>
> On 16/12/2013 22:23, Darrell Anderson wrote:
>> All,
>>
>> I'm considering an update to my office desktop computer I built 5
>> years ago. A new system with SATA III, USB 3.0, quad core, an SSD,
>> etc, would seriously help with Trinity build times.
>>
>> I would like to keep the system as quiet as possible with no
>> increase in the electric bill over my current dual core AMD system
>> (about 65-80 watts).
>>
>>
> Hi Darrell,
>
> I've had great pain lately with two new systems I built. Obviously,
> newer MBs are UEFI based which introduces complexities, especially if
> multibooting and booting from legacy devices can be problematic.
> Installing linux (debian in my case) also proved problematic with these
> UEFI boards and graphics cards. Windows seems to install fine, maybe as
> that is the OS everything is taylored to.
>
> The two MBs in question are both AMD based (I will not use AMD in the
> future) as are the CPUs (obviously), both FX series, an AMD FX-8350 &
> AMD FX-6300. The boards are Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5 and an ASUS  M5A99X
> Evo R2.
>
> The bigget issue besides UEFI bios is RAM. It's critical these days to
> ensure support prior to purchase, especially with AMD systems. AMD
> memory conroller is in the CPU so tools like memtest86 aren't as much
> use as they used to be. Both my systems (every combination of MB/CPU)
> fail memtest86 with more than one core enabled. Be careful with RAM qty
> and speed with AMD CPU/MB. 32GB RAM is not supported at certain higher
> speeds of RAM, a fact not well advertised by AMD.
>
> If you go AMD route, the first thing to install therefore  is the latest
> chipset/raid drivers from the AMD site (rather than the MB cdrom). The
> next big issue is the PSU. Unfortunately, with these newer systems,
> bigger is better.
>
> If possible, buy RAM/CPU/MB from same place (not easy I know) as
> resolving compatibilities when bought seperately is a nightmare.
>
> Best solution of all (if Windows is not wanted), buy yourself a number
> of ARM devices and farm them :).
>
> I will be going Intel in future, more expensive but I'm not willing to
> face the trouble I've had with this AMD kit ever again.
>
> Cheers,
>
> --
> Mike Howard

Intel has problems too.  This is probably not the best time to be building
a new computer as there are a lot of new (read: immature and buggy)
technologies in play.

If you want something to work out-of-the-box with minimum fuss, go for
Intel workstation/server boards.  They are more expensive, but work 100%
with Linux.  Also, with the latest push for energy efficient servers, you
can get a fairly good performance/watt ratio.

All this from a former AMD champion as well. ;-)

Tim