Suitable motherboard for Ubuntu

[A Traveller]

Hi All.

Does anyone know of any issues/problems with any of the following motherboards for an Ubuntu pc?

Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3
Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H
Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H

On the other hand, does anyone know which of the above are known to work well with Ubuntu or can make a recommendation for any other reason?

Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Crosspost
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1781509

[redwudz]

I use a Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H MB, the one listed in my Computer Details. But no idea about Ubuntu. I can DL the latest Ubuntu version and run it off a CD and see how it does with my system. That will take a couple of hours as I have it encoding at the moment.

I like the motherboard as it can handle Blu-ray and MKV HD without having to add a separate video card. And since it's a full ATX size MB, it has lots of connections.

What CPU are you planning to use? I have a six core 1055, overclocked to 3.5Ghz with a Corsair water cooler. A link to the setup: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/270162-AMD-six-core-CPU-and-Corsair-H50-water-cooling-setup?

[A Traveller]

Hi

Thanks for your reply and for your help. You don't have to go to the trouble of specially testing out Ubuntu.

I had initially hoped to purchase the hardware asap and was thinking about an AMD Phenom II X2 560 or 565. Don't know why the 565 doesn't appear on Gigabyte's CPU Support List. Anyway, whilst I was researching which CPU and motherboard to buy, I realised that Bulldozer CPUs and AM3+ motherboards are supposed to be released soon. This is really annoying because I wanted to buy the items right away, which I still haven't ruled out altogether.

I won't be overclocking. Are you sure you haven't missed anything out in your setup post?? Haha.

Thanks.

[redwudz]

Well, I was interested in how Ubuntu is developing. I hadn't tried it for a year. I DL the latest Ubuntu OS version and booted to it from a CD disc. I'd say I was impressed. It recognized all my drives, including the servers on my LAN without doing any setup. I'm trying to play some video to see how that is working. I DL'd VLC for Ubuntu.

I did manage to play a MKV file with VLC from one of my internal drives, seems to work fine for the video, but the audio is messed up. But my PC outputs through SP/DIF coaxial to my surround amp and that likely needs configuring.

I'm not sure if I have all the drivers, but most everything seems to be working right 'out of the box', so I suspect it would run OK on this motherboard with a bit of tweaking. Audio drivers would need some checking into, though.

It's up to you if you want to wait for Bulldozer, but the initial versions of that CPU and the motherboards may be a bit expensive. I would probably recommend a quad core over most any dual core CPU at present. The 'Black' versions aren't going to help much unless you plan to overclock, then you need more cooling than the stock CPU cooler setup.

I think the main question is 'What do you plan to use this PC for?' That usually determines your CPU, RAM, and software needs. If you plan extensive video work, look into Linux programs and see what's available for your purposes. Windows still has the best selection of software. If you are paying $130US for a MB, $200US for a CPU and maybe $50US for RAM and then add hard and optical drives, case and software, the cost for a Windows OS isn't that much of 'The big picture'.

But if you have an existing PC or build a economy PC, then a Linux distro becomes much more practical, IMO.

[A Traveller]

Hi redwudz.

That's one of the best things about Ubuntu. A lot of things just work without any need to go through a driver installation/configuration process. It's SO nice when you can just install Ubuntu and start surfing the Internet straight away! Thanks for trying it out and reporting back. I appreciate your effort.

I definitely do not want the latest and the greatest. If I do go for a quad core, as you have suggested, it would probably be an 840 but I didn't want to pay that much and still think that maybe a 565 would do me fine. If prices are going to be much higher for the same speed of Bulldozer CPUs, then I think I may well buy a Phenom and not wait for the Bulldozer. I have just carried out a search and Gigabyte seem to have an AM3+ motherboard available now whose price just seems normal, but it's a GA-990XA-UD3 and not any of the three I had narrowed down to.

I am not building a completely new pc. It is still going to be the same pc as the one which I built with the help I received from my posts on these boards. As you can see from my thread history, it hasn't even been two years since I built it and the parts are good ones, so I will just use most of these parts. The reason I am buying a new motherboard is I want pc access whilst my old motherboard is RMA'd due to the following. If the following problem hadn't occurred, I would not be looking for a new motherboard/pc for a long time yet.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/330396-Nvidia-drivers-question-for-new-installation

I have managed to get by with the onboard graphics but it's time I bought a new motherboard and not let my good graphics card just sit there and collect dust! I don't really upgrade motherboard or CPU until they fail or can no longer perform basic tasks, so I had expected to be be using my existing pc for a good few years yet!

The purpose of the pc is as stated in the first paragraph of the following post.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/309802-Which-hardware-do-I-need

Windows is out of the question. It will definitely be an Ubuntu pc.

Thanks again.

[zzyzzx]

Check the Newegg reviews of each of those boards and see if anyone happens to mention using it with Ubuntu, or any other form of Linux.