Hi All,
I'm anxiously awaiting the parts for my new server I'm planning to build, and I'm wondering if anyone has details about the Asus P8Z68-V PRO motherboard and what I might have trouble with regarding FreeBSD support.
I'm currently running 8.2-RELEASE, and would consider 8-STABLE if needed to support any of the SATA ports. I have 6 hard drives in here currently along with an optical drive. While the optical drive would be nice to keep, I'd sacrifice that for a HDD, since my 6 hard drives are in two separate zpools and 6 ports are the absolute minimum I need to be able to use this board.
The motherboard I ordered is an Asus P8Z68-V PRO. Here's a breakdown of the hardware in this system and my guess as to support, but I'd appreciate any information on the Marvell controller (e.g. finding the specific Marvell SATA-III chipset it uses, I couldn't find it on asus's specs page for the board).
- CPU: Core i7 2600k
- Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V PRO
* 2 Intel 6 Gbps SATA ports (ICH10? Not sure which)
* 4 Intel 3 Gbps SATA ports (same controller as the 6Gbps?)
* 2 Marvell 6 Gbps SATA ports (not sure which Marvell controller)
* 1 JMicron 362 eSATA port
* USB 3.0 and 2.0 (only need 2.0 for a UPS and mouse; but is the 3.0 supported?)
- LAN: 1 on the mobo (Intel gigE), 1 PCI-Express Intel card (<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106033">this one</a>)
So my questions:
1. Is the Intel ICH controller one controller for both the 6Gbps and 3Gbps ports? Or is it two separate ones? And if so, are they both supported? Or if not specifically supported, would they just work as AHCI? I'm already using ahci and my disks are adaN.
2. How can I find out which Marvell controller it is, and whether it's supported? Or is it again a case where it would "just work" in AHCI mode as a generic AHCI controller?
3. Is support for the JMicron 362 just a matter of adding the proper PCI ID, etc since it is probably similar to the 361 or 363? E.g. does it just require proper identification, or does it need a separate Marvell-specific driver?
4. Regarding the Intel Core i7 2600k, should I be leaving hyperthreading off? I know the previous generation (P4/Pentium D) HTT was both a) a security risk and b) made things worse because the scheduler or OS didn't know the difference between a logical and physical core? I'm planning to do some testing with and without it to see which is optimal for my particular work load, but I'm wondering if, in general, enabling HTT on these new i7s is recommended or not.
Thanks in advance for any information or advice you can provide!
I'm anxiously awaiting the parts for my new server I'm planning to build, and I'm wondering if anyone has details about the Asus P8Z68-V PRO motherboard and what I might have trouble with regarding FreeBSD support.
I'm currently running 8.2-RELEASE, and would consider 8-STABLE if needed to support any of the SATA ports. I have 6 hard drives in here currently along with an optical drive. While the optical drive would be nice to keep, I'd sacrifice that for a HDD, since my 6 hard drives are in two separate zpools and 6 ports are the absolute minimum I need to be able to use this board.
The motherboard I ordered is an Asus P8Z68-V PRO. Here's a breakdown of the hardware in this system and my guess as to support, but I'd appreciate any information on the Marvell controller (e.g. finding the specific Marvell SATA-III chipset it uses, I couldn't find it on asus's specs page for the board).
- CPU: Core i7 2600k
- Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V PRO
* 2 Intel 6 Gbps SATA ports (ICH10? Not sure which)
* 4 Intel 3 Gbps SATA ports (same controller as the 6Gbps?)
* 2 Marvell 6 Gbps SATA ports (not sure which Marvell controller)
* 1 JMicron 362 eSATA port
* USB 3.0 and 2.0 (only need 2.0 for a UPS and mouse; but is the 3.0 supported?)
- LAN: 1 on the mobo (Intel gigE), 1 PCI-Express Intel card (<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106033">this one</a>)
So my questions:
1. Is the Intel ICH controller one controller for both the 6Gbps and 3Gbps ports? Or is it two separate ones? And if so, are they both supported? Or if not specifically supported, would they just work as AHCI? I'm already using ahci and my disks are adaN.
2. How can I find out which Marvell controller it is, and whether it's supported? Or is it again a case where it would "just work" in AHCI mode as a generic AHCI controller?
3. Is support for the JMicron 362 just a matter of adding the proper PCI ID, etc since it is probably similar to the 361 or 363? E.g. does it just require proper identification, or does it need a separate Marvell-specific driver?
4. Regarding the Intel Core i7 2600k, should I be leaving hyperthreading off? I know the previous generation (P4/Pentium D) HTT was both a) a security risk and b) made things worse because the scheduler or OS didn't know the difference between a logical and physical core? I'm planning to do some testing with and without it to see which is optimal for my particular work load, but I'm wondering if, in general, enabling HTT on these new i7s is recommended or not.
Thanks in advance for any information or advice you can provide!