Need CPU/MB recommendation

My current trusty box, an Asus A7N8-Deluxe with an Athlon XP2600
Barton core has started locking up with various bus errors. I've
swapped out every part I can to isolate the problem and nothing is
helping, which leads me to suspect the board.

Since this combo is so old I'm at a loss for a replacement; AMD has
released a lot of stuff recently, especially sockets and I don't want
to make an expensive mistake. I'm currently running FreeBSD-7.1 and
mirrored SCSI disks and a PNY brand 6200 PCI video card. I'm not a
gamer and am not interested in high end CPUs and boards.

Can someone tell me what might be a sort of sweet spot for Opterons?
From past good experiences I'd like to stick with Asus/AMD but I'm
open to another board. Power consumtion is important to me, but not
the over-riding factor. Any ideas?

thanks,

tf

take a look at www.foxconn.com motherboards, especially the digital life
series, or
http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?f...d_no=1740#menu

which i seem to perfer the second as it gives 2 more sata then the first
(a79a-s or gx motherboards

but what do i know ;-P

Piokeyman

wrote in message
...
My current trusty box, an Asus A7N8-Deluxe with an Athlon XP2600
Barton core has started locking up with various bus errors. I've
swapped out every part I can to isolate the problem and nothing is
helping, which leads me to suspect the board.

Since this combo is so old I'm at a loss for a replacement; AMD has
released a lot of stuff recently, especially sockets and I don't want
to make an expensive mistake. I'm currently running FreeBSD-7.1 and
mirrored SCSI disks and a PNY brand 6200 PCI video card. I'm not a
gamer and am not interested in high end CPUs and boards.

Can someone tell me what might be a sort of sweet spot for Opterons?
From past good experiences I'd like to stick with Asus/AMD but I'm
open to another board. Power consumtion is important to me, but not
the over-riding factor. Any ideas?

thanks,

tf

Your hw looks good for bsd's compat. Maybe try NetBsd for improved hdwe
matchup. I wouldn't toss this sys. If the PNY is an Nvidia-made stick,
****can it. If you have an extra hd, you might want to try a Ubuntu
Server or "alt-img" install, installing as fully encrypted partitions.
If the server CD is used, add Gnome-desktop or such. I think most big
distros have pwr-mgt ability, along with bios, to reduce consumption.
You might also play with voltages and clocks to slow down things a
little. 64-bit is not quite there yet. Avoid Intel. Privacy issues. Last
thought is IRQ conflicts. Good going!