Shuttle AK32L motherboard

[blakerwry]

Does anyone have any experience with the Shuttle AK32L (or it's brother the AK31) motherboard.

I need to replace my dead board with something adaquate. This board is based on the VIA kt266 northbridge(VIA VT8366) and the VIA VT8233 south bridge. And has support for BOTH SDR and DDR SDRAM.


When boards that initially came out with support for using both DDR and SDR RAM I was hesitent because of the mixing of the two did not seem especially smart to me. Should I stay away from these type of boards? or ahve they gotten a bad rap at all?


According to crucial.com the board will take ECC DDR or SDR RAM so I feel this to be very beneficial considering I have some ECC laying around.

I am going to use this in my linux server.. dont need anything fancy, but I was wondering if the integrated AC97 audio would work in linux? I believe it is audio provided by the south bridge and not an external chip.


I can get the baord for $60 but wanted to hear your opinions 1st. Everything I can find online says that this is a decent board with standard performance for a kt266.

 

[Mercutio]

Several years ago, I had an experience with Shuttle that makes Tannin's experience with ECS or Jetway or Alton or any of the other low-budget manufacturers look like a peaceful night's slumber.

However, I also know at least two local resellers that consider Shuttle a decent mid-range product at the moment (in the same box with Soyo, AOpen, FIC, Epox etc).

My measured impression - trying to remove my own bias - is that at $60, it's probably a decent buy. I might look for a Biostar board for the same money, but from what I'm hearing it's a step up from Chaintech or ECS at least.

As for Linux ViaAC97 support, there isn't any. Throw in an SB16 or something. Or just live with a computer that doesn't make noise. That's not always a bad thing.

 

[ihsan]

blakerwry,

Have you considered getting an Nforce board? NVidia has released drivers for the MAC, sound and VGA. If you want decent no-frills audio, I'd go for the nForce.

 

[ihsan]

Oh, nForce doesn't take ECC.

 

[blakerwry]

well, I found out that anandtech and a few other review sites have given the AK31 an 'editors choice' award. The AK32 is suposed to be the exact same (bar the ability to sue SDR and DDR)

however, I seem to see various versions of the ak32 around... xbit reviewed one with a 10/100 NIC, but nobody else has.... some version have 5 PCI slots some have 6... some have CNR, some don't...

seems rather odd to me...


in any event, i found a website that lists information about getting the AC97 audio from the VIA south bridges to work in linux. They offer 4 different drivers! and have detailed txt files so even a noob like me might be able to do it his or her self. However, Mandrake is suposed to have built in drivers for my audio which I hope will give me the basic beeps and what not.... may also give me audio when watching movies in Xine.


Yes, I have thought about a N-Force board... I have only gone to one shop as I started looking late yesterday and everything was closing... I want to get something local as well. The closest computer shop doesn't have anything comparable in price except for an ECS board(which I'm not about to buy).

So I went to a larger store... they have more selection and better prices, however they dont carry N-Force boards. they really should though... they carry SIS, kt133a, kt266, Ali magik, and kt333 chipsets for socket A CPU's.... the N-Force would be a welcome addition and could hopefully push out that Ali Magik junk.

Additionally, it's pretty hard to beat $60. Most mid-range motherboards seem to be going for $80-$120 with extremes near $180 for soyo's kt400 boards

 

[Tannin]

I only used Shuttle boards for a short while. Maybe 100 of them at most. Mostly we had their TX board which for us (contrary to Mercutio's horrorshow experience) was excellent. Indeed, it was the only TX board I ever liked. (Horrible damn things, on the whole, TX boards were.) Then we went to their MVP3 board which was another goodie. And then to an ATX-form MVP3 board, which wasn't really up to scratch. They weren't bad, but they were not the sort of thing you'd want to pin your reputation on. Fell over a bit too often for my liking. Our supplier switched brands after that, and we didn't trouble to chase Shuttle down to their new distributor.

Generally they seem to be well regarded, prett much on a par with those other brands that Mercutio mentioned.

Semi-related question: Anybody know anything about Jetway?

 

[Mercutio]

Jetway = PC Chips' dumping ground. Worst of the worst. Bad enough that when I talk to old-hand techs at screwdriver shops, the very name causes either a laugh or a whimper. The whimper tells me the poor bastard had to service more than one or two of 'em.

Shuttle's MVP3 (the HOT-591) was the very board that was so lousy for me. Even if I had kept on with that board, I didn't like the layout, since the placement of the CPU blocked four of the expansion slots.

 

[blakerwry]

well, I bought the board.... installed flawlessly... i think.... sound works great.... PC2100 ECC DDR works great....

the "i think" is because I am using a borrowed processor and it is running at 800mHz.... I have no idea what it actually is suposed to be... it's running on 100mHz bus now, I tried 133 and it wouldn't post.

I know it's not a palomino(athlon XP).. it's older... so I guess that leaves thunderbird? ...k75?

Anyone know a good way to tell in linux?