luke duke Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 Which would you recommend? Energy efficiency is important to me, but not at the expense of functionality. I would like to run headless, which I understand that the AB9 Pro cannot do. I already own the ABIT, but it is unopened. If I want to return it, I will need to RMA it today or tomorrow. Link to comment
WeeboTech Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 I've read the GIGABYTE energy efficieny is minimal under Linux. Where you will save the most energy is by using a single core conroe-L which is rated at 35W. Also the ABIT has 2 more SATA ports then the GIGABYTE. Yet the GIGABYTE has one more PCI Slot. Link to comment
luke duke Posted May 9, 2008 Author Share Posted May 9, 2008 I already plan to use a Conroe-L. I guess that the debate is whether or not the extra onboard SATA connection is worth the ability of going headless. Link to comment
Guest Sparkie Posted May 11, 2008 Share Posted May 11, 2008 I've tested both boards with Unraid. The gigabyte ended up as my permanent unraid server. The power savings boasted by the Gigabyte are a bit of a false advertisement. You only get the power savings using Windows software in conjuction with the motherboard. Link to comment
musicmann Posted May 11, 2008 Share Posted May 11, 2008 I'm currently using an older Gigabyte boards with only 4 onboard SATA ports + one Promise SATA300 TX4 (4-port) card. I'm about the pass my magical threshold of 8 SATA drives, so this is an important question to me. I could easily add another SATA controller, but it might be better to just upgrade my board, and these are two of the boards I'm considering (along with the older version of the Gigabyte, GA-P35-DS3R, and another older Giga with built-in graphics, GA-G33-DS3R). It all depends on which one I can find a deal on first, unless I can find a reason to prioritize them. I've tested both boards with Unraid. The gigabyte ended up as my permanent unraid server. The power savings boasted by the Gigabyte are a bit of a false advertisement. You only get the power savings using Windows software in conjuction with the motherboard. Sparkie, why did you choose to go with the Gigabyte? I read in another thread that the giga might have some performance advantages due to the SATA ports being on the PCIe side instead of the PCI side. Is this true, and under what circumstances would there be a noticable difference? Is anyone overclocking with either of these boards or with other boards? Overclocking won't bring any real gains under my current plain-Jane unRAID setup, but if we get a virtualization platform working, then the extra horsepower could make for a really stellar setup. Link to comment
WeeboTech Posted May 11, 2008 Share Posted May 11, 2008 The giga might have some performance advantages due to the SATA ports being on the PCIe side instead of the PCI side. Where did you read this? I read on this board that the lan was on the PCI bus and the manual cleary states it's on the PCIe bus. I would think using the SIL3132 and JMB chipset they are on the PCIe bus. One cool thing about the AB9 is it has a port 80 diagnostic card/led right on the motherboard. I have not oveclocked it, nor do I plan to. I have a 2.66ghz cpu there now and it's hardly being used. Also both the SIL3132 and the JMB ports are port multiplier capable. That's 4 ports that could turn into 4x5 if need be (albeit at the price of speed). That would yield a total of 26 ports if you used port multipliers. Link to comment
WeeboTech Posted May 11, 2008 Share Posted May 11, 2008 What's up with that diagram? It shows 6 SATA ports + 4 SATA Ports, then 2 on the PCI express bus. Yet on site it says only 8 Sata ports. Link to Gigabyte http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2743&ProductName=GA-EP35-DS3R Link to ABIT http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMODEL_NAME=AB9+Pro&fMTYPE=LGA775&pPRODINFO=Specifications&fSEARCHTEXT=AB9%20Pro When looking for an ABIT Block diagram I could only find this one in regards to the Chipset. So if there is a capaibility of 6 PCIE x1 lanes, 2 of which go to the LAN Ports 2 Go to the 2 PCIe SLOTS Then the other 2 must go to the SATA ports, 1 for the SIL3132 and one for the JMB controller. Although I'm not sure, I sent a note to ABIT Tech support to get to the bottom of this. Link to comment
Rob_Esc Posted May 11, 2008 Share Posted May 11, 2008 Yes, I found it a bit confusing myself, but after careful examination, the User Manual is for both the DSR and DS3R (raid) MBs. There are several footnotes scattered throughout the documentation denoting this. I should have clarified on the diagram. Differences: DS3R (Raid): 6 SATA ports direct to the SB ICH9R and 2 SATA ports to the Gigabyte SATA2 chipset (total 8 SATA) DS3 (non-Raid): 4 SATA ports direct to the SB ICH9 and 2 SATA ports to the Gigabyte SATA2 chipset (total 6 SATA) Link to comment
musicmann Posted May 11, 2008 Share Posted May 11, 2008 The giga might have some performance advantages due to the SATA ports being on the PCIe side instead of the PCI side. Where did you read this? I read on this board that the lan was on the PCI bus and the manual cleary states it's on the PCIe bus. My mistake...that was my bad memory. You are correct, I was remembering the comments about the LAN port placement (not SATA ports) that you later corrected. All in all, it sounds like the Abit is a very strong contender, so maybe I'll have to get over brand loyalty for Gigabyte. Link to comment
WeeboTech Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 Go with what you are comfortable. The AB9 is good, but not perfect either. It is picky about memory. I had to set the memory manually to 266 as it was running a lil higher then it should have been (272). On the positive side, the LED's during post do help identify any issues. As I also mentioned 4 of the SATA ports are port multiplier capable. Link to comment
jimwhite Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 I have 800mhz memory (8gb) running on my somewhat overclocked Abit AB9pro at 833mhz.... passes 24 hours of memtest with no problem Link to comment
jimwhite Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 Crucial Ballistix cas 4.... $19.99 per 2x1gb after rebate at Newegg, 2gb stix a bit more.... 2.2 volts Link to comment
WeeboTech Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 Hmm, do you have 4GB or 8GB.. I remember you saying you had 4 1GB sticks.. Did you update the kernel for PAE and benchmark it? The kernel won't see past 4GB without PAE enabled. At the very least, with PAE and heavy usage, my directory cache hardly get's flushed. Link to comment
jimwhite Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 2 boards, 2 machines.... one is running stock unraid with 4 gb, the other is my "play" machine for awhile, 8gb running slackware... learning a bit more about linux before I add unraid to it... Link to comment
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