McFly Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 Damn my head is squished by all the reading I have done... Damn. I hate Asus motherboards, I had problems with several Asus boards and one of them even f-ckin erased a RAID 5 array I had! Yes, the Asus motherboard wiped it all clean, after destroying my PSU. I replaced the PSU (thinking that only the PSU failed), it then ate my new PSU. I left it to a computerstore (they build pretty much all my computers) and there it ate 2 more PSU before they realised that the motherboard was eating PSU. All the drives in my RAID 5 were seen as totally unallocated and unformatted disks when connected to a new motherboard. Don´t ask me how it did it, it just did. Also IDE connections in my "dear" Asus boards died, those were replaced with a PCI card to get me enough connections. Network connectors... died. I have had so much trouble with Asus I promised myself that I would never again use their motherboards, I now have four Gigabyte motherboards and I am very happy with them. I read about Asus all over these forums, but almost no support for Gigabyte (at least not much have been reported to be functional). I want a good motherboard with lots of SATA connections, a durable motherboard. One that can use Core2 processors (they use less power), I read that the gigabit network connector has to be (or it would be prefferred) a PCI-express. And I would really really prefer it to be a Gigabyte brand motherboard, or anything but Asus. So many variables.-.. too much to search for... and then even if I find one I have to check if it is compatible with UnRAID... very discouraging to read, read, read and not get one bit closer to the decision about what motherboard to use. Damn. What is the best motherboard that you guys know is UnRAID compatible? Please don´t tell me it is Asus... Quote Link to comment
Billped Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 Compatibility is driven by the ability to boot from a USB key and support of the network chip, so just look for those two items in any manufacturers board. Look below this post and you'll see positive feedback about Abit, Intel, and Foxconn boards. Bill Quote Link to comment
McFly Posted August 27, 2007 Author Share Posted August 27, 2007 Look below this post and you'll see positive feedback about Abit, Intel, and Foxconn boards. The Intel doesen´t have gigabit network. The Abit AB9 Pro is tempting but I have read a lot of people having trouble with that board. It has problems with memory compability, a lot of different BIOS versions have been released in an effort to fix it (but the guy I read about still had problems). And the wayyyy too long boot, it doesen´t sound OK. If the USB port is having trouble booting at full speed perhaps it has other problems with running the UnRAID from it? It doesen´t feel lika a solid choise for UnRAID. The Foxconn only has 4 SATA connections. If I am going to squeeze up to 16 drives I´d like to have more SATA on the motherboard... Perhaps I am being too picky? But thanks anyway! I´ll keep looking. Quote Link to comment
shaurya Posted September 26, 2007 Share Posted September 26, 2007 But thanks anyway! I´ll keep looking. Hello McFly, Have you found one with 8 sata that is compatible. I am a newbie and have never done any linux/unix install. So want to piggyback on someone's experience. Regards, Shaurya Quote Link to comment
maxbear Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 How about gigabyte GA-G33-DS3R? They got 8 sata ports with on board display (g33 chipset). I think it's great for fileserver. Quote Link to comment
Suse User Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 How about gigabyte GA-G33-DS3R? They got 8 sata ports with on board display (g33 chipset). I think it's great for fileserver. That looks like a great Mobo...8 INTERNAL sata connectors! However, it uses the Realtek RTL8111B LAN Controller chipset, the same one that is stopping me from upgrading beyond UnRaid4.0. The drivers just don't work properly currently. As soon as Tom get this sorted I think I'll replace all 3 of my P5LD2 SE Mobos with that one as it'll make increasing capacity to 16 HDD's a whole lot cheaper and easier than more sata cards. Mark. Quote Link to comment
Yraen Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Does anyone know if the data corruption with Realtek onboard lan was fixed? I've got an Intel controller in mine, so it doesn't affect me, but others might be interested. I know for Windows the newer driver updated the firmware, but I'm unsure of the linux and other flavors drivers. Source Quote Link to comment
McFly Posted October 10, 2007 Author Share Posted October 10, 2007 How about gigabyte GA-G33-DS3R? They got 8 sata ports with on board display (g33 chipset). I think it's great for fileserver. That is the board I have been looking at, but I won´t buy it unless someone can confirm that it works flawless with Unraid. it uses the Realtek RTL8111B LAN Controller chipset, the same one that is stopping me from upgrading beyond UnRaid4.0. The drivers just don't work properly currently. Mark. And here comes the answer I was hoping I wouldn´t get... not fully compatible yet. I am at the very edge of putting together my server now, I finally received my HTPC, configured it and I have everything but the remote configured now. It is time to get the server... damn drivers for not being ready! Perhaps I will have to get a board with less SATA ports, or a Asus board or something. I really wouldn´t want a Asus, but if I have to choose between a fully compatible Asus and a not yet compatible Gigabyte (that perhaps never will be compatible?), I would probably go with Asus. Think I need to check the forum for some news and updates, I have been away from here a long time now... Quote Link to comment
Gremlin Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 I'm using the following 8 SATA + 4 PATA motherboard currently (unRaid 4.2) http://www.motherboardpro.com/DFI-LanParty-UT-NF4-SLI-DR-Expert-Motherboard-Socket-939-NVIDIA-nForce4-SLI-Chipset-p-310.html Obvioulsly the SLI is a little OTT for an unRaid box, but both the nVidia SATA and SIL3114 SATA (4 of each) appear to work fine + I have another SIL3114 based PCI 4 Port SATA Card giving me a total of 16 drives maximum. Quote Link to comment
gnollo Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 How about gigabyte GA-G33-DS3R? They got 8 sata ports with on board display (g33 chipset). I think it's great for fileserver. That is the board I have been looking at, but I won´t buy it unless someone can confirm that it works flawless with Unraid. it uses the Realtek RTL8111B LAN Controller chipset, the same one that is stopping me from upgrading beyond UnRaid4.0. The drivers just don't work properly currently. Mark. And here comes the answer I was hoping I wouldn´t get... not fully compatible yet. I am at the very edge of putting together my server now, I finally received my HTPC, configured it and I have everything but the remote configured now. It is time to get the server... damn drivers for not being ready! Perhaps I will have to get a board with less SATA ports, or a Asus board or something. I really wouldn´t want a Asus, but if I have to choose between a fully compatible Asus and a not yet compatible Gigabyte (that perhaps never will be compatible?), I would probably go with Asus. Think I need to check the forum for some news and updates, I have been away from here a long time now... I am going to buy this board soon. Network compatibility is not an issue, actually, it is a bonus. I currently use a mboard with only two PCI slots. I think that the network chip is giving me problems, but I cannot put a network card in the system as unraid does not support pci-x network cards and both pci slots are in use (sata expander cards). The Giga board has extra PCI slots, which will come handy if your network connection has problems (like mine). I am currently running 11 500GB drives, so capabilities to expand the number of drives is v welcome. Quote Link to comment
SSD Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 It is good to find a MB where the ethernet chip is NOT on the PCI bus. Mine is on the MB but still is using the PCI bus. The 66MHz PCI bus becomese a bottleneck with unRAID, so anything NOT on it is a good thing. I bought an add-on Supermicro SATA card that will work in a PCI or a PCI-X slot. PCI-X operates at double the PCI speed. When I go out to buy a new motherboard, those will be my 2 priorities. Non-PCI network chip, and 2 PCI-X slots. Quote Link to comment
RobJ Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 I bought an add-on Supermicro SATA card that will work in a PCI or a PCI-X slot. PCI-X operates at double the PCI speed. I'm not absolutely positive, but I'm pretty sure that you only get PCI-X performance if you have a PCI-X card in a full PCI-X slot. If the card is in a PCI slot, then I believe it is compatible but limited to PCI speed not PCI-X speed. I suspect you already knew that but found it unnecessary to point out. (And I could be wrong!) Quote Link to comment
SSD Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Thanks for clarifying Robj! I bought the card knowing that I could use it now as a regular speed (66Mhz) PCI card now, and then when I upgrade the MB, plug it into a PCI-X slot and get the 133Mhz performance. Quote Link to comment
WeeboTech Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 The ABIT AB9 PRO seems like a decent candidate too. Quote Link to comment
RockDawg Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 It is good to find a MB where the ethernet chip is NOT on the PCI bus. Mine is on the MB but still is using the PCI bus. The 66MHz PCI bus becomese a bottleneck with unRAID, so anything NOT on it is a good thing. I'm aware of this fact, but how can you tell if the ethernet is on the PCI bus or not? Quote Link to comment
SSD Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Read the reviews. Read about the chipset. Ask here. Most LAN connections of new model MBs are NOT on the PCI bus. It's the older ones that you have to look out for. Quote Link to comment
Guest Sparkie Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I know that Gigabytes manuals have a block diagram showing what items on the motherboard are using the PCI and PCI'E buses. I'm not sure about other manufacturers. So if you download the motherboards manuals you can find out whats on the PCI bus. Quote Link to comment
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