[Pc_Support] Going nForce4+Athlon64 ... but on the cheap in MicroATX ...

[Bryan J. Smith]

Instead of aiming for the high-end Tyan S2895 or even nForce4 SLI, I
decided on the standard nForce4 in a MicroATX form-factor with the $89
FOXCONN NF4K8MC-ERS:  
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-186-052

[ NOTE:  The difference between the "ERS" and "RS" is the additional
IEEE1394 FireWire pin-out for about $5 more on average.] 

There were several reasons I did this.  One is that even the new nVidia
1.0-7xxx series drivers for Linux doesn't support SLI -- or it seemingly
doesn't (I could be wrong?).
So a nice nVidia GeForce 6800GT will do nice (without taking up more
than 1 slot physically), and I can always use it in SLI on another
system later on.
And yes, I'm getting a powerful 450W MicroATX PS (19A on the +12V) that
has ATX 2.0 24-pin and the additional +4-pin connector -- they are hard
to find, but not really any more expensive.
I'm also making sure there are several 60x60x25mm fans that are
1900-4200rpm variable in the case for good airflow.
At least the CPU is the new 30W Athlon64 3200+ Winchester.
I'm also trying one of those Arctic Cooling 87x87x33mm "open fans" atop
of a 92x92mm sink for Socket-939/940, which is also variable speed.

Two is that I'm mobile, so MicroATX is optimal and I don't need any GbE
(which I could always add to the PCIe x1 slot if I need it) which the
standard nForce4 doesn't come with (only the Ultra/SLI).
Same deal for the audio, although there is always a spare PCI or two for
adding it (although I'm considering using one PCI slot for an ATSC card
(so I can always pickup the local HDTV broadcasts no matter where I are,
regardless of cable).
I might still hook up my Dual-Athlon MP if I need it, but it's going to
become the video server for home I wanted shortly (when I have time in
the summer).

Three, I can always recycle the MicroATX for other duties in the future.
Like taking out the power-hungry GeForce 6800GT and putting in a nice
6200 or 6600[GT] with HDTV out at some point in the future.
Maybe as a smaller, more portable entertainment system.

Although I need to address storage redundancy long-term (probably RAID-1
with Linux LVM/MD), for now, I'm going to use it with an extra 200GB ATA
drive I have.
I figure I'll wait until some SATA drives are on sale, and get two
matching ones.
There are 2 full ATA channels (in addition to the 4 SATA-150 ports --
the Ultra/SLI have SATA-300), so that will do for now with a single ATA
HD plus my DVD-R/RW/RAM/+R/+RW drive.

I'll comment more when I have the unit running.
And yes, I'll be plopping Fedora Core 3 (RHCL4.1) x86-64 on it.
I don't think I'll install Windows XP on it though, I'm still debating.
Depends on how smooth a dual-boot can be made.

-- Bryan

P.S.  I did make sure that I purchased a MicroATX case that was "just
wide enough" to take the clearance required for the 6800GT.  But it's
still small (no sense in getting a big ATX case -- a little over 3U wide
is just enough, but the more common 4U, which are typically as long as a
ATX, is overkill).


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                  b.j.smith at ieee.org 
---------------------------------------------------------------- 
Community software is all about choice, choice of technology.
Unfortunately, too many Linux advocates port over the so-called
"choice" from the commercial software world, brand name marketing.
The result is false assumptions, failure to focus on the real
technical similarities, but loyalty to blind vendor alignments.