[CLUE-Tech] Motherboard Recommendations

[Stephen Lehr]

On Fri, 22 Nov 2002 18:41:53 -0700
Matt Gushee <mgushee at havenrock.com> wrote:

> Hi, Folks--
> 
> Well, I thought I was helping somebody with a fairly routine Linux
> installation, and I've ended up getting roped into helping him find a
> new motherboard ... which is a bit beyond my expertise: I generally
> don't pay a whole lot of attention to hardware, and I've never bought a
> motherboard, period; I guess it's mainly because I have a working
> Internet connection.
> 
> Anyway, the priorities are reliability and support; performance is
> definitely secondary. The gentleman thinks highly of ASUS products,
> though he's not dead set on the brand. One product that I thought looked
> good is the Asus A7V333 ... but I can't find any information on how well
> it works with Linux. In fact, overall I'm finding that there are almost
> no motherboards that 1) are currently available, 2) have been reviewed
> by sources that I believe to be trustworthy, and 3) are reported to work
> well with Linux. So I'm at a loss here.
> 
> Anybody out there have experience with recent motherboards? I'd
> appreciate your recommendations.
> 
> 

I've installed the ECS K7S5A to my 3 latest computers, 2 of which are running Red Hat 8.0.  This Athlon board has built in ethernet & sound, accepts either SDRAM or DDR, and can be had locally for about $63.  ECS is a major motherboard manufacturer, with almost every unit going to OEMs.  I bought it originally to be able to use my old SDRAM.  For me, it has been stable & easy to use.  Windows 2000 & RH Linux both admire it.

The K7S5A basic design is a good 1.5 years old.  My most recent purchase of it was about 5 months ago.  It supports current "XP" Athlon processors.  As with most Athlon systems, the power supply had better be good.

I can recommend a local vendor.