[CentOS] Motherboard and chipset compatibility

[m.roth at 5-cent.us]

Glenn Eychaner wrote:
> So, having returned from a month's vacation, I'm back to work on
> attempting to build a set of small form factor CentOS compatible
computers. I've
> really tried to do my homework, but this doesn't appear (at first glance)
> to be at all easy. It's not made easier by the fact that I have to get it
> right the first time (and I haven't built a PC in a decade); the time and
> money cost of shipping anything to and from my remote location in Chile
> means I can't afford to waste time buying and returning things.
>
> First question: does anyone have any experience with the Jetway NF9E-Q77
> or ZOTAC Z77ITX-A-E motherboards? Having struck out on Intel Q77 or
Z77-based
> SFF motherboards (the DQ77** series is completely out of stock everywhere,
> and the DZ77** series is ATX only), I have found a couple of Mini-ITX
> systems based on these two motherboards.
>
> Second question: Where can I get information about which Intel chipsets
> (Z77 vs Z87 vs Q77 vs C602 vs ...geez, there are a LOT of chipsets, as
> evidenced by http://www.supermicro.com/support/faqs/os.cfm) are supported
> by CentOS 6 / RHEL 6? I have not been able to find this information on
> either the Intel, RedHat, or CentOS web sites.
<snip>
VERY STRONG RECOMMENDATION: DON'T buy Supermicro. They have a *lot* of
trouble with this new, fuzzy concept called "quality control".

For example, we have a cluster with 21 Penguin servers, about half with 48
cores, and the rest with 64 cores. You'd think this kind of hot, high end
server would call for a lot of attention.

No. We've sent back to Penguin at *least* 5 or 6, and a couple of those
went back *twice*, and almost all had m/b's replaced, and one a CPU, I
think. That's an absurdly high percentage....

Now, about what you're looking to build - you say that you want 1U, and
mention rackspace: in my experience, rackmounts are a *lot* larger than a
pizza box, so I'm a little confused at the requirements you're building
for.

        mark