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krisbee
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Post subject: Sandy Bridge - advice sought.
 Posted: 22.11.2011, 17:32
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Joined: 2011-04-25
Posts: 49
Location: London
Status: Offline
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My current AM2 PC (Abit kn9s, Athlon 64 x2 4400+) is close to 5 years old and is overdue an upgrade. I have a decent case and PSU and recent hard drives, so it should just be a case of changing the CPU, m/board and RAM.
I've always used Abit boards and AMD CPUs, but really I think I should go with an Intel Sandy Bridge platform now, especially for the performance per watt.
I have two immediate problems. The first is the choice of m/board. I have no experience of using anything but Abit. Two boards that interest me are the Asrock Z68 Pro 3 and the MSI Z68A-GD55(G3). The second may have life after Sandy Bridge, and so offers a future upgrade path, something I lost after the death of Abit. But I can find no reference on the web to a Linux user running a MSI Z68A-GD55(G3), and while the Asrock board runs Linux with some limitations the quality of Asrock concerns me a little. Obviously, virtu and the Intel SSD thing do not function under Linux.
What is MSI's reputation? If you are running aptosid 64bit on a Z68 m/board, what make/model is it?
Secondly, and in some ways more importantly, I'm wondering if an i3-2105 CPU will meet my needs, or if I should consider an i5-2500.
I do not game or program, and apart from using the web, email, office, and multimedia apps (including ripping and transcoding) the thing that really stresses my current set up is the use of virtual machines. I would like to virtualise all my Windows use and not mulitboot as now and use a couple of virtual machines concurrently without slowing the system to a crawl. Plus I never know when I might need to perform compilations.
So will an i3-2105 CPU suffice? |
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alexk
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Post subject: Re: Sandy Bridge - advice sought.
Posted: 22.11.2011, 19:12
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Joined: 2010-10-01
Posts: 272
Status: Offline
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krisbee wrote:
But I can find no reference on the web to a Linux user running a MSI Z68A-GD55(G3), and while the Asrock board runs Linux with some limitations the quality of Asrock concerns me a little. Obviously, virtu and the Intel SSD thing do not function under Linux.
What is MSI's reputation? If you are running aptosid 64bit on a Z68 m/board, what make/model is it?
Intel DZ68DB as you may have seen in this forum. Runs great in Aptosid. Looking at the specs, I don't see reason to believe that you'd have problems in Linux with the MSI Z68A-GD55(G3), but you can always query the supplier. I've never had an MSI board, only Biostar, Epox and Intel but MSI was on my short list of boards to buy. I also had Asrock boards on the list but also had concerns about their short warranties. Turns out my first DZ68DB was half DOA and replaced. |
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kenyee
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Post subject: RE: Re: Sandy Bridge - advice sought.
Posted: 23.11.2011, 03:21
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Joined: 2010-09-29
Posts: 97
Status: Offline
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If you're going to run VMs, get the 2500K.
I'm just about done w/ an HTPC buildup around it and a Gigabyte Z68MX board...planning on putting MythBuntu on it... |
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alexk
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Post subject: Re: RE: Re: Sandy Bridge - advice sought.
Posted: 23.11.2011, 19:33
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Joined: 2010-10-01
Posts: 272
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kenyee wrote:
I'm just about done w/ an HTPC buildup around it and a Gigabyte Z68MX board...
I saw that someone posted elsewhere in May that the Etron EJ168 USB 3.0 chip in this mobo wasn't supported under Linux, but that's old news now with recent kernels.  |
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krisbee
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Post subject:
Posted: 24.11.2011, 16:22
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Joined: 2011-04-25
Posts: 49
Location: London
Status: Offline
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alexk,
I had missed your z68 thread, with the info of how HD3000 was working. On paper the MSI Z68A-GD55(G3) doesn't have any obvious Linux hardware incompatibility, but depsite leaving messages on the MSI forum and elsewhere I can get no solid feedback.
I would probably get the i5-2500 if I could be confident of finding the right m/board. But as it is, I have other issues to deal with now, so nothing will happen this side of Xmas. |
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krisbee
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Post subject:
Posted: 03.12.2011, 09:35
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Joined: 2011-04-25
Posts: 49
Location: London
Status: Offline
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| A brief footnote. I gave up on Sandy Bridge and went for a cheap AM3 platform. I'll look at Ivy/Sandy Bridge at the end of next year. |
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kenyee
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Post subject:
Posted: 11.12.2011, 22:04
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Joined: 2010-09-29
Posts: 97
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krisbee: FYI, mythbuntu and ubuntu (they're both sort of based on the latest Debian like aptosid is) both work fine on my setup...desktop is fine...video...audio over hdmi. I did have to install libva and use the latest 0.25 Myth. It doesn't sound like you'd use it for HTPC use though.
Only nit is I hate Intel's stupid heatsink mount...it uses a plastic pushpin mount system and I think the plastic gets fatiqued and releases. I'm getting a replacement cooler...just annoying that the stock one is this bad. I was getting 58C idle temps in the BIOS after letting it sit for 5min...it should be around 30-40C at most 
You might also want to look at the Llano A75 (aka Trinity) next year. Plenty fast enough for your needs and can do some decent gaming if needed. |
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piper
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Post subject: Re: RE: Re: Sandy Bridge - advice sought.
Posted: 12.12.2011, 00:16
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Moderator
Joined: 2010-09-11
Posts: 480
Location: cheektowaga, ny
Status: Offline
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kenyee wrote:
If you're going to run VMs, get the 2500K.
I'm just about done w/ an HTPC buildup around it and a Gigabyte Z68MX board...planning on putting MythBuntu on it...
Ouch ! Why not just run aptosid with mythtv, my whole house is setup this way. |
_________________
debian sid | apt-get into it
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DeepDayze
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Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Re: Sandy Bridge - advice sought.
Posted: 13.12.2011, 02:39
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Joined: 2010-09-11
Posts: 616
Location: USA
Status: Offline
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| I have that same board but with an AMD X2 6400+ processor and this is great information for me as I may switch to the Sandy Bridge based boards when they come down in price |
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