Motherboard Rcomendations Please?

[dxj055847]

Can someon please recomend an AMD motherboard, the last one I bought would not load Mandrake or RedHat. Would really like hear from someone with a working system before I order another MB. I currently have an HP Vectra 400MHz with Mandrake and love it. Would really like to upgrade without buying a new PC.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[fancypiper]

I'm using the ECS K7S5A mainboard with no problems and I have seen several other posts about it, all of them good.

[Qwijibrumm]

Asus makes a fine motherboard. My friend bought a new A7V333 and it seems awsome. The Via KT333 chipset is outstanding. I would reccomend buying any VIA KT333 or KT266A based board from Gigabyte, MSI, Asus, or Soyo. Steer away from any KT400 based board simply because it would require Linux kernel 2.4.20 which is newer than comes in most distros. But I hear the chipset is awsome.

Oh and avoid ANY SiS chipset like the plauge. Nothing but trouble, those. (Sorry to talk bad about your motherboard fancypiper but I've seen a million stupid problems come from SiS chipsets.)

[fancypiper]

Originally posted by Qwijibrumm
Oh and avoid ANY SiS chipset like the plauge. Nothing but trouble, those. (Sorry to talk bad about your motherboard fancypiper but I've seen a million stupid problems come from SiS chipsets.) Yes, back a couple of years ago. I had quite a bit of trouble with a friends setup (integrated SIS video), but he was converting a Windows computer.

I have heard of troubles with the on-board sound, but I don't use the integrated stuff except for the lan. Just use the mobo. All the integrated stuff on any board is mostly wasted IMHO.

[teeitup]

I currently have an HP Vectra 400MHz

My question would be will this box take a standard ATX compatible motherboard?

That's a proprietary box that probably has a custom motherboard.

[The Ennead IX]

I've used the Asus A7V333 and the Asus A7V8X (kt400) and love them both. As- Qwijibrumm mentioned, the kt400 chipset could cause problems on anything less than 2.4.20, the only kernel i've come across other than that where it works optimally is the 2.4.19-16 that comes with Mandrake 9. As motherboards go though they are both good quality with plenty of options

[Timothy L. Miller]

MSI KT3 Ultra 2 is really nice. I've got one of them running, and it works flawlessly, and performs quite well. Although not the absolutely most state of the art board anymore, it's still got all the necessities.

[dxj055847]

teeitup,
I plan on upgrading the box as well, I have already got,
400 watt ATX power supply
120 Gig hard drive
HP standard keyboard
logitech trackball mouse
HP monitor
Sony DRU-500A CD/DVD writer

Qwijibrumm,The Ennead IX,
Sounds like ASUS is a good solid choice.

Thanks to all for the input, always nice to hear from the people who really use the hardware. If anyone knows of any other problems I should stay away from like the "SiS Chipset" please let me know.
Thanks Again

[bandwidth_pig]

Hmmm. I have the Asus A7S333 with the Sis Chipset and it works great.

[Timothy L. Miller]

Yeah, I also have no problems with my SIS chipset. ECS Elitegroup some board or the other ($53 and it has onboard sound and networking that work just fine! :) ). Based on the SIS735 (I know, outdated), bought it to replace a MSI 745 Ultra(SIS 745) that my power supply decided to perform kamikazee on, however, before that happened, that board also worked just great in linux. Just avoid SIS VIDEO chipsets, they're mainboard chipsets work great with Linux, and the price can't be beat.

[BFK4ever]

I am using the ECS K7S5A w/ onboard lan, and the AC97 onboard audio disabled, as it sucks ***. It is a good mobo for me so far :)

[fancypiper]

Originally posted by BFK4ever
I am using the ECS K7S5A w/ onboard lan, and the AC97 onboard audio disabled, as it sucks ***. It is a good mobo for me so far :) All onboard audio sucks according to my ears.

[Tjoh311]

I love my K7S5A, although mine is a REV 1.x but the newer ones shouldn't require any modifications to get them to run correctly. ( I had to do a resistor fix to get the chipset to run 133/133, but that was easy)

Oh yeah! the stock linux modules don't play nice with the onboard sound, thus games like quake 3 arena which use "mmap" like to freeze up.

[Timothy L. Miller]

Yeah, that's the motherboard I have...I'm surprised by how many people have it, I never thought the SIS chipsets were all that popular, most people I talk to don't even know they make one!