OT motherboard/cpu suggestions sought

[Kevin MacNeil]

On Tue, Dec 06, 2005 at 04:09:11PM -0500, Todd Slater wrote:
> Well, the computer I built about 6 years ago is on its last legs and
> I'm looking to build another, but quite a lot has changed since I
> built my last one! I rather prefer to stick with AMD processors, but
> don't know whether to go with an AMD 64 or not. Also, what mobo
> chipset should I be looking for? If possible, I'd like to get a mobo
> with onboard sound and video to save a few $$ to start. Any
> "gotchas" I should be aware of in terms of using it with Ubuntu?
> 
> This will be a family computer we'll use for photo
> organizing/editing, cd/dvd backup, and mostly general office
> apps--no gaming here.
> 
> Feel free to respond off-list to keep the chatter down.

Absolutely go with AMD 64! I haven't built any computers with onboard
video lately, but I think 939 pin AMD-64 CPUs and Nforce4 Ultra
chipset motherboards offer very good bang/buck. I recently built such
a system with an AMD-64 3000+ CPU and it's a very solid machine for
the money. Alternatively you could go with a dual core X2 cpu and have
truly serious performance for a couple of hundred more. 

I built this computer for a friend of mine who doesn't use linux,
however Knoppix saw all the hardware and everything ran just fine.

Nforce4 Ultra motherboards have GB ethernet, firewire, usb2, sata
raid, pretty much everything you would want. The retail CPU w/fan was
$146 and the motherboard was $105 or so from newegg.com. They're
probably less expensive now. Here's the board I used:

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/products_motherboard_2.cfm?pName=NF4UK8AA-8EKRS

I also recommend the Antec Sonata II case. It's well-built and quiet,
and comes with a 450w ATX12V power supply. Here's the link:

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=15139