From owner-freebsd-amd64@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Feb 14 14:26:09 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3157A16A4CE for ; Sat, 14 Feb 2004 14:26:09 -0800 (PST) Received: from wn1.sci.kun.nl (wn1.sci.kun.nl [131.174.8.1]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AFE8D43D1F for ; Sat, 14 Feb 2004 14:26:08 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from adridg@sci.kun.nl) Received: from wn4.sci.kun.nl [131.174.8.3] (helo=wn4.sci.kun.nl) by wn1.sci.kun.nl (8.12.10/3.61) with ESMTP id i1EMQ66v006026; Sat, 14 Feb 2004 23:26:06 +0100 (MET) Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2004 23:26:06 +0100 (MET) From: Adriaan de Groot To: Luca Massarenti In-Reply-To: <002c01c3f312$947a26a0$c901a8c0@ts> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII cc: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org Subject: Re: which motherboard and which chipset? X-BeenThere: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: adridg@cs.kun.nl List-Id: Porting FreeBSD to the AMD64 platform List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2004 22:26:09 -0000 Ciao, Luca, On Sat, 14 Feb 2004, Luca Massarenti wrote: > I want to start installing freebsd on amd based server and in particular > using opteron cpu. > > I want to install an application server which run a java application for > about 80 clients > > Which chipset is best and is best tested? Before you ask that question you should probably ask: does Java run at all under FreeBSD on amd64? Also remember that there is a native FreeBSD JSK version 1.3 - no 1.4 or 1.5. Running Linux binaries is, as yet, not possible. So first check if the platform can support what you need. > Which mainboard is considered the best? > What about dual processors? Take a look at the archives of this list (via http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-amd64 ), there's lot of hardware mentioned. I think a lot depends on how much memory you need to support your users: Athlon64 boards (single CPU) tend to top out at 4G theoretical and 3G practical (like my Asus k8v, with 3 slots so I could stick 3G of DDR266 in it) ; Opteron boards for single CPU with 4 slots top out at 8G theoretical (4x2G Registered), but I hear tales of an sk8n supporting only 3.5G. Dual boards run up to 8 slots, for 16G of memory. > I have the possibility to choose between via and nvidia and between asus and > MSI. That sounds very much like you're limiting yourself to single CPU systems (although MSI makes the k8t master2, with 2 CPUs and 4 memory slots, and the k8dm, which looks like the kind of 4+2 dimm solution that is said to be dodgy). You state you want to use an opteron processor, that's socket 940, and limiting your choices to those two manufacturers and chipsets. Hm. That throws out the MSI k8d, since that's an amd chipset. That leaves the k8t master (not the neo, since it's socket 754) and asus sk8n (nvidia) or sk8v (via). Maybe you already knew all that. I don't recall any of those systems being mentioned here on the list - but again, check the archives. I'll tell you that my own asus k8v w/ 1G and using SATA drives works just fine - for one user, at least.