[mythtv-users] nForce2 motherboards

[Myster Man]

I too am running the Chaintech 7NIF2, and I am very pleased with it, but
one word of caution for anyone who's looking at this board. I first
thought this board was bad, cause linux couldn't access the real time
clock, but apparently you just have to have kernel version 2.4.22 with
the nforce support in it. So if you are planning on using a distribution
with an older kernel this board will not work for you. And I've also
found that It works much better using the NVAGP than AGPGart. 

On Sat, 2003-10-18 at 01:59, Jarod C. Wilson wrote:
> Gotta love 'em. While many folks may recall, I said I was going to 
> replace my MythTV system's board with an Asus A7N8X-VM. Minor change of 
> plan. The Asus board doesn't have the necessary holes for mounting my 
> cpu cooler. I settled on plan B, the Chaintech Summit 7NIF2. This is a 
> micro-ATX nForce2 board, and let me just say that so far, I love it.
> 
> Just a few points where this board is superior to the Asus:
> 
> 1) Price -- The Chaintech board is a few dollars less, though Asus has 
> a far better name.
> 
> 2) S-Video out -- the Asus board requires a $15+ add-on bracket for 
> S-Video out, the Chaintech board has it on-board (though I'm using 
> VGA->Component Video).
> 
> 3) Memory slots -- the Asus has only 2, the Chaintech has 3.
> 
> It took me about an hour and a half to shutdown, take apart my system, 
> swap in the new board, put the system back together, reboot a few times 
> and get all the correct drivers in place, and get the system back into 
> production.
> 
> I downloaded the nforce2 driver .src.rpm from nVidia's web site before 
> swapping boards, so it was already there when I started my system up on 
> the new board. Compile and install, and all the drivers (including the 
> NIC) are in place. Didn't have to reinstall a thing (though it did take 
> some time to go through kudzu adding and removing components).
> 
> Also, this board seems to have much better hard drive performance than 
> my prior board, an MSI KM2M Combo-L had. The only complaint I have is 
> that they didn't include a bracket for S/PDIF out. Oh well, I just 
> moved my Audigy over from the old board. No more need for an AGP card 
> though.
> 
> In short, a very nice motherboard for a build-your-own MythTV system, 
> especially with the on-board TV-Out. I'll be putting it through further 
> torture tests this weekend, but it was flawless recording and playing 
> back this evening.
> 
> --Jarod