From owner-freebsd-amd64@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Feb 1 18:28:31 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org 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 7980416A422 for ; Wed, 1 Feb 2006 18:28:31 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from kgunders@teamcool.net) Received: from koyukuk.teamcool.net (koyukuk.teamcool.net [209.161.34.19]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DFBE243D48 for ; Wed, 1 Feb 2006 18:28:30 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from kgunders@teamcool.net) Received: from koyukuk.teamcool.net (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by koyukuk.teamcool.net (TeamCool Rocks) with ESMTP id 83C77F824 for ; Wed, 1 Feb 2006 11:28:25 -0700 (MST) Received: from cochise.teamcool.net (unknown [192.168.1.57]) by koyukuk.teamcool.net (TeamCool Rocks) with ESMTP id 47A8EF81E for ; Wed, 1 Feb 2006 11:28:25 -0700 (MST) Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 11:28:24 -0700 From: Ken Gunderson To: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org Message-Id: <20060201112824.233c3d22.kgunders@teamcool.net> In-Reply-To: <20060201083957.17f7t5je0agwg8s4@webmail.mit.edu> References: <20060201083957.17f7t5je0agwg8s4@webmail.mit.edu> Organization: Teamcool Networks X-Mailer: Sylpheed version 1.9.12 (GTK+ 2.6.7; i386-portbld-freebsd5.4) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV using ClamSMTP Subject: Re: Motherboard and Video Card selection X-BeenThere: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Porting FreeBSD to the AMD64 platform List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2006 18:28:31 -0000 On Wed, 1 Feb 2006 08:39:57 -0500 "Ian D. Leroux" wrote: > Apologies for the threading errors, I'm stuck on webmail until I get a > new machine and can't set the Reply-To headers right. > > > I opted for a Tyan K8E board: > > [...] > > Sun has been basing some impressive 1U offerings on this board that > > have been getting notice lately. I've got mine paired with an Opteron > > 180. 've not done any benchmarking but can subjectively report that > > "it's just wickedly fast". > > Any particular reason you went for a socket-939 opteron rather than the > equivalent Athlon64 X2? Nothing wrong with that, I'm just wondering if > you know something I don't. > Well, it seems to be debatable on fbsd-amd64 but I read some posts on amd forums indicating that the Opterons were subjected to more stringent QA than their Athalon brethern. Per AMD's marketroid info (for whatever it might be worth...): * AMD Opteron 100 Series processors with ECC unbuffered memory all have 1MB of L2 cache. * AMD Opteron 100 Series processors with ECC unbuffered memory are produced on AMD Opteron processor die material and follow the same AMD Opteron processor manufacturing process as do the 800 Series and 200 Series. * AMD Opteron 100 Series processors with ECC unbuffered memory undergo the same AMD Opteron processor-level testing and validation as do the 800 Series and 200 Series. At the time the price diff was negligible so nugded me towards the Opteron. Granted some of the higher Athalons also do have 128K L1 and 1MB L2 per core as well. Whether these units are otherwise the same as their Opteron counterparts, as some assert, I can neither confirm nor deny. You may well be better off w/Athalon. Get a much wider selection of mainboard offerings and they'll tend to be a bit cheaper as well. The Tyan K8E is also in a couple of my recent servers, however, so having a workstation based on it is one less thing I have to track for BIOS updates, etc. > > [...] > > > I don't much like NVIDIA's binary-drivers-only policy, but is [snip] > Sadly, it looks like the ATI NDA program stops with the Radeon 9250 > chips . All support for later ATI > cards (that I know of) is reverse-engineered. Not that I mind getting > an older Radeon, provided I can be reasonably confident of it working > with the mainboard. > Ah yes, I'd forgotten about the NDA limits. Hate it when that happens... But I think bottom line is that ATI still has better reputation for playing a bit more nicely with OS developers than NVidia. > > I think you can always opt for the i386 version of FBSD. Might even > > be preferred for workstation useage. > > A good point, and one that I'd neglected. > > Thanks for the input. It sounds like an nForce4 mainboard is the way to > go, if only because their ubiquity guarantees some kind of support. As > for a video card, I'll get an old one if I can, or else get a modern > one and wait for nvidia to release 64-bit drivers or for X.org to > finish reverse-engineering the ATI cards. Hobson's Choice. Here's to > open-spec hardware, and a prayer for its return someday. An older, well supported PCI gpu may be the best fallback option for 3D at the moment. Myself, I can live w/o 3D... ATI does provide AMD64 linux drivers for their recent PCI-E cards. Don't have any clue about using them under FBSD AMD64. Maybe someone else can provide more enlightenment... -- Best regards, Ken Gunderson Q: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation. A: Why is putting a reply at the top of the message frowned upon?