[ubuntu-uk] ECS AM3 GeForce 6100PM-M2 motherboard

[Rob Beard]

On 06/07/10 16:25, Barry Drake wrote:
> I mentioned in another thread that I am thinking of doing a motherboard
> upgrade on my main desktop PC.  I called in at the local Maplin and they
> seem to have a fair offer on a bundle with the ECS AM3 GeForce 6100PM-M2
> motherboard.
>
> I can't find anything specific on the Ubuntu site.  Anyone familiar with
> this mobo before I go and buy it?
>
> Barry Drake.

I'm not overly familiar with this specific board but I am with the chipset.

How much are they selling it for, they have it listed at £40 online.

I guess really it depends what you want to do.  I gather this board will 
have NVidia onboard graphics.  Not the fastest onboard graphics ever but 
I believe it is supported by the proprietary NVidia drivers.

I'd check if I was you to confirm if it's AM3 or AM2, the one on 
Maplin's web site is AM2+, that is it'll take up to the AM3 CPUs but 
with DDR2 memory and a slower Hyper Transport rate.  You'd have to check 
CPU compatibility though as it looks like it's limited to a 95W CPU. 
However it does offer a cheap upgrade path, for instance you could stick 
in an Athlon II X2 245 (2.9GHz dual core) and then at a later date 
upgrade the CPU without having to replace the memory and whatnot.

Personally though I think if I was going for a new system now I'd look 
at spending the extra and getting a true AM3 motherboard, AM3 CPU and 
DDR3 memory (DDR3 memory seems to be around a tenner more than DDR2 
memory for the same sort of capacity).

Rob