# motherboards with onboard DVI out that gentoo likes

## jsut

I'm wanting to build a semi-crappy machine for home that will be used to run samba, git, apache and probably some other crap.  It's also going to run 2 disks in RAID1 because i'm paranoid (or safety conscious, or something).  I've been having a hard time finding a motherboard that doesn't kind of scare me that has DVI out though.

I've read about the ASUS M2A-VM, and M2NPV-VM, both of which seem to have ram selectivity issues, varying reports of support for their GB LAN, as well as reports of alsa not liking their sound stuff.  I've been trying to find other motherboards that have onboard DVI output, but i've been having a hard time.  So i turn to the forum. 

Are there any people out there running a cheap to midrange system that has onboard DVI out that's happy with their board?  I'm not especially particular about nvidia/ati, or amd/intel, i just want something that will work alright and i won't have to fight with too much to get set up.

Any input would be appreciated.

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## gentoo_ram

I'm using a MicroATX motherboard system with built-in DVI.  It's the ASUS AN-M2HD with an Athlon 64 x2 processor.  It uses an NVidia chipset which is supported.  Sound, SATA, video, and network work.  The lm_sensors sorta work.

The only issue I had with this motherboard was the install process.  The network (using forcedeth) only works on 2.6.20 above.  Make sure to enable MSI support in the kernel.

Unfortunately, no Gentoo install disks have a kernel this new.  So when installing the machine, I had to copy enough files to the machine via a USB flash drive to compile a newer kernel and get GRUB installed.  Once the newer kernel was installed, I could complete the install process normally over the network.  

Also, I had to temporarily install an IDE DVD-ROM drive since the SATA one wasn't recognized by the 2007.0 install CD.  Again, once I got the newer kernel installed, the SATA DVD-ROM drive worked.

The video chipset is called a "GeForce 7025".  Enough for basic graphics, but certainly not for any heavy 3-D work.  But that's fine with me since my machine acts as a server and I keep the console in text mode.

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## Drone1

I'm using a FoxConn 6150K8MA-8EKRS mobo for my myth box which aside from not having an onboard DVI output, though the chipset supports it, runs a perfectly stable, unstable '~x86_64' system. 

I'd look at chipsets, starting with 6150 and forward from nvidia, and see what manufacturers are offering what for motherboard onboard DVI integration. You may be hard pressed to find an Intel chipset with DVI onboard, but i could be wrong. Same may go for VIA. 

Most, if not all, of the Foxconn boards have built-in RAID support, and all others spec's are going to be topped out. (4-8 SATA, 4+ USB, 1-2 PATA, 5.1 Audio or more., Firewire, GigE, SPDIF-out dig or opt. )

Depending on what your going to be running, you may want to stay away from x86_64. Others is this forum may rebut that, however.

Hope this helps!

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## micmac

 *jsut wrote:*   

> I've read about the ASUS M2A-VM, and M2NPV-VM, both of which seem to have ram selectivity issues, varying reports of support for their GB LAN, as well as reports of alsa not liking their sound stuff.

 

I have an Asus M2A-VM HDMI (the non-HDMI variant doesn't offer firewire) and it works great. The only problem was the installation where USB didn't work (kernel too old). Before buying the board I too read about RAM selectivity issues, but in the end I went with a RAM kit that was mentioned in the mainboard's compatibility list (Kingston ValueRam Kit) and it works just fine. The new radeonhd driver will support the integrated graphics card in the future so it'll be an all-out-open system. AHCI works nice as well, but I didn't setup RAID nor do I use the onboard nic.

Edit; What I like best about this box is that it doesn't use huge amounts of energy. cpufreq works like a charm (BE-2350 dual core cpu) and I measured ~37 Watts when idle.

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## jsut

Power consumption is also a concern for me, i'll continue with my reading.  thank you all for your feedback.

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## rasmus

I have just built myself a new computer around the Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H and so far it seems to work. It is a bit on the new side (G33 based) so lspci reports a lot of "Intel Corporation Unknown device" and I have a DRI issue which I haven't looked into yet. I moved my old system to the new computer so maybe an emerge -e world will fix that.

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## beandog

 *micmac wrote:*   

>  *jsut wrote:*   I've read about the ASUS M2A-VM, and M2NPV-VM, both of which seem to have ram selectivity issues, varying reports of support for their GB LAN, as well as reports of alsa not liking their sound stuff. 
> 
> I have an Asus M2A-VM HDMI (the non-HDMI variant doesn't offer firewire) and it works great.

 

Are you using a direct HDMI cable to connect to something (instead of, say HDMI to DVI)?  That's what I would like to do, but want to make sure it works fine first.

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## micmac

I don't use HDMI. I just use DVI.

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## blandoon

I've had pretty good luck with the Biostar TForce TF7025 (Nvidia GeForce 7025 chipset). It has onboard DVI - the TF7050 is mostly the same, but comes with onboard HDMI and a DVI adapter.

I ran it with the onboard video for a while and 2D performance was great with the nvidia binary drivers. 3D was passable for the less demanding apps and games. After a while I dropped in an Nvidia PCI-E video card, which under Linux is a very simple upgrade (just change the device line in xorg.conf).

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