From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Feb 10 16:35:45 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8D7EA1065670 for ; Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:35:45 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dillon@apollo.backplane.com) Received: from apollo.backplane.com (apollo.backplane.com [216.240.41.2]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 653D38FC0C for ; Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:35:45 +0000 (UTC) Received: from apollo.backplane.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by apollo.backplane.com (8.14.4/8.14.1) with ESMTP id o1AGZiYk022984 for ; Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:35:44 -0800 (PST) Received: (from dillon@localhost) by apollo.backplane.com (8.14.4/8.13.4/Submit) id o1AGZi8m022983; Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:35:44 -0800 (PST) Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:35:44 -0800 (PST) From: Matthew Dillon Message-Id: <201002101635.o1AGZi8m022983@apollo.backplane.com> To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org References: <4B6F9A8D.4050907@langille.org> <4B718EBB.6080709@acm.poly.edu> <4B723609.8010802@langille.org> <201002101127.53444.pieter@service2media.com> <20100210105516.GA65506@icarus.home.lan> Subject: Re: hardware for home use large storage X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:35:45 -0000 :Correction -- more than likely on a consumer motherboard you *will not* :be able to put a non-VGA card into the PCIe x16 slot. I have numerous :Asus and Gigabyte motherboards which only accept graphics cards in their :PCIe x16 slots; this """feature""" is documented in user manuals. I :don't know how/why these companies chose to do this, but whatever. : :I would strongly advocate that the OP (who has stated he's focusing on :stability and reliability over speed) purchase a server motherboard that :has a PCIe x8 slot on it and/or server chassis (usually best to buy both :of these things from the same vendor) and be done with it. : :-- :| Jeremy Chadwick jdc@parodius.com | It is possible this is related to the way Intel on-board graphics work in recent chipsets. e.g. i915 or i925 chipsets. The on-motherboard video uses a 16-lane internal PCI-e connection which is SHARED with the 16-lane PCI-e slot. If you plug something into the slot (e.g. a graphics card), it disables the on-motherboard video. I'm not sure if the BIOS can still boot if you plug something other than a video card into these MBs and no video at all is available. Presumably it should be able to, you just wouldn't have any video at all. Insofar as I know AMD-based MBs with on-board video don't have this issue, though it should also be noted that AMD-based MBs tend to be about 6-8 months behind Intel ones in terms of features. -Matt