ASrock K8S8X

ComfortablyNumb · n00b Joined: 23 Jan 2004 Posts: 4

Has anyone used this board?
Are there any specific issues with that chipset and gentoo 32/64?

TIA

CN

srs5694 · Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 5:19 pm Post subject:

I've not used it, but I've been eyeing it, so I'll second the request for information. As near as I can tell, the SiS chipset it uses (and more specifically, the 964 Southbridge) incorporates the features of other SiS chipsets that are supported in Linux generally, at least for parallel ATA, audio, and Ethernet, so I'm hopeful it'll work. I'm still foggy on the status of serial ATA support, though, and even my suspicion that the chipset is supported isn't a certainty.

ComfortablyNumb · n00b Joined: 23 Jan 2004 Posts: 4

A member of another forum gave me this url:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/DevelopWithAMD/0,,30_2252_875_10454,00.html

according to the info over there, it doesn't look good......

CN

srs5694 · Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:29 pm Post subject:

Interesting. Getting hard data on this chipset's Linux compatibility has been difficult. My preliminary conclusion has been that the chipset effectively combines together the SiS 5513 (parallel ATA), SiS 7012 (audio), and possibly SiS 900 (Ethernet), and so should work with those drivers, which the Linux kernel provides. This is based largely on inference, though. Also, even if my inferences are correct, there might be stumbling blocks, such as x86-64-specific incompatibilities or device ID issues. The latter should be easy to fix by adding appropriate information to the relevant kernel files. I've seen at least one post in this forum from somebody running an ECS 755-A, which uses the same chipset. If the chipset plays reasonably well with Linux, it looks like a very nice board for the price; but if you've got to add $100 worth of PCI cards, it's not nearly so good a value....[/i]

srs5694 · Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 1:05 am Post subject:

Some additional data: I've e-mailed the person who I saw mention the ECS 755-A. He says he's using an Ultra160 SCSI adapter and SoundBlaster sound card, so he's not using the on-board stuff for that and couldn't say whether or not it works; but the Ethernet adapter definitely does work with the sis900 driver. OTOH, in another thread in another Gentoo forum, another person says that the parallel ATA support is extremely slow. I've also received some information on serial ATA drivers that are in the works. Apparently they currently use PIO mode only, and so are quite slow. On the whole, it looks like the disk subsystem isn't likely to be a speed demon any time soon, but my knowledge is still quite limited....

ComfortablyNumb · n00b Joined: 23 Jan 2004 Posts: 4

srs5694 · Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 3:16 pm Post subject:

One more tidbit: I found this Usenet post on Google Groups. It shows the /proc/pci output from an ECS 755-A (SiS 755/964 chipset). This shows the kernel as correctly (I think) identifying the ATA controller as a SiS 5513 and the Ethernet as a SiS 900. (Of course, it could be misidentifying the level of 5513 support, hence the poor performance.) If I had to guess, I'd say that getting parallel ATA support should require only minor kernel tweaks, but that is just a guess. As to the rest, who knows.... (FWIW, I've e-mailed the Usenet poster for more information, but I've received no reply.)

ComfortablyNumb · n00b Joined: 23 Jan 2004 Posts: 4

I ordered a MSI neo finally, did not want to wait any longer....
I'm not 100% convinced about the SiS 755 and linux yet, but as time goes by and
more people use these things I might change MB's, the AsRock is affordable enough....

Might as well tinker with what works for now, and go for the more aggressive stuff as
it gets developed...

Later

CN

srs5694 · Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 11:47 pm Post subject: