This Friday I received a box with several new computer components from our supplier NXSource, the business end of NCIX. I’m currently in the process of performing several new system builds and overwhelmingly chose the Asus P5Q series, in both -VM and -E based configurations.
As per its extension, the P5Q-VM will be going in an office/lower end configuration with no need for a discrete graphics card. It’s replacing a Sempron 2400+ configuration; the MSI Socket 462 board blew two or three capacitors last week and there’s not really a point in finding a replacement motherboard now. The onboard video from the Intel chipset should be sufficient for its purpose in life, and the board has a DVI-D port unlike similar systems with integrated graphics.
Eventually the machine may be repurposed with media center-type functionality, so all it should need is a DVI to HDMI conversion cable to connect to a HDTV. I did slightly overspec the processor (a Core 2 Duo E7200 at 2.53GHz) so that it could run 720p video without issues; in general, at least a 2.4GHz dual core is the baseline for decent playback of most popular MKV’s.
One nice thing about the new Asus microATX configurations is that they include an x16 PCI-Express slot for potential future expansion, as well as four DDR2 SDRAM slots instead of just two. This makes the configuration incredibly useful in the future when it comes time for a RAM upgrade.
I’ve replaced the P5B Deluxe pictured above and taken the new P5Q-E for my main workstation. The new board is now essentially the same platform as the file/media server upstairs. I’d originally chosen the board for its three PCI-E x16 slots, which makes powering a video card and two PCI-E RAID addon boards a possibility. One feature that I’d neglected to investigate is the instant-on “Splashtop/Express Gate”, which is basically a stripped down version of Linux partially embedded on a flash chip on the board. I can see this feature being really useful, but it has a few drawbacks:
- Installation is performed through Windows. You have to have a hard drive for the initial installation, which doesn’t really make sense when it comes to grabbing drivers or BIOS updates. Ideally, the motherboard utilities DVD would allow you to boot a read-only version or install the environment to a USB thumb drive. From there you could pull the latest BIOS, upgrade, and grab new drivers even before Windows enters the picture.
- I’d like to see more motherboard utilities included in the package. A temperature gauge, overclock tweaking utility and network cable tester would all be excellent additions.
- While on that subject, tools similar to SpeedFan, Orthos and Prime95 are sorely lacking.
- Where’s the music support? You’ve initialized the sound card, now get to business with it. Embedded Linux with a jukebox – even XMMS – would be really neat.
- Hard drives with NTFS show up in the Picture Browser, but there’s no way to even view their contents through the conventional USB drive explorer.
- Also, give us a command line and non-gimped web browser! The lack of console support in an OS that’s so obviously Linux hurts me.
All in all, the features of the stripped-down distribution make me want to try out Ubuntu again outside of a VM.