I have been looking through Tier1 and Tier2 for motherboards and it appears that most of the boards listed there are no longer available. I am attempting to build a myth box for a friend of mine who does not really have anything lying around to try, so . . .

Has anybody had any luck with anything not listed in Tier1 or know of a board that will work? Preferably mATX.

What about:
Asus M3A or M2N?

Thanks for any leads. . .

No longer available new, but eBay can be your friend? I would prefer a known Tier 1 board than risking something newer!

(I got an ASUS M2NPV-VM+AMD 4600from eBay last August, and 6 HP PC6400 DIMMS (from printers) for about $30)[/b]

_________________
| Nigel Pearson, nigel.pearson.au@gmail.com
| "Things you own end up owning you" - Tyler, Fight Club

www.geeks.com has a bunch of old motherboards/power supplies/etc.

It makes perfect sense that many of the post, especially older posts, refer to out of production models. Also lots of "new to Knoppmyth" people are being green, and recycling older hardware into a Myth box.

Once upon a time, finding motherboards that would work "out of the box" was challenging. There were a few recommended models, and lots of "this one works if you jiggle the bits."

Now a days, it is not hard to find an inexpensive board that works as soon as the software is installed. In the last four months three very exciting chipsets have been released, resulting in great hopes for the future. The drivers for some of the newest Chipsets (less than a year old), usually work, but some features are not yet implemented. Perhaps the safest bet would be to avoid the latest cutting edge stuff -- but then again that is kind of a Linux mantra.

You don't say whether you have a preference for Intel or AMD processors. That's probably the first decision. Do you want on-board graphics, or will you use a separate video card. How do you want to connect to your display? SD or HD? Are you wanting it to be just a set top box, or do you want it do other things too? How many channels of sound, and what kind of connection? What part of the world do you live in, because that may affect availability of models. To make recommendations, we really need more than "give me the name of a board - any board."

On the AMD side, a very safe bet is the Nvidia 6150 chipset. They are still widely available, and well tested. I would suggest picking one of the top tier manufacturers. The $5 to $15 you'd save on second tier, or "never heard of that brand before" boards isn't worth it - these are well under $80.