The Asus P5Q and other P5:s have the P45 chipset.
This fantastic thing has a feature they call Express Gateway.

This feature is actually a Linux installation in the south bridge.
It can connect to the Internet before the OS even boots.
It has Email and browser and stuff. So that in seconds you can be online
surfing and mailing without having to actually boot the thing.

I have no use for this but since it's a Linux built in, one would expect
the onboard gigabit capable network interface to work like charm? _No_

The driver for this nic needs to have a module made and installed into the
kernel. I've done the VMWare modules many times, this might be just as
easy?

They say that another option would be to run a newer kernel
(2.6.27). It's available as rc4, I sure don't like the idea.

Before I'll jump into these options I would like to hear what you
guys out there have done with this issue?

I just threw in another nic, I have them lying around.
Maybe I should stay with that till the 2.6.27 is available as update.

Other than that the board is great.
At least compared with what I've had so far.


Vahis
http://waxborg.servepics.com
Congressman Wilson has an expression:
"You can teach them to type, but you can't teach them to grow tits."

houghi schreef:

> Also I will probably go for water cooling for the 2 videocards (for 3
> screens)

I guess you want water cooling because you don't want noise?
For that reason i bought the Asus EN8600 GTS Silent.
It has no fans only a large cooling.. uhmm frame? (how do you call that?)
At the time i bought it for €159,- but now it's only €78,-.
http://www.informatique.nl/120005/as...lent-512mb.htm

Downside of the card is that it uses 2 slots because it's so big, so that
might be a problem is you need 2 cards.
--
Chris Maaskant

Vahis schreef:

> but somehow I would
>> like to go for 3 HD's, but I do not know why.

I have root home and usr all on a different disk.
The reason i did that was that if i launch a program i have 1 disk reading
stuff from /etc 1 reading config files from home and another reading the
libraries and the program.
That really speed up things, and it's good for your disks too, not so much
reading and writing on one disk which also makes your disk very silent.
--
Chris Maaskant

Chris Maaskant schreef:

> Vahis schreef:
>
>> but somehow I would
>>> like to go for 3 HD's, but I do not know why.
>
> I have root home and usr all on a different disk.
> The reason i did that was that if i launch a program i have 1 disk reading
> stuff from /etc 1 reading config files from home and another reading the
> libraries and the program.
> That really speed up things, and it's good for your disks too, not so much
> reading and writing on one disk which also makes your disk very silent.

Uhmm this was suposse to be a reaction to Houghi's post :s
--
Chris Maaskant

Chris Maaskant wrote:
> houghi schreef:
>
>> Also I will probably go for water cooling for the 2 videocards (for 3
>> screens)
>
> I guess you want water cooling because you don't want noise?
> For that reason i bought the Asus EN8600 GTS Silent.
> It has no fans only a large cooling.. uhmm frame? (how do you call that?)
> At the time i bought it for ?159,- but now it's only ?78,-.
> http://www.informatique.nl/120005/as...lent-512mb.htm

I am thinking of something like
http://www.alternate.nl/html/pcbuild...no=JBXUR3&cn=1
which is 49EUR. (Soory, it is in Dutch. ;-P )

> Downside of the card is that it uses 2 slots because it's so big, so that
> might be a problem is you need 2 cards.

Almost all cards are like that and that is why I am looking at the
layout, because most will block at least one PCI slot. Bad design, if
you ask me.

houghi
--
Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done,
and why. Then do it.
-- Heinlein : Time Enough For Love

Chris Maaskant wrote:
> I have root home and usr all on a different disk.
> The reason i did that was that if i launch a program i have 1 disk reading
> stuff from /etc 1 reading config files from home and another reading the
> libraries and the program.
> That really speed up things, and it's good for your disks too, not so much
> reading and writing on one disk which also makes your disk very silent.

I know all about that. I was even thinking of 4 disks. 1 for backup and
3 in RAID. But as I said, there are so much options, it isn't funny
anymore.

houghi
--
Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done,
and why. Then do it.
-- Heinlein : Time Enough For Love

houghi schreef:

> I am thinking of something like
>
http://www.alternate.nl/html/pcbuild...no=JBXUR3&cn=1

Hmmm radeon.. just make sure it is well supported in linux.
--
Chris Maaskant

On 2008-08-28, Chris Maaskant wrote:
> houghi schreef:
>
>> I am thinking of something like
>>
> http://www.alternate.nl/html/pcbuild...no=JBXUR3&cn=1
>
> Hmmm radeon.. just make sure it is well supported in linux.

It has a fan. Fan makes noise. First some, later some more.

Here's mine:
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1...94&modelmenu=1

All the same features, no fan. Same price. 1-click install.

--
Vahis
http://waxborg.servepics.com
Congressman Wilson has an expression:
"You can teach them to type, but you can't teach them to grow tits."

Vahis wrote:
> It has a fan. Fan makes noise. First some, later some more.
>
> Here's mine:
> http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1...94&modelmenu=1
>
> All the same features, no fan. Same price. 1-click install.

Same features if 2xDVI is the same as DVI+VGA To me it isn't.

houghi
--
Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done,
and why. Then do it.
-- Heinlein : Time Enough For Love

Chris Maaskant wrote:
> houghi schreef:
>
>> I am thinking of something like
>>
> http://www.alternate.nl/html/pcbuild...no=JBXUR3&cn=1
>
> Hmmm radeon.. just make sure it is well supported in linux.

Point wel taken. I just buy stuff almost always, asuming it will work
under Linux. The one time I specificaly looked, it didn't. :-|

houghi
--
Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done,
and why. Then do it.
-- Heinlein : Time Enough For Love

houghi wrote:
>>> Nice to know. It is a bitch to copare AMD and Intell/
>>
>> Check this:
>> http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php
>
> Thanks. I will probably see that I can rip that, remove out all the dual
> things and then also add prices to it and then make some usefull
> comparisons, instead of either an alphabetical list or a list on mere
> speed where most of them are irrelevant.

OK, here is what I did. I removed everything that was slower then the
AMD 9950 I was focussing on. I also removed all measurements with 2
processors or more. Also the Xeon was removed. I then looked at the
prices of Alternate.nl

Processor Mark Price
Intel Core2 Extreme X9770 @ 3.20GHz 5044 1199
Intel Core2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz 4084 269
Intel Core2 Extreme X9650 @ 3.00GHz 4008 479
Intel Core2 Quad Q9450 @ 2.66GHz 3654 269
Intel Core2 Extreme Q6800 @ 2.93GHz 3551
Intel Core2 Quad Q9300 @ 2.50GHz 3390 225
Intel Core2 Extreme Q6850 @ 3.00GHz 3380
Intel Core2 Quad Q6700 @ 2.66GHz 3024
Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.40GHz 2691 159
AMD Phenom 9950 Quad-Core 2661 189

On first glance, the Q9550 is the best buy. If I would be happy with the
speed of the AMD, the Q6600 is better, because it is cheaper.

The question then is, is the Q9550 worth the extra 90EUR? So let us look
at this again. Price per mark. I removed those where I did not have a
price:

Processor Mark Price Price/Mark
Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.40GHz 2691 159 5.91%
Intel Core2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz 4084 269 6.59%
Intel Core2 Quad Q9300 @ 2.50GHz 3390 225 6.64%
AMD Phenom 9950 Quad-Core 2661 189 7.10%
Intel Core2 Quad Q9450 @ 2.66GHz 3654 269 7.36%
Intel Core2 Extreme X9650 @ 3.00GHz 4008 479 11.95%
Intel Core2 Extreme X9770 @ 3.20GHz 5044 1199 23.77%

So there. This has absolutely not helped me, but instead gave me more
options to select from. Darn!

houghi
--
Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done,
and why. Then do it.
-- Heinlein : Time Enough For Love

houghi wrote:
> Yeah, thanks. (NOT!)

OK, the deed is done. I have orderd the PC and will be picking it up
today. :-D

So what have I orderd?
2 x nVidea GeForce 8600 GT video cards
1 x Intell Q9550
1 x CPU 750 W Toughpower CM
1 x Big tower
1 Mobo
4 x 2GB DDR2 1066
2 x 500GB HD (Will probably add more in the future)
1 Bigwater watercooling
2 x 120cm fans
2 x 140cm fans

1150EUR for everything (Including probably 700 kilo of packaging)

What I will add from my system is the following:
2 x DVD/CD combo writer
1 x PCI IDE
2 x 160GB IDE
2 x other IDE stuff (unsure if this will be CD players or HD's)
1 x PCI tv card

And if I can still use the last PCI, an extra soundcard.

Conected to 2 x 1920x1200 24" and 1 x 1600x1200 20"

I will also look at overclocking. I will see that I can document
everything. From the start till the poweroutage in Leuven when I start
it up. :-D

houghi
--
Remind me to write an article on the compulsive reading of news. The
theme will be that most neuroses can be traced to the unhealthy habit
of wallowing in the troubles of five billion strangers. -- Heinlein

On 2008-08-29, houghi wrote:
> houghi wrote:
>> Yeah, thanks. (NOT!)
>
> OK, the deed is done. I have orderd the PC and will be picking it up
> today. :-D

Congrats
>
> So what have I orderd?
> 2 x nVidea GeForce 8600 GT video cards
> 1 x Intell Q9550

Great

> 1 x CPU 750 W Toughpower CM

PSU

> 1 x Big tower
> 1 Mobo

Which mother?

> 4 x 2GB DDR2 1066
> 2 x 500GB HD (Will probably add more in the future)
> 1 Bigwater watercooling
> 2 x 120cm fans
> 2 x 140cm fans
>
> 1150EUR for everything (Including probably 700 kilo of packaging)

Double to mine
How much in BLF?
>
> What I will add from my system is the following:
> 2 x DVD/CD combo writer
> 1 x PCI IDE
> 2 x 160GB IDE
> 2 x other IDE stuff (unsure if this will be CD players or HD's)
> 1 x PCI tv card
>
> And if I can still use the last PCI, an extra soundcard.
>
> Conected to 2 x 1920x1200 24" and 1 x 1600x1200 20"
>
> I will also look at overclocking. I will see that I can document
> everything. From the start till the poweroutage in Leuven when I start
> it up. :-D

There the mobo is the key

--
Vahis
http://waxborg.servepics.com
Congressman Wilson has an expression:
"You can teach them to type, but you can't teach them to grow tits."

houghi schreef:

> So what have I orderd?
> 2 x nVidea GeForce 8600 GT video cards
> 1 x Intell Q9550

> I will also look at overclocking.

Why with a system like that?
What kind of performance gain do you expect?
--
Chris Maaskant

houghi wrote:
>Vahis wrote:
>>> So there. This has absolutely not helped me, but instead gave me more
>>> options to select from. Darn!
>>
>> Look also at power consumption, that's another good point, less wattage is
>> less noise and cheaper to run

>Cheaper to run? I do not have an electricity bill. :-D
>The noise? I am seriously thinking about watercooling.

You have to cool everything, including memory and the
hard drives. That means fans in addition to water.

--
--- Paul J. Gans

houghi wrote:
>houghi wrote:
>> Yeah, thanks. (NOT!)

>OK, the deed is done. I have orderd the PC and will be picking it up
>today. :-D

>So what have I orderd?
>2 x nVidea GeForce 8600 GT video cards
>1 x Intell Q9550
>1 x CPU 750 W Toughpower CM
>1 x Big tower
>1 Mobo
>4 x 2GB DDR2 1066
>2 x 500GB HD (Will probably add more in the future)
>1 Bigwater watercooling
>2 x 120cm fans
>2 x 140cm fans

>1150EUR for everything (Including probably 700 kilo of packaging)

>What I will add from my system is the following:
>2 x DVD/CD combo writer
>1 x PCI IDE
>2 x 160GB IDE
>2 x other IDE stuff (unsure if this will be CD players or HD's)
>1 x PCI tv card

>And if I can still use the last PCI, an extra soundcard.

>Conected to 2 x 1920x1200 24" and 1 x 1600x1200 20"

>I will also look at overclocking. I will see that I can document
>everything. From the start till the poweroutage in Leuven when I start
>it up. :-D

Good luck Houghi! Sounds great!!!


--
--- Paul J. Gans