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Old 18th January 2009
Broodjegehaktmetmayo Broodjegehaktmetmayo is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2008
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Thanks again DrJ: i am in your dept

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Originally Posted by DrJ View Post
The ATI driver should work for 64 bit. The "nv" driver does. That's an advantage of open-source code. A "binary blob" is a binary driver provided by a manufacturer. One has no real idea what goes on inside of it, since there is no code available to audit. Some people, particularly those who use Open, really dislike them for a number of valid reasons. I personally use the nVidia driver, and it has been great.
Well, you see, here it gets confusing again. You say Nvidia works under X64, but earlier in this thread a lot of people have written Nvidia does not work under X64 Or does it work with the nv/xorg driver (and not with the binary one since that one hasn't been released by Nvidia) but then lacks (important) stuff?

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Originally Posted by DrJ View Post
As little as possible is not really that helpful. You can get quite a powerful computer for about $1000.
That would probably be around what I would want to spend, yes.

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Originally Posted by DrJ View Post
Otherwise, you might be better off buying a pre-assembled computer, particularly as the price goes down. A home builder really can't compete on price in the $500 range (give or take), though you can make sure that you get everything you want (slots, memory, various compatible chips).
I have very bad experiences with pre-assembled computers. I've learned they don't always put in A-quality components, so I will stick to made to order. Quality is more important to me than price.

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Originally Posted by DrJ View Post
The only reason to get the Q35 is to use the on-board video that is supported by an open-source Intel driver. If you want a gaming computer, that won't really be an option. In that case go with a mainstream P35 or P45 board. I've used both Abit (RIP) and Gigabyte P35 boards, and they are fine. If you go with ASUS, be careful about the Ethernet chip they use. On some, there is no FreeBSD support. Sorry, I don't know the ASUS line well enough to know which ones those are.
That is the problem then for me: how to find out if an Ethernet chip is supported? I can't find anything on the FBSD-site about it

Quote:
Originally Posted by DrJ View Post
Again, if quiet computing is something you seek, look carefully at how you can control the various fans from the BIOS. That's where Abit excelled -- the GB board had only one controllable fan header, and you could not adjust that one much.
Yes, but that again is a problem: they don't easily specify what the bios can and can't do in the product descriptions. You see how depressed I get

Quote:
Originally Posted by DrJ View Post
That really depends on your work load. If you *really* do a lot of multiprocessing, then by all means go for the quad core. Most people don't do as much multiprocessing as they think, so two cores may be enough. For the same price, the dual cores are usually clocked higher, and clock speed does matter. This is particularly true on FreeBSD if you compile from ports. That is still a single task, though work to parallelize it is proceeding. For ports, raw CPU and disk speed matter more than number of cores. The OS world compilation is parallelized, so cores matter, but for most people compiling ports consumes a lot more time.
This is very useful information, and I think you just convinced me again that I will go for dual core and not for quad core

Quote:
Originally Posted by DrJ View Post
Also note the various chip options. The newer generation are made using 45nm technology; they tend to run cooler, which is a good thing. On the other hand, keep an eye out for the virtualization features of the chip. The low-end ones usually don't have capabilities for hardware virtualization. You probably won't need that, since virtualization on FreeBSD is pretty terrible, and you did not mention any virtualization needs on the XP box.
I don't have a clue but I am guessing I won't be needing this virtualization technology () This box for now will only be a desktop, and as my knowledge of FBSD advances I will probably set up some home servers, so I'm not planning to reinstall the Yahoo network ().
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