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Date:      Thu, 6 Jul 2000 16:50:42 -0500 (CDT)
From:      Chris Dillon <cdillon@wolves.k12.mo.us>
To:        jfb@visi.com
Cc:        freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: New system for FreeBSD -- pls advise
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.4.21.0007061623410.24474-100000@mail.wolves.k12.mo.us>
In-Reply-To: <20000706142349.I1936@visi.com>

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On Thu, 6 Jul 2000 jfb@visi.com wrote:

> Hello, all,
> 
> I'm looking at getting a brand new box at home, and want to make sure
> that I don't end up with components that will preclude me from using
> my OS of choice.  
> 
> Currently, my hardware selections are as follows:
> 
> AMD Athlon Thunderbird (950mhz)
> Asus A7M motherboard (as yet unreleased)
> 512mb PC-133 ram (2x 256mb)

All of this _should_ work just fine, and be blazingly fast.  :-)  The
950MHz processor costs almost twice as much as the 850MHz processor,
though.  Is 100MHz worth about $300?

> Voodoo5 5500 video

I don't think the VooDoo4/5 is supported in XFree86 yet.  The only
card you can get right now with good 3D framerates that is supported
by XFree86 is a NVidia GeForce (not GeForce2) based card, preferably
with DDR SGRAM.  The GeForce2 GTX and MX will probably be supported
sooner than the VooDoo4/5, however, since they aren't as drastically
different from their predecessors as the new VooDoo stuff is.

> 3Com 3c905b ethernet

One word: yuck.  Get an Intel EtherExpress PRO 10/100B.

> Soundblaster Platinum Live sound card

The driver for this isn't perfect yet, but I've heard quite a few
success reports.  Also, there is no difference among the "Live" cards
except the included Windows software.  Get a "Value" series if you
value your money. :-)

> Plextor EIDE CD-R

I think the Yamaha CD-RW drives are better.  SCSI is your friend, too.  
Buy a 850MHz processor instead of 950MHz, and you can buy a SCSI
controller (such as the Tekram DC-390F) and Yamaha CRW8824 (8x8x24)
and still save money.

> For the most part, this box'll be running postgres, emacs, and
> perhaps several apache instances when I'm working, and will boot into
> some filthy MICROS~1 gulag when I need to blow off a little steam
> playing games.  I've never put intel hardware together before, so any
> pointers from a FreeBSD perspective would be welcome.



-- Chris Dillon - cdillon@wolves.k12.mo.us - cdillon@inter-linc.net
   FreeBSD: The fastest and most stable server OS on the planet.
   For Intel x86 and Alpha architectures. ( http://www.freebsd.org )




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