From surfing the web this processor/mobo looked good for Linux compatability, but it took some time to get the configuration just right. The following notes may help you !!
Case | Chieftek Dragon 601 Midi Server | ATX (mATX/uATX also fits). (Quite a large case, but this is good for air circulation, and allows space for the acoustic padding inside.) |
Case sound-dampening | NB-EvolutionEQ Platinum | ready-fitted to the case by supplier |
PSU | Seasonic S12 330 | ATX / 330W / 12cm fan (variable speed) / ?dB / "up to" 80% efficient |
Motherboard | Asus M2NBP-VM CSM | mATX / DVI/VGA / chipset: NVIDIA nForce 430B / sound: ADI AD1986A / Ethernet: NVIDIA nForce 430B / 2xIDE (i.e. 4 drives) / 4xSATA2 / USB2.0 / ... |
CPU | AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core / 2 x 2.4GHz | Model: 4600+ / Windsor core / "Thermal Power" 65W / Socket AM2 |
CPU heatsink | Scythe Ninja Plus revision B heatsink | *large* finned heatsink; run passively but the 12cm case fan and the PSU fan are very close to it |
Rear case fan | Smartcooler LFM1512E 120mm | 120mm / 70 m3/h / 15 dbA / 1000rpm |
Disk drives | New main disk: Samsung SpinPoint T133 HD403LJ SATA2 (400Gb) / second disk: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA (160Gb) / DVD/CD-R/RW: Samsung SH-S183A (SATA) | and keep old floppy drive ! |
Booted first time into Gentoo Linux (2006.1) and Ubuntu live/install disks :-). Both installed to hard disk and work fine.
No software problems so far on Gentoo (but not exhaustively tested) (with current stable kernel 2.6.19-gentoo-r5):
CPU: AMD64 X2 | SMP/64bits enabled in kernel | |
Onboard graphics: NVIDIA Quadro NVS 210S | Xorg 7.1 / NVIDIA drivers 1.0.9755 works fine | - only DVI tested
- Xorg 7.1 nv driver does not work (device not recognised) but NVIDIA drivers fine |
Serial ATA (SATA) hard disk and DVD drive | libata, sata_nv, IDE support disabled | - harddisks: /dev/sdX, DVD drive: /dev/srX
- SATA CD/DVD burning: avg 7.1 for a full DVD (1385KBps, nearly max. SATA1 ?) |
Onboard LAN: NVIDIA nForce 430B Gigabit | forcedeth.ko | Works fine, but only supports up to 100Mbit ? (I have no other 1Gbit devices so I can not verify this) |
Temp / fan speed sensors: ITE 8716 and k8temp | (Kernel config and lm_sensors 2.10.1) i2c_core.ko it87.ko i2c_isa.ko eeprom.ko i2c_nforce2.ko hwmon.ko k8temp.ko
update 17/12/09: now using new kernel module asus_atk0110 in 2.6.31 |
- Not sure yet what the different temperatures are (k8temp is
measuring the "on-die" temps, it8716 gives "CPU" and "mobo"
temps.)
- "sensors-detect" script worked fine (update 17/12/09: lm_sensors not required now) - Cool n quiet: works fine: "ondemend" reduces idle power comsumption of the PC from 78 to 69 watts (reduces freq. from 2.4 to 1.0 GHz) |
Onboard sound: ADI AD1986A | hda-intel.ko / OSS support disabled / ALSA driver 1.0.14 | Audio out works using hda-intel.ko, *not* the generic intel8x0.ko given on the ALSA Project supported card matrix when I looked (generic nVidia entry). Later kernels (eg 2.6.25) need CONFIG_SND_HDA_INTEL and CONFIG_SND_HDA_CODEC_ANALOG. Later kernels again the modules are snd_hda_intel, snd_hda_codec, snd_hda_codec_analog. |
USB | ohci_hcd.ko / ehci_hcd.ko | some problems 1.1 vs 2.0 (to expand) (OK now in 2.6.22 ?) |
Detailed Linux kernel config file, lspci output etc here.
Measurement | CPU fan | Case fan | Temperature (Core 0 / Core 1) |
Room temperature | - | - | 21 degrees |
Low CPU usage: surfing, emails, editing | 1500rpm (3/4 speed) | 450rpm (1/2 speed) | 43 / 38 degrees |
Long compile or large rsync | 2000rpm (?full speed) | 450rpm (1/2 speed) | 50 / 48 degrees |
Scythe Ninja Plus revision B heatsink, 12cm case fan controlled as CPU fan by the BIOS based Q-Fan 2. CPU core on-die temperatures measured by k8temp/lm_sensors, fan speeds measured by it8716/lm_sensors.
Measurement | Case fan (run as CPU fan) | Temperature (Core 0 / Core 1) | Power at wall socket |
Room temperature | - | 22 degrees | 0 watts |
Low CPU usage: surfing, emails, editing | 540rpm (1/2 speed) | 45 / 42 degrees | 78 watts |
Low CPU usage, Cool n Quiet now enabled | - | - | 69 watts |
Long compile: both cores at 100% (3 compiler processes running) | 903rpm (max? speed) | 57 / 56 degrees | 116 watts |
Note: AMD specs for my CPU: "Tcase Max" 55-72C, "Tcontrol Max" 70C.
Power: for tower only (incl 2xSATA disk, USB external display, no Cool'n'Quiet yet), not including monitor or router power.