I was looking at the latest copy of computeractive which I have read since it was launched 5? years ago, now it's a mag for window$ based total "norberts", and on the odd occassion that linux gets a mention, seems to be thought of as an OS for geeks and "trekkies".
Anyway, it's handy for stuff about whats new i.e. hardware etc.

So, they got this article about some quite flash cases, and I have seen one that has the side viewing window as well as an internal fluorescent light, etc etc.

Now, this particular case is reported as being "large", so I reckon, if I'm going to spend the £53 on it, I should also get a new motherboard, so I can get shot of the rather basic/rubbish MSI650? one that I have got at the moment.

Some more pci slots, maybe USB2 (or USB high speed as it now seems to be called) etc etc.

The mandrake hardware database isn't much help, so can anyone tell me of any "comparison type" sites that make full reference to linux, and that explain (in idiot language) the pro's and con's of the different ones available - 478 chip - as I would be reusing the 2 gig chip that I currently, as well as the pc2100 ram.

Not to worried about onboard sound, and I should be able to reuse the geforce2 mx420 that I am using.

I would also appreciate if there is any particular make of boards to look at that are known to work well with linux or should be completely avoided, as well as any advice of differing chipsets etc.
regards

John

Here are some articles I have found. They are around 3 years old.

# Linux sytems
Cheap Linux Box]
The Ultimate Linux Box - update
Price Watch

Mandrake list supported hardware not comparison of what device is better.

875 chipsets work with LINUX though only certain motherboards works with Pentium 4 2.0GHz.

Thanks for the tips both,

The kind of stuff that I need to know, is who makes the best??mobo's, because electro's comment's about ones with the 875 chipset are out, because as far as I can sus, 875 chipped boards only seem to support 333 and 400 mhz ram.

I am looking to find out about the best options for 266 mhz stuff, as I already mentioned, I will have to re-use my ram and cpu for the moment, so I am trying to understand the best options.

Like if a mobo has a maximum fsb of 800mhz, obviously that's considerably faster than I can run at the moment, but is it backwardly compatible? and will it work with cpu/ram etc that is designed to run slower?

I notice that boards with intel 845, 850(possible typo?), 865 and 875 are showing up in my searches.

Now I know that the 875 stuff is probably out, but what about the others? I have seen some 845 and 865 boards that will run/support my ram and cpu, also is it advised to go for as much variations in the different supported ram speeds etc.

Again, any advice is much appreciated - I am still having major snags decyphering "tomshardware" etc.

regards

John

Go to anandtech.com they did a review on motherboards based on the 875 and 865 chipsets.

ASUS P4C800 motherboard can run a 2.0 gigahertz P4 but this board can only work with that is based on the Northwood core.

Motherboards shouldn't have any trouble running at 266 MHz. The 875 chipsets has a max of 400 MHz.

Go to http://www.aberdeeninc.com and do motherboard comparator with compatible products.

OT:

Excuse my ignorance, but what is a "norbert"?

You would have to do quite a lot of research here to get the defacto answer.

But about 10 years ago, one of the characters called "Norbert Colon", who amongst other things was an idiot, sheep, easily led, a sexual pervert, etc, etc. Hence we started to refer to persons who fitted any of the above descriptives as a "Norbert".

Coincidentally, this also fitted with the rise of Norbert Dentressangle, one of Europes largest "freight forwarders". Who, like micr0$0ft and their products, are every f*****g where (well, you would only have to drive the road's of western and central Europe, and would probably loose count after the first 100 bright red truck's with their "ND" logo on the side!)

Please feel free to take which ever inference you think suits the post most accurately.

regards

John

Ok, so I had a look at the "aberdeeninc" write up about the 865 vs 875 chipsets.

I think I managed to understand about 20 percent of it (but I did work out that it's part 1 of a 2 part article - presume that the 2nd part hasn't been published yet).

Since I have been looking into this "motherboard" thing, I have read loads of stuff, but only really understood the "headline" items. Quite a lot of the mega technical details are over my head. That said, I have established that one of the boards that would suit my needs is this one. What do you all reckon?

In the 865/875 article, I spotted some stuff about boards that are poorly designed/laid out, inthat with some of them the component mounting sockets are positioned badly, causing a variety of problems i.e. a dimm socket and an agp slot too close and would require uninstallation of a graphics card to put another strip of ram in. Stuff like that.

I'm just about to go off and see if I can locate any write up's about the board that I have linked above - though If any of you have read anything, either good or bad, I'd like to know.

Also, the board mentioned above is based on the 845 chipset, so where is that in relation to the 865/875 series???

regards

John

Take a look at this thread:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...threadid=60347

I got a Shuttle AK32A mobo and it works great. Very stable, nice layout. I can use either PC133 SDRAM, or PC2100 DDR in it.

Siri Amrit

Cheers for the tip, Tigerflag

but your thread refers to "socket A" boards and I can't afford to upgrade the chip as well, hence I am stuck with the pentium 4 2 gig for the moment - though if I can get a respectable board I should be able to upgrade the cpu when the prices drop some.

regards

John

Or would you say that the 845 based boards are getting on a bit now??

I ask this, because my hard drive is a western digital 120 gig udma 100 (ultra ata) type, and as I type this, the P4B533 boards from asustek support the drive as well as my ram 266 mhz DDR SDRAM. I am presuming that the 4X agp slot with run the geforce 4 420 that I use at the moment - though I haven't got the dosh to up grade that anyway!

also, all these new standards like the 800 mhz fsb and 150 ATA ide/eide etc, are they backwardly compatible i.e can I use the slightly older kit I have with them?? or will it just not work?

regards

John

Aberdeen Inc doesn't do any reviews. You got confused. Aberdeen is online store. Anandtech is a Tech review site.

If you are the people that like to go into the computer and upgrade every week or have a full tower case, motherboard layout will be one of your worries. If not, who cares about the lay out. Its not good to go into the computer every day or week.

In my area the 845 chipsets are obsolete. The 875/865 chipsets came out about a month ago. Those people that wanted dual channel DDR chipset for their P4 doesn't have to buy an SIS board.

Just about any motherboard 845, 865, 875 chipsets can handle high capacity hard drives (137 gigabytes) and DDR266. Few will need a BIOS upgrade. Certain 845 chipsets don't come with USB 2.0 so check INTEL's site. Just about any video card that is qualify for 4X should work. Even my old ATI Radeon 64 VIVO (the very first version of RADEONs) works with 4X only boards (850 chipset).

If you have read at anandtech site. Pentium 5 will be coming out for the 478 socket. If you want that processor, ask INTEL what chipset will work with it.

150 megabit/sec SATA and 800 MHz FSB are features not really standards. SATA is ultra ATA but all the data is transfered in serial instead of parallel. Serial is better for longer lengths of cable than parallel. The data throughput for both serial and parallel are the same. For third generation (1000 megabit/sec) SATA devices, parallel ATA will not be in the market any more. With SATA, every device is consider as an independent Master instead of two drives fighting on the same IDE channel. Right now SATA is at first generation. The 800 MHz FSB is for future processors like 3.02 GHz or 3.2 GHz processors with 800 MHz FSB. To take advantage of the 800 MHz FSB you need two or four DDR400 or faster memory modules.

Aberdeen Inc tests their products with many motherboards. I haven't seen many on-line stores do that. The products that they list in kit-o-gen are compatible with the motherboard. You will find DDR266 and your processor (if it is based on a Northwood core) will work in 845, 865, and 875 chipsets. Your video card should work.

Yeah, sorry about that. I don't know anything about Pentium processors.
One place I've actually found some useful information is at newegg.com . Customers submit product reviews for just about everything newegg sells. You can take everything with a grain of salt, but you might find some wisdom there. Just look up their motherboards and start clicking...

Thanks Electro,

I did carry on looking into the 865/875 boards as you suggested and I spotted one that "should" do the job.

As you have noticed, my problem is establishing which board will work with my current other components, as well as being able to slightly future proof things a little. Every time "they" release new products, the write up's only tend to quote the product's maximum abilities, with corresponding numbers, and that confuses the hell out of me!


I don't mind opening the "box" but would rather leave it alone and
as I'm stuck with only having enough "spare" cash, to upgrade 1 component at a time, I have to do a fair bit of digging around to make sure I choose the correct upgrade hence my questions here.

Your last post explained quite a lot of the stuff that was confusing me. at least I now know to look for a board that doesn't necessarily have the 800 mhz fsb, as the ram and processor would also need replacing as well.

So i'll have another look later and post back to see what you think (that's if you don't mind).

Again, many thank so far for the advice and guidance.

For tigerflag, thanks for the link, I'll go have a look there as well

regards

John

Ok, so I have tried to plough my way through the links that Electro and Tigerflag directed me towards.

The anadtech review of 875 and 865 mobo's is obviously very extensive/comprehensive.

The stuff at newegg.com that Tigerflag metioned, is also unreal!

So, now the problem of looking into motherboards is compounded by complexity. The developers' and technofreaks "food of choice" i.e. numbers, letters, strange acronym's etc is poison too me. The anandtech review is page after page after page of info broken down into mini articles about each mobo.

The info at newegg is broken down into differing components, then by manufacturer.

To be honest, I am floundering in the complexity of it all. So can anyone please point me towards a site that uses nice, easy to understand comparison tables.

All I want to do, is try and work out, maybe 4 or 5 different motherboards, that will support my 120 gig western digital eide/ata100 hard disc, the 768 megs of 266mhz/pc2100 ram and my pentium 4 2.0 gig cpu, then I can work out which board to go for (not necessarily the cheapest!).

Ideally, boards that will also support more up to date stuff, so when some of the prices drop I can upgrade further. Also I would like something that is USB2 (high speed usb) compatible with 5 or 6 pci slots.

Lots of onboard stuff isn't necessary, as I already have a geforce 4 m420 graphics card and a soundblaster live! 5.1 digital sound card that I can use.

Any suggestions much appreciated.

regards

John