[kwlug-disc] How to choose a new motherboard

[Darcy Casselman]

The one thing I try very hard to avoid still is Broadcom wifi stuff.  Even
though it *kinda* just works, I still want to punch Dell for putting it on
their Ubuntu pre-installed laptops.  *shakes head at Dell*.

I bought a motherboard!  An ASUS Z97-A.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132118&ignorebbr=1

Mostly because I wanted Intel integrated graphics and I've got 3 monitors
it needs to drive.  And I was hoping the mSATA SSD card I got to replace
the one in my Dell Mini 9 (that didn't work) would fit in the m.2 slot.  It
doesn't.  Oh well.

I wanted to get it all set up while I was off for Canada Day.  Except
Canada Computers didn't have any of my preferred CPU options.  So I'll be
waiting for that to come in via NewEgg.

I gave myself a budget of about $500 for mobo, CPU and RAM and I'll end up
going over a little bit (mostly tax and shipping), and tried to build the
best machine I could for that.

One of the things I did this time that I hadn't done before was spec out a
desktop machine at System76 and used that as a starting point.  System76 is
more explicit about things like chipsets for desktops than Zareason is.
Which would be great, except they're using the older H87 chipsets.

...Like the latest Ars System Guide Hot Rod.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/11/ars-technica-system-guide-november-2013/3/
But that's over 6 months old now.  And they're balancing their budget
against having to buy a graphics card, which I don't want to do.

I still have some unanswered questions about the Z97 chipset.  Like I've
heard vague rumblings that they've moved forward futher on SecureBoot.  But
I couldn't find anyone screaming about it, so it's probably okay.  Except
it's been out for about a month.  So who knows?

My laptop has mostly been my desktop for the last few years.  But I want to
knock that off because I've been developing back and neck problems.  My
desktop layout is okay ergonomically, at least better than anything I have
for the laptop (including and especially my easy chair with a lapdesk,
which is comfy, but kind of horrible on the neck).  One of the things
that's holding me back is my desktop is 5 years old and was built cheap
because I was mostly using it as a server by that point.  I really want to
make it something I *want* to use over the laptop (which is a very nice
laptop).  Which is why I ended up going somewhat upper-mid range.

That's one of the nice things about building from parts, despite the lack
of useful information: This is the 3rd motherboard I've put in this case.
I replaced the PSU once a couple years ago so it's quite sufficient to
handle the new stuff.  I'm keeping my old harddrives.  I *could* keep the
graphics card.  I'll need to buy an adapter for the DVD burner (and I've
yet to decide if I'm going to do that, or buy a new SATA one or just go
without).  And I can keep my (frankly pretty awesome) monitors.  So $500
gets me a kick-ass whole new machine.

Anyway, long story short, I still have a lot of questions about whether
this was the best purchase, but I'm hopeful it's a good one.

Aside: is Canada Computers really the only store in town that keeps desktop
CPUs in stock anymore?  I couldn't get into the UW Tech Shop, but since
they're mostly iPads and crap now, I'm not optimistic.  Computer XS doesn't
(at least the Waterloo one).  Future Shop and Best Buy don't.  I even went
into Neutron for the first time in over 15 years.  Nope.  Nobody.

Darcy.




On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 10:54 PM, Khalid Baheyeldin <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:

> On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 10:46 PM, unsolicited <unsolicited at swiz.ca> wrote:
>
>> To both situations, isn't the question these days - has anyone bought
>> something recently to find out it DOESN'T work? i.e. Doesn't everything
>> 'just work' these days?
>>
>
> I would tend to say: yes.
>
> Been a long time since I ran into something that does not work ...
>
> --
> Khalid M. Baheyeldin
> 2bits.com, Inc.
> Fast Reliable Drupal
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> wrong." -- H.L. Mencken
>
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