Which MOBO both Linux & XP

[Wid]

I am looking for a Motherboard that will:
Run both Linux, XP, and Vista
Frequency 2 GB/sec (probably single core)
1 GB memory
1 PCIe slot
3 or more PCI slots
2 IDE ports (4 devices)
1 Floppy drive port
1 ps2 mouse port
1 ps2 keyboard port
4 or more USB 2 ports/header combinations
1 network port
On-board audio
(I don't use serial or parallel ports)
Passive cooling for onboard chips
Will accept after market CPU cooler, e.g. Zalman
Intel or AMD CPU (probably AMD because it runs cooler)
SATA ports
BIOS boots to USB devices

I am confused in that some web posts say that ASUS Motherboards now do not support Linux (drivers). It is not clear from ads which boards support Linux & which don't. (A Google search on Linux Hardware lists a few Motherboard makers.)

Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[fredgiblet]

Any nVidia-based board should do well, nVidia has much better Linux support than most other manufacturers. I would suggest an nForce 570 Ultra unless you plan to use SLI in which case you should get the 570 SLI. Right now the 500 series is relatively new so the drivers are not perfect, so if stability is essential you should consider an nForce 4 mobo.

As for ASUS you shouldnt bother using the manufacturers drivers but should get the newest drivers straight from the chipset manufacturer instead, and as I said nVidia does Linux drivers fairly well.

Edit: nForce 4 is available right now in Intel or AMD, currently nForce 500 is AMD only but the Intel edition will come out with Conroe.

Edit: if you insist on 3 PCI slots your choices become much more limited, you might want to consider ditching one of you PCI cards and getting a mobo with 2 PCI slots

One more edit: there are very, very few (if any) modern mobos that have 2 IDE ports, once again you should plan on ditching your old drives and getting some new ones

 

[fredgiblet]

One more thing: I believe that the nForce 4 mobos have active cooling (fans) on the mobo itself, some of the nForce 570's come with exclusively passive cooling (mine has a heat pipe).

 

[oldsaw]

I've installed a number of "2.6 Kernel" distributions on an A8N-Sli Premium board (which is fanless) with no problems at all. Slackware's "2.4.31 Kernel" lacked the necessary driver for my graphics card (a Quadro), but that was easy enough to download and install. And don't worry about Linux Kernel upgrades rendering existing hardware obsolete: Kernel upgrades add drivers and enhance interoperability. On the matter of cooling, though, I would advise caution when employing fan-control software, and when you experiment with new and unknown distributions be sure to remember that whatever you might have installed on your SUSE Partition (for instance) will not have been automatically installed on any of the others, so have those fans running at full speed.

 

[gman01]

Any motherboard should work for linux.... The only thing I would stay away from is anything ATI, like an ati chipset motherboard or Real new ATI video card.... They sometimes require extra drivers that take some manual tweaking to get linux to install....

You should have no problem with an NVidia or VIA motherboard chipset.... I don't know if the new NVidoa nForce 570 works yet or not.... If you are using fedora linux - ask them at fedoraforum.org.... What linux distribution are you planning on using?

 

[Wid]

The Asus A8N-SLI Premium board looks promising.

I probably won't be pushing a motherboard/CPU too hard so if I were to use a zalman CPU cooler in the quiet mode will the cooler for the Northbridge etc. get enough air flow? I will have case 120mm intake & exit fans plus the power supply fan.

Thanks

 

[Wid]

I am currently running SUSE 10 Linux distribution. Also, I am playing with Kubuntu.

On the Northbridge cooling question - the Northbridge chip is thermally connected to a set of fins by a heatpipe (It shares the fins with something else.). If I ran a zalman 7000 cpu cooler in quiet mode (slow fan) will there be enough air flow to cool the Northbridge chip & the other item connected to the fins?

Thanks

 

[gman01]

I am not sure what you are talking about with the cooling.... I don't understand how changing the CPU fan would effect the northbridge cooling? Are you saying that the northbridge cooling is connected to the cpu cooling system - And you want to lower the cpu cooling(with quiet mode fan) - thus lowering the northbridge cooling?

 

[Wid]

If you go to the ASUS website and look at the A8N-SLI Premium layout,
you will see that there is a heat pipe that goes from a chip near the center of the motherboard to a set of fins near the rear of the motherboard (in front of the I/O ports). Air from the CPU fan blows on the fins cooling the chip (via the heatpipe) along with something else connected to the fins. If I ran the CPU fan in quiet mode there would be less air going through the fins.


http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=0&model=539&modelmenu=1

 

[gman01]

If you go to the ASUS website and look at the A8N-SLI Premium layout,
you will see that there is a heat pipe that goes from a chip near the center of the motherboard to a set of fins near the rear of the motherboard (in front of the I/O ports). Air from the CPU fan blows on the fins cooling the chip (via the heatpipe) along with something else connected to the fins. If I ran the CPU fan in quiet mode there would be less air going through the fins.


http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=0&model=539&modelmenu=1

I understand you know - thanks to the link.... I see it comes with a special fan system:
ASUS Q-Fan2
ASUS Q-Fan technology intelligently adjusts both CPU fan and chassis fan speeds according to system loading to ensure quiet, cool and efficient operation.

If you allow the system to set the fan speed, you should have no trouble.... It will adjust the fan speed as low as possible without allow the CPU or northbridge to overheat...

If you are able to put a special fan system on it yourself, and try to run it at your own speed(overriding the Q-FAN2 system), yes there may be a problem.... It will be trial and error thing.... There might be something in the official specs, that give you a minumum reccomended fan speed - but they won't know how good of a fan you are using....

At any rate, you shouldn't be able to do as good as their smart fan system....

 

[Wid]

An earlier reply stated that there might not be Linux software to run the Asus fan software & suggests I run all fans at full speed when running Linux. The 120 mm intake & exit fans are fairly quiet & would be OK at full speed. Are there CPU & other temperature monitors on the motherboard?

Thanks

 

[gman01]

An earlier reply stated that there might not be Linux software to run the Asus fan software & suggests I run all fans at full speed when running Linux. The 120 mm intake & exit fans are fairly quiet & would be OK at full speed. Are there CPU & other temperature monitors on the motherboard?

Thanks

here is the manual:
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=A8N-SLI%20Premium

There are definitely CPU & other temperature monitors on the motherboard.... That is how the smart fan system knows how fast to spin the fans...

The smart fan system that runs MY linux computer motherboard is all built right in the BIOS.... I don't even need any software.... I can turn it on/off in my BIOS... I would check the manaul above to see if you can control/turn that system on/off in THAT bios.... The software that comes with it might not be for control, but just for monitoring.... OR possibly you can control the fan system with both....

The above person said you should run linux fan at full speed, if you can't control it - would say this to you since you want to try and run it slow:

Since you are not OC-ing trying to run it as slow as possible.... If it is too slow, it will simple lock up you system if it overheats.... Then you know you have to run the fan at a faster speed....

 

[Wid]

What PCIe graphic cards do you recommended that will work with Linux - I don't plan to run SLI.

Thanks

 

[gman01]

What PCIe graphic cards do you recommended that will work with Linux - I don't plan to run SLI.

Thanks

here is a great list for you(alot cheaper here than in stores):
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/ViewProducts.hmx?PID=VGACARD-EVGA&updepts=VID&DNAME=Video+Cards

GEFORCE 6200: starting at $36.00
GEFORCE 7300 starting at $59.00

Definitely stick with NVidia not ATI when it comes to linux.... ATI can be a hastle with linux, but nvidia is always well supported by any linux distribution.... Linux fans are usually always AMD/NVidia people....