From owner-freebsd-amd64@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Sep 15 06:54:35 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 AD03B16A4CE for ; Wed, 15 Sep 2004 06:54:35 +0000 (GMT) Received: from ares.wolfpond.org (ns1.wolfpond.org [62.212.96.219]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A7CD943D1D for ; Wed, 15 Sep 2004 06:54:34 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from ftigeot@wolfpond.org) Received: from aoi.wolfpond.org (aoi.wolfpond.org [IPv6:2001:7a8:24db:1:20c:76ff:feb4:27e1]) by ares.wolfpond.org (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i8F6sXNf082735; Wed, 15 Sep 2004 08:54:33 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from ftigeot@aoi.wolfpond.org) Received: from aoi.wolfpond.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by aoi.wolfpond.org (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id i8F6sXs1010596; Wed, 15 Sep 2004 08:54:33 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from ftigeot@aoi.wolfpond.org) Received: (from ftigeot@localhost) by aoi.wolfpond.org (8.13.1/8.13.1/Submit) id i8F6sXD7010595; Wed, 15 Sep 2004 08:54:33 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from ftigeot) Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 08:54:33 +0200 From: Francois Tigeot To: John Wilson Message-ID: <20040915065433.GB10104@aoi.wolfpond.org> References: <20040915003915.2489d1b0.solita2@solitarylight.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20040915003915.2489d1b0.solita2@solitarylight.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.1i cc: amd64@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Mainboard suggestions? X-BeenThere: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 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, 15 Sep 2004 06:54:35 -0000 On Wed, Sep 15, 2004 at 12:39:15AM -0500, John Wilson wrote: > > I am currently in the process of spec'ing a new machine for myself and wish > to go the AMD64 way. Unfortunately, trying to find good information on > the myriad of mainboards that are available is giving me a serious > headache. :) > > >From what I've been able to gather, the two best mainboards for the AMD64 > platform come from either Asus or MSI. My original goal was to find a board > with the minimum of additional features onboard, save for sound and a NIC. > Firewire is useless to me. > > I've attempted browsing the AMD64 mailling list here for good info, but have > come away scratching my head even more. Basically, my questions are as > follows: > > - Which is the better chipset for FreeBSD, the Via offering or the NVidia one? I believe NForce 3 chipsets have some teething problems. > - It seems that a lot of the MSI boards use Realtek audio and NIC's. Are these > any good? Are they at all supported? My understanding was that Realtek was > on the crappy side, but I've no personal experience with them. The Realtek NIC found on Athlon64 boards is not the crappy rl(4). It supports at least hardware checksum offloading... > - It appears that Asus has problems with their onboard NIC as well; there were > a few messages posted to the list in regard to this. Is this still a problem? > Should I avoid Asus because of this? > > - If anyone could make a suggestion as to the best mainboard, in regard to > FreeBSD compatibility, I'd be most appreciative. I use a MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R and everything works flawlessly including the onboard NIC and sound. -- Francois Tigeot