Subject: Linux with ASUS P5K64, Intel Q6600(?) Experience in buying a WS running Linux? Any problems worth knowing with mid-high-end hardware?
Hi List,
I have lately decided to assemble a new rig for my graphics work, and your help / suggestions are sincerely solicited. This is a long mail, so please feel free to skip and read at leisure if you may.
The primary concern being that it should play well with Linux. Sadly, the ASUS' site only states Windows OS compatibility; //mentioning ASUS here because the MoBo i have rounded up on is mfd by ASUS (Link [1]).
Please share if you have any experience or suggestions with the below mentioned configuration. I am really looking forward to some `good` experiences as I am really anxious to get the rig home :)
Any help/suggestions/experiences (with vendors even) will be gratefully appreciated.
The config: COMPONENT MAKE/MODEL NO. -------------------------------------------- MOTHERBOARD P5K64 WS
PROCESSOR Core 2 Quad Q6600 (All vendors in Vashi have denied availability of Q6700 that, I believe is a better processor!)
GPU NVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB (denied availability of all specific makes i mentioned; ZOTAC, XFX, ASUS) :( RAM 2 X 2GB Transcend Modules (I've heard that windoze xp (32 bit) etc do not support more than 3GB of RAM; never confirmed though. But I would be most interested to learn, if there is any such limitation with 32 bit Linux distros too! I would be mostly using 32-bit platform for now) --------------------------------------------
With vendors nearby my place playing a game of chess, I really can't expect any help from them regarding OS compatibility and, for that matter, even honest hardware prices. (Will soon post a blog on my experience with vendors while going for this hardware, which was quite a saga!)
So, that gives me another genuine reason to turn to the Linuxers for help. :)
<OT> Going a bit OT with my experience here:
In fact, the vendors have even denied availability of ASUS P5K64 WS, in which case, I might go for an ASUS P5K WS. (Link [2]) "poore India mein kahin nahi mil raha hai! I have spoken to all major distributors" (sic), as a vendor told me for MoBo, Q6700 as well as the ZOTAC graphic card. Sad! He's denied availability of any MoBo about which I have gathered detailed information, while the hardware `remains available` until I do not know the genuine price (-slot, for the Indian market, as I see it, no consistency at all!) </OT>
I believe the other components (HDD, Monitor, etc), should not be a matter of any concern in this regard, however, please share any experiences if you will :)
Thank you very much for your precious time reading through the long mail :)
[1] http://in.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=534&l4=0&mode... [2] http://in.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=534&l4=0&mode...
PS: The fact that I have had bad experience with a couple of vendors in Navi Mumbai does not, in any way, mean that I would generalize that there might not be any good vendors in the region; may be, its just that I wasn't lucky enough to find one.
TIA
Regards,
kamal morjal
On 8/10/08, km kmorjal@gmail.com wrote:
MOTHERBOARD P5K64 WS
Looking at the specifications[1], doesn't seem it may have serious problems, except if you're planning to use crossfire. I have no idea about crossfire support on linux.
GPU NVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB (denied availability of all specific makes i mentioned; ZOTAC, XFX, ASUS) :(
Try rashi peripherals[2]. But why are you buying a crossfire compatible board with a Nvidia graphics cards?
RAM 2 X 2GB Transcend Modules (I've heard that windoze xp (32 bit) etc do not support more than 3GB of RAM; never confirmed though. But I would be most interested to learn, if there is any such limitation with 32 bit Linux distros too! I would be mostly using 32-bit platform for now)
Check highmem and bigmem. Also, see this article[5]
I believe the other components (HDD, Monitor, etc), should not be a matter of any concern in this regard, however, please share any experiences if you will :)
Not related to linux, but avoid Samsung optical drives, I have seen quite a few people facing problems with it after a year. It's either with the tray or with reading the discs.
1. http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=1&model=1692&l1=3&l2... 2. http://www.rptechindia.com/New/Main%20Page.asp 3. 4. 5. http://www.linux.com/feature/119287
Mehul Ved wrote:
On 8/10/08, km kmorjal@gmail.com wrote:
MOTHERBOARD P5K64 WSLooking at the specifications[1], doesn't seem it may have serious problems, except if you're planning to use crossfire. I have no idea about crossfire support on linux.
i think it's SLI compatible.
GPU NVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB (denied availability of all specific makes i mentioned; ZOTAC, XFX, ASUS) :(Try rashi peripherals[2]. But why are you buying a crossfire compatible board with a Nvidia graphics cards?
Both the nVidia graphic card and the specified MoBo are SLI compatible, although I won't be using it at least in the immediate future; i look forward to have a dual graphic card setup soon though. Therefore SLI. AFAIK, Crossfire is specific to ATI cards. I just hope I did my homework right :) Will check on this once more and will confirm.
RAM 2 X 2GB Transcend Modules (I've heard that windoze xp (32 bit) etc do not support more than 3GB of RAM; never confirmed though. But I would be most interested to learn, if there is any such limitation with 32 bit Linux distros too! I would be mostly using 32-bit platform for now)Check highmem and bigmem. Also, see this article[5]
Sure, thanks a lot, will check this out too.
I believe the other components (HDD, Monitor, etc), should not be a matter of any concern in this regard, however, please share any experiences if you will :)
Not related to linux, but avoid Samsung optical drives, I have seen quite a few people facing problems with it after a year. It's either with the tray or with reading the discs.
Yep. I agree. I will go for an LG or LiteOn one. Most probably an LG one. Hope the new SATA DVD RW drives pose no problem with Linux. Any experience with these?
Thank you very much for taking time to consider my query Mehul :)
Regards kamal
On Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 3:47 PM, kamal km@eficacy.com wrote:
Mehul Ved wrote:
On 8/10/08, km kmorjal@gmail.com wrote:
MOTHERBOARD P5K64 WSLooking at the specifications[1], doesn't seem it may have serious problems, except if you're planning to use crossfire. I have no idea about crossfire support on linux.
i think it's SLI compatible.
GPU NVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB (denied availability of all specific makes i mentioned; ZOTAC, XFX, ASUS) :(Try rashi peripherals[2]. But why are you buying a crossfire compatible board with a Nvidia graphics cards?
Both the nVidia graphic card and the specified MoBo are SLI compatible, although I won't be using it at least in the immediate future; i look forward to have a dual graphic card setup soon though. Therefore SLI. AFAIK, Crossfire is specific to ATI cards. I just hope I did my homework right :) Will check on this once more and will confirm.
Err! it appears like i didn't do my homework right! Thanks a ton again for pointing it out Mehul, you really saved a lot more than just my a.. :P I don't know when and how I missed it, but that was a disaster waiting to happen!!
P5K64 WS is not an SLI compatible board; neither is P5K WS. So am back to square one! I really owe you one for this Mehul! :) Many thanks!!
Sincere apologies to all for this. Big blunder on my part. Lesson learned! I think. Will get back with my selection of MoBo, this time, being careful.
On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 7:49 AM, km km@eficacy.com wrote:
On Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 3:47 PM, kamal km@eficacy.com wrote:
Mehul Ved wrote:
On 8/10/08, km kmorjal@gmail.com wrote:
MOTHERBOARD P5K64 WSLooking at the specifications[1], doesn't seem it may have serious problems, except if you're planning to use crossfire. I have no idea about crossfire support on linux.
i think it's SLI compatible.
GPU NVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB (denied availability of all specific makes i mentioned; ZOTAC, XFX, ASUS) :(Try rashi peripherals[2]. But why are you buying a crossfire compatible board with a Nvidia graphics cards?
Both the nVidia graphic card and the specified MoBo are SLI compatible, although I won't be using it at least in the immediate future; i look forward to have a dual graphic card setup soon though. Therefore SLI. AFAIK, Crossfire is specific to ATI cards. I just hope I did my homework right :) Will check on this once more and will confirm.
Err! it appears like i didn't do my homework right! Thanks a ton again for pointing it out Mehul, you really saved a lot more than just my a.. :P I don't know when and how I missed it, but that was a disaster waiting to happen!!
P5K64 WS is not an SLI compatible board; neither is P5K WS. So am back to square one! I really owe you one for this Mehul! :) Many thanks!!
Sincere apologies to all for this. Big blunder on my part. Lesson learned! I think. Will get back with my selection of MoBo, this time, being careful.
-- Regards kamal morjal -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
Hmmm... Dear kamal,
I dunno if this is relevant, but i've been using a similarly configured workstation system, and think it's config may help you out. I've used it exclusively on fedora, and never had any issues with any of the components. Note, I bought this sytem before MAD announced it was opening up the ATI Chipset documentation, so shortly, i expect crossfire to be as well supported on linux, if not better than Nvidia SLI.
1. Mobo - Tyan Thunder n6650W, Dual socket AMD Opteron Compatible board, Dual Nvidia Chipset, and SLI Capable, with 2 pcie x16 , 2 pcie x8 , 2 pci-X 64 bit, 1 PCI 32 bit. 2. CPU - AMD Opteron 2212, 2.0 GHZ Dual Core, but the board can take 2 x Quad Core Opterons. 3. Memory - 4 x 1 GB 533 MHZ ECC Memory from Transcend 4. GPU - Geforce 8600GT 512 MB, though i've tried out SLI once with 2xGeforce 7300 256 MB. 5. Optical - Samsung OctoEdge 18x SATA DVD-RW Drive.(Dunno even, it's been about a year since i got my drive, and it's still going stromg.. as always, YMMV.)
This setup is Rock solid, and when mounted in a VIP cabinet, rather good looking even:P Plus, the possibility of going to 8 cores once i can get some moolah is what keeps me going :P
Regards, R. K. Rajeev
Rajeev R. K. wrote:
On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 7:49 AM, km km@eficacy.com wrote:
On Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 3:47 PM, kamal km@eficacy.com wrote:
Mehul Ved wrote:
On 8/10/08, km kmorjal@gmail.com wrote:
MOTHERBOARD P5K64 WSLooking at the specifications[1], doesn't seem it may have serious problems, except if you're planning to use crossfire. I have no idea about crossfire support on linux.
i think it's SLI compatible.
GPU NVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB (denied availability of all specific makes i mentioned; ZOTAC, XFX, ASUS) :(Try rashi peripherals[2]. But why are you buying a crossfire compatible board with a Nvidia graphics cards?
Both the nVidia graphic card and the specified MoBo are SLI compatible, although I won't be using it at least in the immediate future; i look forward to have a dual graphic card setup soon though. Therefore SLI. AFAIK, Crossfire is specific to ATI cards. I just hope I did my homework right :) Will check on this once more and will confirm.
Err! it appears like i didn't do my homework right! Thanks a ton again for pointing it out Mehul, you really saved a lot more than just my a.. :P I don't know when and how I missed it, but that was a disaster waiting to happen!!
P5K64 WS is not an SLI compatible board; neither is P5K WS. So am back to square one! I really owe you one for this Mehul! :) Many thanks!!
Sincere apologies to all for this. Big blunder on my part. Lesson learned! I think. Will get back with my selection of MoBo, this time, being careful.
-- Regards kamal morjal -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
Hmmm... Dear kamal,
I dunno if this is relevant, but i've been using a similarly configured workstation system, and think it's config may help you out. I've used it exclusively on fedora, and never had any issues with any of the components. Note, I bought this sytem before MAD announced it was opening up the ATI Chipset documentation, so shortly, i expect crossfire to be as well supported on linux, if not better than Nvidia SLI.
- Mobo - Tyan Thunder n6650W, Dual socket AMD Opteron Compatible
board, Dual Nvidia Chipset, and SLI Capable, with 2 pcie x16 , 2 pcie x8 , 2 pci-X 64 bit, 1 PCI 32 bit. 2. CPU - AMD Opteron 2212, 2.0 GHZ Dual Core, but the board can take 2 x Quad Core Opterons. 3. Memory - 4 x 1 GB 533 MHZ ECC Memory from Transcend 4. GPU - Geforce 8600GT 512 MB, though i've tried out SLI once with 2xGeforce 7300 256 MB. 5. Optical - Samsung OctoEdge 18x SATA DVD-RW Drive.(Dunno even, it's been about a year since i got my drive, and it's still going stromg.. as always, YMMV.)
This setup is Rock solid, and when mounted in a VIP cabinet, rather good looking even:P Plus, the possibility of going to 8 cores once i can get some moolah is what keeps me going :P
Regards, R. K. Rajeev
Hi Rajeev, That's a great configuration indeed. Even I am hoping, ATI would be at least as much supported on Linux as NVidia, or perhaps better, but I have rounded up on the Intel processor and an NVidia card as I believe Intel Quad Core would serve the best for the processor hungry apps i run,and NVidia, as I learned, so far has better support; so will get started as soon as it lands home. Although I do not have any deeper knowledge about these to claim or conclusively decide anything, hence this mail. So, SLI works on Linux alright! :)
And about your Samsung Drive, touchwood! :P Hope it keeps going that way. And hope you get to 8 cores soon, although it would be no less than a heat engine :P
How much did the VIP cabinet cost you, and did you require any additional power connectors (or some specialized SMPS etc) to get going? Thanks a lot for your mail, its helpful. :)
Regards
kamal morjal
On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 12:58 PM, kamal km@eficacy.com wrote:
Rajeev R. K. wrote:
On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 7:49 AM, km km@eficacy.com wrote:
On Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 3:47 PM, kamal km@eficacy.com wrote:
Mehul Ved wrote:
On 8/10/08, km kmorjal@gmail.com wrote:
MOTHERBOARD P5K64 WSLooking at the specifications[1], doesn't seem it may have serious problems, except if you're planning to use crossfire. I have no idea about crossfire support on linux.
i think it's SLI compatible.
GPU NVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB (denied availability of all specific makes i mentioned; ZOTAC, XFX, ASUS) :(Try rashi peripherals[2]. But why are you buying a crossfire compatible board with a Nvidia graphics cards?
Both the nVidia graphic card and the specified MoBo are SLI compatible, although I won't be using it at least in the immediate future; i look forward to have a dual graphic card setup soon though. Therefore SLI. AFAIK, Crossfire is specific to ATI cards. I just hope I did my homework right :) Will check on this once more and will confirm.
Err! it appears like i didn't do my homework right! Thanks a ton again for pointing it out Mehul, you really saved a lot more than just my a.. :P I don't know when and how I missed it, but that was a disaster waiting to happen!!
P5K64 WS is not an SLI compatible board; neither is P5K WS. So am back to square one! I really owe you one for this Mehul! :) Many thanks!!
Sincere apologies to all for this. Big blunder on my part. Lesson learned! I think. Will get back with my selection of MoBo, this time, being careful.
-- Regards kamal morjal -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
Hmmm... Dear kamal,
I dunno if this is relevant, but i've been using a similarly configured workstation system, and think it's config may help you out. I've used it exclusively on fedora, and never had any issues with any of the components. Note, I bought this sytem before MAD announced it was opening up the ATI Chipset documentation, so shortly, i expect crossfire to be as well supported on linux, if not better than Nvidia SLI.
- Mobo - Tyan Thunder n6650W, Dual socket AMD Opteron Compatible
board, Dual Nvidia Chipset, and SLI Capable, with 2 pcie x16 , 2 pcie x8 , 2 pci-X 64 bit, 1 PCI 32 bit. 2. CPU - AMD Opteron 2212, 2.0 GHZ Dual Core, but the board can take 2 x Quad Core Opterons. 3. Memory - 4 x 1 GB 533 MHZ ECC Memory from Transcend 4. GPU - Geforce 8600GT 512 MB, though i've tried out SLI once with 2xGeforce 7300 256 MB. 5. Optical - Samsung OctoEdge 18x SATA DVD-RW Drive.(Dunno even, it's been about a year since i got my drive, and it's still going stromg.. as always, YMMV.)
This setup is Rock solid, and when mounted in a VIP cabinet, rather good looking even:P Plus, the possibility of going to 8 cores once i can get some moolah is what keeps me going :P
Regards, R. K. Rajeev
Hi Rajeev, That's a great configuration indeed. Even I am hoping, ATI would be at least as much supported on Linux as NVidia, or perhaps better, but I have rounded up on the Intel processor and an NVidia card as I believe Intel Quad Core would serve the best for the processor hungry apps i run,and NVidia, as I learned, so far has better support; so will get started as soon as it lands home. Although I do not have any deeper knowledge about these to claim or conclusively decide anything, hence this mail. So, SLI works on Linux alright! :)
Lolz, like i said, i only tested that SLI works.. nothing more.. and in the few days that i used it, i saw no real performance jumps... though to be fair, i didnt play too many games...
Also, here's an exceprt from the phoronix forums....
"With Linux drivers being found on the CDs with their Radeon HD 4000 graphics cards, they are now proud of their Linux efforts. While it's one thing to tuck away a Linux driver in some obscure folder on the driver CD and not to mention it anywhere else, this isn't what AMD has decided to do. With ATI's official packaging, Tux will be prominently displayed on the packaging. This is to show the consumers that ATI graphics cards are supported under Linux. However, for the AIB partners designing their own product packaging, it's up to them whether to include this Linux symbol. We hope many of the AIBs decide to include Tux on the packaging, and as a Linux user we would hope you chose the vendors that do acknowledge the Linux market. To our knowledge, this is the first time Tux will be prominently displayed on a wide-scale for computer hardware targeted at desktop consumers."
Though, if your requirement is for right now, rather than in a few months, I guess NVidia has to be the choice. Again, i fail to see why a Quad core Opteron would be in any way inferior to an Intel Quad. Yes, different apps may be optimized for different cpu's, but in terms of base tech, i think they're pretty much comparable.
And about your Samsung Drive, touchwood! :P Hope it keeps goingthat way. And hope you get to 8 cores soon, although it would be no less than a heat engine :P
that's why i have up to 8 fans in my cabinet :D
How much did the VIP cabinet cost you, and did you require anyadditional power connectors (or some specialized SMPS etc) to get going?
Was about 7.5k for the cabinet, and another 5k odd for a 600 Watt SMPS with a 24+4+8 Power connector. needed all 3 for my mobo. The 450 watt smps that came with my vip was handed down to my media center pc, along with the mobo that was originally in the VIP(Asus P4R800-V Deluxe), before i got the tyan.
Thanks a lot for your mail, its helpful. :)Regards
kamal morjal
On 8/10/08, kamal km@eficacy.com wrote:
Hope the new SATA DVD RW drives pose no problem with Linux. Any experience with these?
Newer versions of all the popular distros should support this fine. As you haven't mentioned your distro I can't point to any specific resource but you can check a few HCL's like the one at linuxquestions.org[1]
km wrote:
The primary concern being that it should play well with Linux. Sadly, the ASUS' site only states Windows OS compatibility; //mentioning ASUS here because the MoBo i have rounded up on is mfd by ASUS (Link [1]).
If you have already pinpointed your hardware, you could check out user experiences in google. This will be different from HCLs. Look for your favorite distro reviews for that board.
Rony wrote:
km wrote:
The primary concern being that it should play well with Linux. Sadly, the ASUS' site only states Windows OS compatibility; //mentioning ASUS here because the MoBo i have rounded up on is mfd by ASUS (Link [1]).
If you have already pinpointed your hardware, you could check out user experiences in google. This will be different from HCLs. Look for your favorite distro reviews for that board.
Thanks for taking out time to reply :). Will do. Although I was so wrong in pinpointing the hardware. So doing it all over again. One of the options I've kept open are the ASUS P5N series SLI compatible boards, but yet to figure out which exact model i should go for. Factors include cost, availability [ which has been a real PITA :( ] and of course performance + compatibility with other h/w components. I guess the subject of the thread was rendered totally irrelevant due to my mistake in pinpointing the correct MoBo.
Kingston > Transcend
nVidia has lot of issues with linux/X due to their closed binary drivers. ATI looks like a better deal nowadays atleast for linux.
most of the intel chipset boards work well with linux.
you need to ask graphics designers who actually work on linux. they have much better experience of what to buy. ask people who use blender, etc. everyday.
for hard to find hardware try http://www.primeabgb.com/
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kamal -
km
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km -
Mehul Ved -
Prashant Shah -
Rajeev R. K. -
Rony