Advise on motherboard purchase

[Franz Waldmüller]

Hi Dave.
Dave Woyciesjes wrote:
> Carlos Alberto Alves wrote:
>> On 10/01/2010 12:51 PM, Franz Waldmüller wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
[snip]
>>> At the moment this mainboard is my favorite choice:
>>> Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3
>>> http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=eCWbkolMf0DOW0IV&templete=2
>>>
[snip]
>>> -) I want an *IGP* as I don't have a need for a dedicated video card.
>>> GIMP, Inkscape and some video-editing are the most demanding
>>> applications I am currently using. The don't use GPU-acceleration, yet.
>>> The IGP of this motherboard is an Radeaon HD 4290 GPU. This should be
>>> fine for using Compiz and watching movies. At them moment I have the
>>> impression that AMD/ATI is contributing more to the development of open
>>> source drivers, which I intend to use. And that the Radeon HD 4290 is
>>> the best IGP available. I don't use the PC to play games.
>>>
[snip]

>>>
>>> Of special interest would be any feedback related to ACPI. I intend to
>>> use ubuntu 10.04LTS as I need a stable system. If some components need
>>> ubuntu 10.10 I could use this version as well.
>>>
>>> Thanks for your help!
>>> Franz
> 
> 	Personally, when I hear future-proof, I pass on integrated items. I 
> would skip the integrated video. Get a mainboard with the best/latest 
> video interconnect. Modular is the way to go, allows for easier upgrades....
> 

Thank you for your advice. I think that when using an IGP I can upgrade 
to a dedicated video card later. When using a dedicated one from the 
start I will have to replace this card once I buy a more powerful one. 
Now I see a disadvantage of the IGP: If I use a dedicated video card I 
cannot use the IGP for another machine. I will take a look if the open 
source radeon driver supports dedicated video cards equally well.

I am not familiar with the term video interconnect. Do you mean that I 
should take care the PCIe-x16 slot is available?

Franz