[CentOS] OT: Hardware upgrade help

Wed Aug 24 00:26:11 UTC 2011
John R Pierce <pierce at hogranch.com>

On 08/23/11 5:17 PM, Thomas Dukes wrote:
> I would like to upgrade my system to a 64 bit machine. I'd like to find a
> bare bones platform to build on. I'm not looking to spend a lot of money on
> this as it is a home system. I looked on the CentOS sponsor page but only
> saw hosting services.
>
> I haven't kept up with hardware in years so I'm dumber than dirt on what's
> out there. I would prefer a desktop so I can stack it. Don't think I need to
> do the Xeon as that would be overkill for a home user.

any Intel Core 2 or newer, or AMD Opteron processor from about 3-4 years 
ago or newer would suit you just fine.   the newest ones have 4+ cores.

> This would be replacing my 'server' so I need PCI slots for an additional
> NIC and a 32 bit video capture card used for zoneminder. Not sure what PCI
> express is or if my cards would work in those slots. Yep, I'm running 8 yrs
> old machines, IBM NetVistas. :-(

parallel 32bit PCI is becoming obsolete, although many motherboards have 
both PCI-E and legacy PCI slots...  PCI-Express is not physically or 
electrically compatible.   ISA is totally history, you won't find an ISA 
slot on anything made in the past few years.   Most newer NICs are 
PCI-Express anyways.   I do wish more desktop motherboards had 2 
ethernet ports, and more servers had 4 standard.




-- 
john r pierce                            N 37, W 122
santa cruz ca                         mid-left coast