ASUS P5G43T-M Pro- Is anyone using it?


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I'm seriously considering building an unRAID server.  I don't really have any good hardware laying around, so if I do this I'm just going to buy everything new.  I'm running to some problems finding a good motherboard though.  I'd like a LGA 775 board, so I can use a low-cost Celeron processor.  And I want an HDMI port- not so I can use it with unRAID, but in case I end up moving away from unRAID in the future.  That's not a huge sticking point, but I'm willing to pay extra for it.  I don't care if it works in unRAID.

 

I've checked out the hardware compatibility list, but a pretty high percentage of LGA 775 boards with 6 SATA ports are no longer available from Newegg.  And really, the compatibility list looks pretty limited. 

 

I found a board I like, but its not on the list.  It's the ASUS P5G43T-M Pro.  It's not on the compatibility list though.  It does, however, use the same chipset as the Super Micro C2SEE, which is the Intel G43.  The only thread I can find discussing it was someone that couldn't get the network interface working.  But, that person concluded the network port was probably DOA. 

 

So, I'm hoping someone out there is using that board successfully.  Otherwise, can someone recommend an LGA775 board, with 6 SATA ports, onboard video, and preferably an HDMI port?

 

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I'm seriously considering building an unRAID server.  I don't really have any good hardware laying around, so if I do this I'm just going to buy everything new.  I'm running to some problems finding a good motherboard though.  I'd like a LGA 775 board, so I can use a low-cost Celeron processor.  And I want an HDMI port- not so I can use it with unRAID, but in case I end up moving away from unRAID in the future.  That's not a huge sticking point, but I'm willing to pay extra for it.  I don't care if it works in unRAID.

 

I've checked out the hardware compatibility list, but a pretty high percentage of LGA 775 boards with 6 SATA ports are no longer available from Newegg.  And really, the compatibility list looks pretty limited.  

 

I found a board I like, but its not on the list.  It's the ASUS P5G43T-M Pro.  It's not on the compatibility list though.  It does, however, use the same chipset as the Super Micro C2SEE, which is the Intel G43.  The only thread I can find discussing it was someone that couldn't get the network interface working.  But, that person concluded the network port was probably DOA.  

 

So, I'm hoping someone out there is using that board successfully.  Otherwise, can someone recommend an LGA775 board, with 6 SATA ports, onboard video, and preferably an HDMI port?

 

 

Unfortunately, we can't really tell you how well it will work or if it will work.  The parts of the board all look standard enough and should not give you much/if any trouble.  Do a search on the Hardware Compatibility Page for the ethernet chipset and see if it comes up with anything.  The reason  the Hardware Compatibility Page is so limited is because it is user based.  if we get people to post here that a board works I usually try and get it added to the wiki so other know that it works.  The worst that could happen is that you need to add a PCI NIC card to it to get the network to work 100%.

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Thanks for the suggestion.  The ASUS P5G43T-M Pro uses the the Atheros Gigabit L1e network chipset.  The compatibility page lists the L1, which I take it is different from the L1e.

 

According to this post, full L1e support wasn't added until kernel 2.6.27.  The last person that tried this board was running unRAID 4.4.2, which had Kernel 2.6.26.  That could explain why he couldn't get the network interface working.

 

The post I just linked to did ask a good question though.  The current version of unRAID runs Kernel 2.6.31.6 (right?).  Does that mean the Atheros Gigabit L1e should work in the latest version of unRAID, or are the device drivers not necessarily carried over?

 

I don't mind being a guinea pig with this motherboard, as long as there's some decent reason to think it should work.  Is there?  If so, I'll probably end up getting the board someplace with a nice returns/exchange policy.

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Thanks for the suggestion.  The ASUS P5G43T-M Pro uses the the Atheros Gigabit L1e network chipset.  The compatibility page lists the L1, which I take it is different from the L1e.

 

According to this post, full L1e support wasn't added until kernel 2.6.27.  The last person that tried this board was running unRAID 4.4.2, which had Kernel 2.6.26.  That could explain why he couldn't get the network interface working.

 

The post I just linked to did ask a good question though.  The current version of unRAID runs Kernel 2.6.31.6 (right?).  Does that mean the Atheros Gigabit L1e should work in the latest version of unRAID, or are the device drivers not necessarily carried over?

 

If you want a rock-solid network performance, then go with a board that uses the Intel Pro 1000 network chipset.

Unless of course you have a special reason for wanting potential headaches.

 

 

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If you want a rock-solid network performance, then go with a board that uses the Intel Pro 1000 network chipset.

Unless of course you have a special reason for wanting potential headaches.

 

That looks like a relatively old network chipset.  Are there any new motherboards with that chipset?

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If you want a rock-solid network performance, then go with a board that uses the Intel Pro 1000 network chipset.

Unless of course you have a special reason for wanting potential headaches.

 

That looks like a relatively old network chipset.  Are there any new motherboards with that chipset?

Well, that, or Realtek.  I'd personally prefer to stay away from Atheros. I've seen too many problems reported.

Sorry, can't give you links off the top of my head.  You may search around some.

 

 

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If I limited myself to things on Newegg (which isn't terribly limiting), it looks like there are pretty much two comparable alternatives that don't use an Atheros network chipset.    One is the Geforce 9300-based XFX MI93007 AS9.  However, that chipset isn't on the HCL at all, and some people had problems using all 6 SATA ports in one of the previous incarnations of the chipset, the 8200.  You had to be in RAID mode to use all 6.  I'm not sure how to tell if I'd have the same problems with this one. 

 

The other board is the SUPERMICRO MBD-C2SEA-O.  This is model is actually on the HCL, uses a Realtek chipset, and is even has the HDMI port I'm look for.  Of course, it's also twice as expensive as the Asus board with the Atheros network chipset.  I'm not sure that's worth it to me.  I'm curious if more people share purko's dislike for Atheros NICs.

 

By the way, I've been looking at the motherboards on the HCL a little more.  The Asus P5KPL-CM is on the list.  That has the Atheros AR8121, which I believe is the same thing as the Atheros Gigabit L1e.  The HCL claims its the onboard NIC works in version 4.5.

 

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However, that chipset isn't on the HCL at all, and some people had problems using all 6 SATA ports in one of the previous incarnations of the chipset, the 8200.

 

AHCI or RAID mode is required to use all six ports with Nvidia chipsets. IDE legacy mode limits the board to four ports and they are slower. This is quite common in several setups, not just nvidia ones. I have several boards that do this. It isnt a problem and in most bios setups you can select AHCI (preferred and usually default) as an option.

 

8200 chipset is a AMD chipset. 9300 is an Intel chipset. 

 

 

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