From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue May 12 23:39:59 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 21269106566C for ; Tue, 12 May 2009 23:39:59 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from roberthuff@rcn.com) Received: from smtp02.lnh.mail.rcn.net (smtp02.lnh.mail.rcn.net [207.172.157.102]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D94168FC16 for ; Tue, 12 May 2009 23:39:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from roberthuff@rcn.com) Received: from mr02.lnh.mail.rcn.net ([207.172.157.22]) by smtp02.lnh.mail.rcn.net with ESMTP; 12 May 2009 19:39:58 -0400 Received: from smtp01.lnh.mail.rcn.net (smtp01.lnh.mail.rcn.net [207.172.4.11]) by mr02.lnh.mail.rcn.net (MOS 3.10.5-GA) with ESMTP id PVX29073; Tue, 12 May 2009 19:39:57 -0400 (EDT) Received: from 209-6-22-188.c3-0.smr-ubr1.sbo-smr.ma.cable.rcn.com (HELO jerusalem.litteratus.org.litteratus.org) ([209.6.22.188]) by smtp01.lnh.mail.rcn.net with ESMTP; 12 May 2009 19:39:57 -0400 From: Robert Huff MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-ID: <18954.2252.774279.926149@jerusalem.litteratus.org> Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 19:39:56 -0400 To: questions@freebsd.org X-Mailer: VM 7.17 under 21.5 (beta28) "fuki" XEmacs Lucid X-Junkmail-Whitelist: YES (by domain whitelist at mr02.lnh.mail.rcn.net) Cc: Subject: CPU/motherboard recommendations X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 23:39:59 -0000 I am actively building the parts list for a new system, and would welcome advice on motherboards. Quick research has pointed me to two paths with regard to CPUs: Intel Q9550(s)/Q9650, and AMD Phenom II 925/945. (Unfortunately, the 925 doesn't seem to be available to the general public yet.) The ideal motherboard would be small on bells and whistles (onboard NIC, video, and RAID are optional (even undesirable) though a decent sound chip would be good) and big on reliability, expandability (this machine might end up with 8gbytes memory and many storage devices), and good layout. My current machines (over five years old) use ASUS and MSI, both of which have been mostly OK. So ... let's start wirh the horror stories. What has a high failure rate out of the box, or is not compatible with generic components? Robert Huff