[RESOLVED] Half-Life server board. 440BX chipset preferred for stability unless...

I want to upgrade my HL server. I am currently using an Asus P2B-DS with only one processor (SCSI not important to me) on Linux. I prefer the 440BX chipset for stability, but if anyone knows any newer chipsets that are worthwhile, please tell me. My brother has a P3B-F with a P-III 800 .18 Micron , Slot1. My P2B-DS only supports upto 600, and I can't up the FSB with anything above a 500 (both boards go up to 112 stable). So, I was considering the P3B-F with an 800 with FSB upped to 112. However, I heard that some older Abit boards go even higher on FSB. If so, are they stable? FSB, processor power, and RAM are the key elements to game servers. Also, I am currently using high quality ECC PC-100 RAM. Is ECC necessary, as it does cause a slight performance hit. Help a brotha' out.

i am using ecc registered mem., and sisoft sandra clocks my mem performance with an 800e(not o/c) faster than non-ecc with 1ghz

Thanks for the reply bro. That helps a lot hearing that about ECC. Now I just need to find the right board to OC the most reliable chip to the fastest FSB that is stable. At this time, I still do not trust any of the 133MHz FSB technologies as I have first-hand seen much pain and anguish (and more importantly, instability). Is there any chipset more stable and reliable than the 440BX? If not, then I can narrow my search immensely. I just don't feel comfortable with AMD at this time, although for gaming, etc., they perform better than Intel. The server is way too popular to have it crashing more than once or twice a day.

So, if I go 440BX...I'll probably get an 800 or 850 MHz Intel P-III .18 Micron SLOT1 like my brother has (his Asus P3B-4 supports CAS2 ECC RAM with 4 slots, upto 1GB). Dual processors do not help me with this, I need a large, powerful single processor. If anyone can suggest a more reliable (and not too expensive) chipset and board, then I would definitely look into this. Thanks for any and all support.

TECHS: I am installing RedHat 6.x (probably not 7) on this box, if that has any implications. Thank you

[This message has been edited by R. Giskard Reventlov (edited January 23, 2001).]

Get a board based on the Server Works LE chipset. There is no AGP on board but for a server you don't need one anyway. Intel, Microstar (best choice) and Asus all make boards using this chipset. I'm using one in my Win2k Server which runs Unreal Tournament and Voyager:Elite Force with a P3 866 and 512MB ECC SDRAM, the machine is very stable.

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