AMD 64 Processor and Motherboard

[uxbod]

I am now approaching the time of jumping from Intel to AMD and have recently posted my idea of the spec I may go for. Now comes the crunch, what is the best processor/motherboard combo? Should I go Opteron? Would be interested to here peoples view and then see what I can buy in the UK.

[uxbod]

Also what SATA RAID cards people are using successfully?

[dkaplowitz]

[uxbod]

Are you mirroring or striping ?

[ulysses_cruz]

Well, it you are looking for a true hardware based RAID card, I can definitely recommend the LSI MegaRAID cards. Mine's working like a charm.

As far as motherboards and processors it all depends on what price/performance match you are looking for. For the high-end I can also recommend the Iwill DK8X motherboard and the Opteron 244 chips.
_________________
If it were'nt for the voices in my head, I'd go insane from loneliness.
-Me, Myself and I

Iwill DK8X, 2x Opteron 244, 8x 512Mb PC2700, Geforce FX5600, Audigy 2 ZS Plat., MegaRAID SATA150-6

[uxbod]

For processor, motherboard and RAID card I have set my limit at £1500.00 plus I want 2 x 19" TFT IIyama monitors aswell so about £3000.00 in total.

[aut0maticdan]

I have to agree that the MSI boards are hot for AMD64.

http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20031201/socket_754-38.html

Check out Rocket RAID. They offer Linux and FreeBSD drivers for their hardware RAID cards. I've only used them under 32 bit though. They do offer the source for many of their drivers, so you may be able to build the driver yourself. Otherwise, you are going to want to use something with support in the kernel.

aMd

[ulysses_cruz]

OK,

It looks like you are in about the same price range I was when I built my machine last month. (I spent about $3500, but didn't need to buy a monitor) I purchased my system here in the states, but I would guess that prices in the UK should be about the same (taking in to consideration the exchange rate )

I would assume that you are looking for a dual processor system, lots of RAM and a fairly large RAID array.

I basically built my system around my RAID array, and based my purchase decisions on that.

I looked at the various RAID cards available and concluded that the LSI cards provided the best mix of price, performance and Linux support. Once I made this choice, I began making the rest of my choices.

First off, to get the best performance out of the RAID card, you need a PCI-X slot on your motherboard. As far as I could find only two reasonably priced AMD64 motherboards provide this: the Tyan Thunder and the Iwill DK8X. I went with the Iwill because it also provided on-board USB2.0 (it is more expensive though) and I planned to have my drd+-rw drive in an external USB enclosure.

Finally, I decided on the Opteron 244 processors because I feel they provide the best performance vs. price at this time.

I still have the spreadsheet that I used as a checklist and cost monitor, which shows all the part numbers and price of all my parts. If you would like to see it just let me know and I would be happy to email it to you.

Hope this advice helps.

Ulysses
_________________
If it were'nt for the voices in my head, I'd go insane from loneliness.
-Me, Myself and I

Iwill DK8X, 2x Opteron 244, 8x 512Mb PC2700, Geforce FX5600, Audigy 2 ZS Plat., MegaRAID SATA150-6