if you're a bit tight on cash. Again I would probably stick with either an Asus or MSI motherboard using the nForce3 250 chipset (I don't think Asus has one out just yet, but MSI has their K8N Neo2 Platinum available). Alternatively if you won't be buying for a couple of months there may be some nForce4 boards available, and those look rather promising. You can find an initial preview of the nForce4 chipset he http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...oc.aspx?i=2248 In particular you may be interested in the fact that at least some of these boards should allow for multiple video cards. Gigabit ethernet and improved audio are also an option. ------------- Tony Hill hilla underscore 20 at yahoo dot ca |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
In additiona to this I would say, make sure you use
memory type that is approved on the mobo website, as AMD 64 is known to be picky. In addition I had hell of problems on Biostar Nforce3 mobo that no memory would pass memtest 6 until I moved it from slot1 to slot2. Looks like this integrated controler puts higher requirements on memory timings and litle inductance of the traces plays a role. Regards, Evgenij |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Epson 2400, any good with details, good scanner overall? | Dick van Drie | Scanners | 1 | August 31st 04 08:37 PM |
Modem connection speed | Neil Barnwell | General | 58 | July 14th 04 07:18 PM |
UT2004 - Looking Good and how it compared to HALO | Darthy | Ati Videocards | 7 | February 13th 04 09:24 AM |
Help me pick out a good mobo to use with XP 2800+ | Ben in TN | Overclocking AMD Processors | 3 | February 7th 04 11:25 AM |
Opinions on these motherboards? | Guertin Graphics Art Department | Homebuilt PC's | 4 | February 7th 04 05:10 AM |