Re: [gentoo-user] new computer : any advice ?

[Dale]

Philip Webb wrote:
>   * MBGA002794 GA-970A-UD3P : Downtown 6 : $ 120
>     GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3P (rev. 1.0) Socket AM3+ AMD 970+SB950 Chipset
>     Dual Channel DDR3 2000(O.C.) MHz, 2x PCI-Express x16
>     GLAN, 6x SATA 6.0 Gb/s, 4x USB 3.0, 14x USB 2.0
>     ATX


I have this mobo in my current rig.  So far, no problems.  I've had it
for a few years now.  It has a 4 core 3.2 GHz CPU in it and 16GBs of
ram.  I put it in a Cooler Master HAF-932 case, very large full tower
with HUGE fans.  It can hold 32GBs of ram tho.  I plan to upgrade one of
these days.  The mobo I upgraded from maxed out with 16GBs.  I just
moved them over since the 8GB sticks were pricey at the time, and not
much better now. 

Just in case you end up with this one, here is a list of the output of
lspci -k, which shows what kernel drivers it needs to work. 

root@fireball / # lspci -k
00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 PCI to
PCI bridge (external gfx0 port B) (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 PCI to
PCI bridge (external gfx0 port B)
00:00.2 IOMMU: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD990 I/O Memory
Management Unit (IOMMU)
        Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD990 I/O
Memory Management Unit (IOMMU)
00:02.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 PCI to
PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port B)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:04.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 PCI to
PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port D)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:09.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 PCI to
PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port H)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:11.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 40)
        Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA
Controller [AHCI mode]
        Kernel driver in use: ahci
00:12.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
        Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
OHCI0 Controller
        Kernel driver in use: ohci-pci
00:12.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
        Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
EHCI Controller
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
00:13.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
        Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
OHCI0 Controller
        Kernel driver in use: ohci-pci
00:13.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
        Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
EHCI Controller
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SBx00 SMBus
Controller (rev 42)
        Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SBx00 SMBus
Controller
        Kernel driver in use: piix4_smbus
00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SBx00
Azalia (Intel HDA) (rev 40)
        Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller (rev 40)
        Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller
00:14.4 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SBx00 PCI to
PCI Bridge (rev 40)
00:14.5 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI2 Controller
        Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
OHCI2 Controller
        Kernel driver in use: ohci-pci
00:16.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
        Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
OHCI0 Controller
        Kernel driver in use: ohci-pci
00:16.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
        Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB
EHCI Controller
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 10h
Processor HyperTransport Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 10h
Processor Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 10h
Processor DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 10h
Processor Miscellaneous Control
        Kernel driver in use: k10temp
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 10h
Processor Link Control
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GT216 [GeForce GT
220] (rev a2)
        Subsystem: NVIDIA Corporation GT216 [GeForce GT 220]
        Kernel driver in use: nvidia
        Kernel modules: nvidia
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GT216 HDMI Audio Controller
(rev a1)
        Subsystem: NVIDIA Corporation GT216 HDMI Audio Controller
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
02:00.0 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. Device 3483 (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5007
        Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 06)
        Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Motherboard
        Kernel driver in use: r8169
04:06.0 Ethernet controller: Davicom Semiconductor, Inc. Ethernet 100/10
MBit (rev 31)
        Subsystem: ARCHTEK TELECOM Corp Ethernet 100/10 MBit
        Kernel driver in use: dmfe
root@fireball / #


The short version:


root@fireball / # lspci -k | grep Kernel
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
        Kernel driver in use: ahci
        Kernel driver in use: ohci-pci
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
        Kernel driver in use: ohci-pci
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
        Kernel driver in use: piix4_smbus
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
        Kernel driver in use: ohci-pci
        Kernel driver in use: ohci-pci
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
        Kernel driver in use: k10temp
        Kernel driver in use: nvidia
        Kernel modules: nvidia
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
        Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
        Kernel driver in use: r8169
        Kernel driver in use: dmfe
root@fireball / #


On the CPU, I always get the 2nd or 3rd one down in price.  That is
usually the best bang for the buck.  You may not be able to tell a
difference between the 4.0GHz and the 4.3GHz one.  Then again, with 8
cores, it may be worth the extra few bucks to you.  That extra cache
could make a difference I guess.  All depends on what you can afford and
how long you plan to run the new rig. 

Hope this little bit of info helps you pick.  Maybe someone else will
post about what they have that you listed.  ;-)

Dale

:-)  :-)