Motherboards Linux Reviews & Articles

There have been 149 Linux hardware reviews and benchmark articles on Phoronix for motherboards. Separately, check out our news section for related product news.

While AMD will not officially announce Socket F LGA-1207 with their next-generation Opteron processors for a few more days, we have managed to acquire one of the retail motherboards for this upcoming platform. The Tiger K9HE S3970 (as Tyan will officially call it) supports two AMD Opteron 2000 series processors, ECC Registered DDR2, and more. The Chipset backing this motherboard is the ServerWorks BCM5785 from Broadcom.

Since publishing our preview of the Tyan Tempest i5000XL last month, we have received an overwhelming amount of messages from Phoronix readers who have been intrigued by Tyan's joint project with Intel on the Tempest series as well as the Toledo and Tank. While the various Tyan Tempest boards still seem to be in limited quantities, we are back again today with our performance figures for the Tyan i5000XL as well as taking a further look at its GNU/Linux compatibility.

Last month we had reported on the Tyan Tempest i5000XL motherboard as well as the Tyan Tiger i7520SD, both of which had their own unique characteristics to the table. However, today we are bringing the remainder of our Tiger i7520SD S5365 review. In this final chapter, we look at its BIOS and real-world performance for this motherboard when combined with Intel's Xeon LV dual-core processors. To recap some of the features, the Tyan Tiger i7520SD S5365 motherboard boasts dual mPGA479 CPU sockets for use with Intel Xeon LV Sossaman processors, E7520 + i6300ESB Chipset, eight DDR2 ECC sockets, triple Gigabit LAN, and finally yet importantly integrated ATI ES1000 video.

Introduced back on May 23, 2006 was AMD's Socket AM2. While these processors really did not bring too much to the table other then a DDR2-800 memory controller several motherboard vendors began offering up their new AM2 supportive products. One of the manufacturers that had began offering new products in late May and early June during Computex Taipei 2006 was ASUSTek Computer Inc. ASUS is certainly no newcomer to Phoronix as we have had their products in our labs in the past, and they are renowned with computer enthusiasts and gamers. While the AM2 processors at this time do not deliver too many direct benefits over Socket 939, in front of us today is the M2N32-SLI Deluxe WiFi motherboard, which does deliver on several new ASUSTek enhancements. Not only does this motherboard come with all the usual ASUS innovations we have been accustom to seeing for some time now on their enthusiast products, but also they are now making it more versatile than ever before. Of the extras is an array microphone, 802.11g WiFi-AP Solo, Q-Connector Kit, and the ATX motherboard being powered by an NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI Chipset. With all of the features as well as the price tag for this beast ASUS is certainly targeting the high-end enthusiast market. However, is it a hit or a miss for this award winning company?

After looking at the Tyan Tempest i5000XL yesterday, today we are featuring a small preview of the Tiger i7520SD S5365. Rather than taking the Woodcrest LGA-771 route, the Tiger i7520SD features the Lindenhurst Chipset and wields dual mPGA479 sockets for use with Intel's Xeon LV Sossaman processors.

With Computex Taipei 2006 wrapping up today, Tyan Computer Corporation was again a heavy-hitter at this year's expo. If you will recall from our coverage last year, Tyan was first to launch an 8-way server solution that was capable of handling up to eight AMD Opteron's in a 4+4 board configuration. This June, Tyan once again has a slew of new products reaching the market. In fact, Tyan has seven new Xeon motherboards based upon the LGA-771 socket that are compatible with Intel Dempsey and Woodcrest processors. Today we have a preview of the Tempest i5000XL.

Back on May 23, we had delivered our launch-day preview of the AMD Socket AM2, and with that, we had also taken a quick look at ASRock's AM2NF4G-SATA2 motherboard. Now that we have had the time to complete our testing of this nForce 410 motherboard, we have the remainder of our results available today.

With the AM2 launch this morning, AMD's partners have been quick to jump on this bandwagon with a whole arsenal of new motherboards. Of the products to be shown at this year's Computex Taipei event is the ASRock AM2NF4G-SATA2. Not only does price differentiate this motherboard from the newly established Socket AM2 competition, but also the ASRock AM2NF4G-SATA2 relies upon the already existing GeForce 6100 and nForce 410.

The ECS C19-A SLI is an all-around great SLI motherboard for Intel users. The board formally supports Scalable Link Interface using the NVIDIA C19XE + MCP51 Chipset. Other features for this budget solution include Gigabit LAN, and Realtek 8-channel audio. The overclocking abilities are also surprising.

When looking at some of ASRock's recent motherboard offerings, we at Phoronix have been stunned by their budget yet creative products. These motherboards range from the 939SLI32-eSATA2 to the 775XFire-eSATA2. Here at Phoronix we have the 939NF4G-SATA2 motherboard. The ASRock 939NF4G-SATA2 motherboard uses NVIDIA's GeForce 6100 and nForce 410 MCP Chipset.

At the beginning of last month we published our preview of the ASRock 939SLI32-eSATA2, however, now that Fedora Core 5 was released two weeks ago, and we have in our hands the NVIDIA 1.0-8751 Beta Linux display drivers, we are prepared to deliver the remainder of this article. This portion of the article includes the Linux compatibility, overclocking, and of course, its performance by means of benchmarks.

What we have our hands on today is the first publicly released motherboard that not only boasts support for AMD's future AM2 Socket, but also is also supportive of NVIDIA's Scalable Link Interface with both of the contenders running at their full PCI Express x16 speeds. In addition, it also packs in an IEEE-1394 Firewire controller as well as a Gigabit ethernet controller! You ask who is the manufacturer of the motherboard? None other than ASRock surprisingly makes this product. Has ASRock clearly broken its "budget" motherboards seal when it comes to the new 939SLI32-eSATA2? We have the ASRock 939SLI32-eSATA2 at our Phoronix facilities today as we investigate this ULI M1697 + M1695 solution.

ECS Elitegroup has been in the motherboard business since 1987, and their design quality certainly shows with their PF5 Extreme. The ECS PF5 Extreme packs in dual PCI Express slots, dual LAN interfaces, ECSonic II, and a wealth of other exclusives with this Socket LGA-775 solution, which is powered by Intel's 945 Chipset. However, just how well will it fair against alternative Glenwood and Lakeport products? Today we have the ECS PF5 Extreme today to look at how well this multi-colored solution performs.

It has been quite a while since we last featured a DFI, or rather Design For Innovation, motherboard at Phoronix but today we are back again with them as we feature one of their products from the Infinity series -- the DFI NF4 Ultra. As the model name implies, the Chipset used is NVIDIA's nForce4 Ultra and it also features a Vitesse Gigabit interface, four DDR-400 slots, and the usual innovations we have become to appreciate from DFI thanks to their LAN Party series.

The Taiwan-based Albatron could be considered a heavy player in the motherboard industry, as well as graphics cards for that matter, but how does their most recent AMD SLI adventure perform? Albatron's K8SLI packs in NVIDIA's nForce4 SLI Chipset combined with the innovative features as a Zero Jumper Design, Dual BIOS, and Watch Dog Timer, will this Socket 939 SLI offering be the next item on your shopping list? We have this motherboard here today to answer some of these questions.

Prepped for Microsoft Windows Vista, Untied Overclocking Technology, ATI's CrossFire, and four SATA 2 ports, has ASRock finally managed to hit primetime with its creative product offerings? Up on the review block today we have the world's first complete look at ASRock's latest-and-greatest, which comes in form of the 775XFire-eSATA2.

The latest Tyan motherboard to have entered the Phoronix facilities was the K8E-SLI S2866, which was a Socket 939 solution with an nForce Professional 2200 Chipset. Up for review today, we have Tyan's latest-and-greatest on the Intel server side of things, and making its appearance, is the Tomcat i7230A S5160. The i7230A features dual PCI Express connectors, two Broadcom LAN controllers, XGI Volari graphics, and the Mukilteo Chipset.

PC Partner is a relative new comer to Phoronix but they have over 20 years experience in the industry with ISO9001 certification. PC Partner's focus is on providing graphics and motherboard solutions to the PC industry as well as offering OEM/ODM products. Hitting the bench today is PC Partner's RC410MS7-A82C, which is based upon the ATI RC410 + SB450 Chipset. However, do not put this item on your shopping list, as we share in the article, the retail motherboard will NOT be available for purchase by the general public due to recent corporate changes.

ASRock's latest Socket 939 offering, the 939Dual-SATA2, not only offers support for AMD's future M2 socket but it also incorporates some overclocking abilities that enthusiasts would have only dreamed about appearing on a budget motherboard. But just how well does it fair in the penguin trials?

A new BIOS for the AW8 series has hit the Internet from the folks over at Abit and implemented in this latest revision is support for Intel's Presler and Cedar Mill processors among other notable improvements, while one of the major advancements is the belated support for DDR2-800. This DDR2-800 (1:2 CPU:DRAM) ability comes after some enthusiasts have accused Abit of blatant advertising attempts with its memory.

Based upon the K8E S2865, the K8E-SLI S2866 is Tyan's initial offering when it comes to NVIDIA Socket 939 SLI on the nForce PRO 2200 Chipset. Yes, that is right an nForce Professional 2200 Chipset implementation on a Socket 939 Athlon 64 system and not the nForce4. Presently Tyan has the K8WE (S2895), which is nForce Professional based, and is capable of running in SLI with the Opteron 200 series, but the K8E-SLI is their first time venturing into this new arena. With us today we have the K8E-SLI and we shall see just how well it fares in the world of Scalable Link Interface.

The last time we had any ASRock products at Phoronix was a few months back when testing their 775Dual-880Pro, which was based upon the VIA PT880 Pro + 8237R Chipset. Back with us today is ASRock and we have our hands on the 775Dual-915GL, which is powered by the Intel i915GL + ICH-6 Chipset while offering some innovative features such as its exclusive AGI Express.

Back in August of this year, we had reviewed the Abit AW8 motherboard, which is based upon Intel's i955X Chipset, and overall we were much impressed by its abilities on not only the performance front, but also the Linux compatibility and build-quality we have come to expect from the engineers over at Abit. At hand today, we have the Abit AW8-MAX, which packs in a few tweaks and additions than what was built into the AW8 vanilla.

By now, most of us have heard that NVIDIA will be bringing back integrated graphics into their upcoming AMD C51 Chipset, which is expected to launch within a few weeks, but is NVIDIA's SoundStorm Technology ready for a glorious return? Or will NVIDIA be entering into the arena an entirely new audio technology? We'll share some thoughts and tentative possibilities here in this article.

Although the Chipset utilized on the ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe is the i945P, rather than Intel's flagship i955X, the motherboard does manage to pack a wealth of onboard features with an additional ATA-133 IDE controller, Firewire, and a SATA2 controller. Topping off the P5LD2 Deluxe package is a WiFi+TV tuner card as well as ASUS's Stack Cool 2 and AI Quiet Technology. Just how well does this motherboard compete against other motherboards and other Chipsets? We'll find out today in this review of the ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe WiFi+TV edition.

This past year at Computex Taipei, one of the hot spots for Phoronix was at the Abit booth. On display were several innovative motherboards but what had caught our attention was their new Northbridge cooling methodology. Spanning the length from the Northbridge to the I/O panel was a very small heatpipe, which they have dubbed Silent OTES/Q-OTES. Keeping up with the original tradition of OTES Technology that had simply cooled the PWM MOSFETs and capacitors on the Abit IC7-MAX3, engineers have also utilized larger passive heatsinks to place atop the MOSFETs around the CPU in addition to the heatpipe Northbridge cooler. Will Abit's new Silent OTES Technology be able to cool off the motherboard like we were cooled off at Abit's Computex Happy Hour? Read on as we try out this latest OTES implementation, among other things, on the Abit AW8 (i955X) motherboard.

Although ASRock is generally regarded by computer enthusiasts for producing poor and inadequate motherboards when compared against its rivals, they do manage to manufacture incredibly inexpensive and extremely innovative products. Currently, ASRock offers a combo, dual, and upgrade series - each of which series brings their own unique features. In fact, the focus of this article is the newly unleashed 775Dual-880Pro motherboard that not only supports DDR and DDR2, but also AGP and PCI Express, while supporting Intel's new dual-core processors!

With Intel's 955X (Glenwood) and 945P (Lakeport) Chipsets taking much of the spotlight, in addition to the 925XE (Alderwood) and 915P (Grantsdale), a majority of our Intel attention are focused on these desktop Chipsets. However, today we'll be looking at the E7221 (Copper River), one of Intel's flagship server Chipsets, as we try out Tyan's Tomcat i7221A (S5151).

At Phoronix, we've always had good times reviewing Tyan motherboards due to their superb performance, stability, Linux support, and features. Today, we have another motherboard from Tyan and this time it imposes the NVIDIA nForce 4 AMD Chipset. Will Tyan continue to make us smile when we wrap up testing the Tyan Tomcat K8E (S2865)?