# Linux compatible high-end motherboard/combo and video card

## lakicsv

Dear Gentooers,

I want to upgrade my aging (PII 350!) system. I would like to know

what you power users have outthere in terms of modern hardware. I

would like to get the best possible linux compatible desktop system

setup...

I would like to get the following :

Athlon XP 2000 + (I know this will work:-)

compatible socket A motherboard

        here the trouble starts:

        1) UDMA 100 - I need a chipset which 100 compatible with this

                (for my barracuda I had to buy a promise contoller card just

                to get it working)

        2) I looked at some combos with NIC, video and sound chips, but

           I have trouble findig one which is 100 % compatible with

           linux. I do not need professional sound, but I want it to be

           working on course.

Video card or onboard video chip - I want something which has a

decent accelearted 2d/3d - I want fullscreen video but I am not a

gamer, so the absolute best is not necessary.

(To my own limited experience, those card gave me fullscreen video

with mpayer which have decent 3d support under linux, like matrox,

nvidia - not like my otherwise perfect savage4!)

If you could let me know your setup (just the motherboard name and

chipset as accurate as possible  - especially if you have a working

combo (NIC, video, audio) one) and the card what you would

recommend.

Thanks for any help:  Viktor

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## metalhedd

UDMA100 Will definitely not be an Issue, I think Every motherboard being manufactured these days has got that down... I've got an MSI Board with Via KT333 Chipset, Works fine for me.  I don't use onboard Audio/Video or Lan though.. Fully integrated boards tend to be Shoddy, I'd go with a good KT333/KT400 Board (Any manufacturer, just do a little research on specific features that each has, www.tomshardware.com would be a good resource) for Sound I've got an SBLive! Value and a GF2MX for video.  Neither are considered anywhere near top of the line anymore so they should be relatively cheap and in my opinion a far better choice than a board with all that onboard.  I've had trouble with the onboard sound of a couple of KT133 Systems, and integrated video is just really crappy in general.  I don't like the idea of sharing my system's RAM With the Video card.  :Smile: 

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## securiteaze

Have you checked out the nVidia mobos? They're interesting, some come with a geforce2 mx/sound onboard.

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## cult hero

Speaking of nVidia boards, how is their Linux support? I know the nForce2 is about to come out. Do they support their boards as well as they support their video cards.

Actually... *goes to check nVidia's site*

And, I've had an SBLive!, 3Com 9c905B, and MSI GeForce2 run together without a hitch for a while in both a KT133A board and on an old BX setup with a PIII 750. Both only use SDRAM (and I think the KT133A chipset handles ATA/100) but they were rock solid.

Lately (if you care about someone random person's personal affinities) I've had a lot of good luck with MSI boards. I used to pretty much just buy Asus, but MSI's stability has been quite nice. 

I tend to use hardware that is a little older. Particularly motherboard chipsets. I mean, unless you're going for the latest and greatest in every regard, the price savings and stability is nice. You can get the MSI KT Turbo2 for like $65 online and SDRAM is cheap too. I'll take 512 megs of that over 256 of any DDR flavor. Of course, if money's no object then... okay... rambling... stopping. 

Just my thoughts anyway.

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## mglauche

beware that the nvidia nforce IDE driver is only working in the devel kernel (2.5.x)  :Sad: 

Running some very loud scsi because of that right now ...

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## Ethernal

SCSI is sweet though, exept for the noise.

Personally I would prefer to not use NIC's and such that are built-in, as in my experience I've always had trouble with built-in controllers and such.    :Crying or Very sad: 

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## metalhedd

I once had a beautiful SCSI Drive... It was an UltraWide 20 Gig.. but it caught on fire.  :Sad: 

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## lakicsv

Thanks guys, just bought a gigabyte mobo with VIA KT-400 chip, onboard lan and audio (all supported under linux!).

Also got an Athlon XP 1800+, and 516 Mbyte DDR 2100 RAM. As to the video card, after looking at a nice review about Geforce 4 MX440, I opted for that... Even TV-OUT works!

I am happy...

Viktor

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