[PlanetCCRMA] Hardware question

[Mark Knecht]

Björn Elenfors wrote:
> Hi again!
> 
> Is this the right forum for this question?  if not, please
> tell me where to ask. :-)
> 
> Since discovering that CCRMA works fine for me I've decided
> to get a new computer.  I'm looking towards a Athlon solution
> which leaves me with three choices of motherboards: based
> on VIA chipsets, nVidia and SIS.
> 
> The VIA boards are not recommended on 
> http://www.ardour.org/requirements.html
> 
> The nVidia chipsets are said to be "non kosher" in the Linux
> community due to binary only drivers and low offical support for
> Linux.
> 
> Nobody seems to know SiS under Linux.
> 
> What do you guys run?
> Are the VIA experiences based on old and low-level cards and
> more modern cards such as the Asus A7V600 working better?
> 
> /Björn
> 

Humm....I've only run Ardour on AMD processors with Via chipset and 
never had these problems. While I do not dispute the info in this 
specific example, I personally think it's an overstatement for the 
Ardour website maintainer to knock all products from a major company 
just because one chipset has a problem. Chipsets are designed by 
different engineers. They have different problems. They go through 
different revisions and end up getting fixed.

I have no experience with Ardour on an nVidia chipset, but I do run one 
nVidia machine. They are a little problematic driver-wise...

SiS is a minor player in the chipset market. Of the three I would 
probably aviod them.

My input - look for people having success with Via machines and then go 
with the same hardware if possible. In the Pro Tools forums we've gotten 
much better track count with AMD, and also much better plugin processing 
with AMD, so I'm a big AMD fan.

Full Disclosure - I worked for AMD for 6 years doing I/O chips and PC 
chipset. I love the company. I have nothing against Intel.

Good luck,
Mark