From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 13 02:21:24 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 92A5C106566C for ; Wed, 13 May 2009 02:21:24 +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 536258FC18 for ; Wed, 13 May 2009 02:21:24 +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 22:21:24 -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 PVX64300; Tue, 12 May 2009 22:21:23 -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 22:21:23 -0400 From: Robert Huff MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-ID: <18954.11938.878119.338544@jerusalem.litteratus.org> Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 22:21:22 -0400 To: Charlie Kester In-Reply-To: <20090513003918.GG54310@comcast.net> References: <18954.2252.774279.926149@jerusalem.litteratus.org> <20090513003918.GG54310@comcast.net> 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: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 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: Wed, 13 May 2009 02:21:24 -0000 Charlie Kester writes: > > I am actively building the parts list for a new system, and > >would welcome advice on motherboards. > > It might help others give you good advice if you provide some more > information. > > What's the intended use of this machine? A moderate amount of many things, some but not not necessarily all at the same time. It needs to do nothing superbly, but many things average or (preferably) better. One factor: the machine this replaces is eight years old. It is possible this machine will have to last that long. > Is price or power consumption a concern? The budget is not infinite, and there's a reason the spec includes "expandability". On the other hand, I'm a long-time advocate of the notion it pays to buy quality; for carefully vetted parts things can be stretched. Power consumption is on the 'B' list, as is noise. Is the difference between the Q9550 and Q9550S worth $100? Ma-a-a-a-a-ybe. Robert Huff