Sanity Check: VPN/HTPC on Intel i5 and Asus P8H77-I

W

wiresap

Hi,
I've been running FreeNAS for a year, and would now like to create a FreeBSD system. I am still very new to the system, and would love some help to make sure the following hardware suits my goals.

I would be using the computer for 2 things (via the FreeBSD jail(8)):

I am thinking of running it on the following hardware (full build here):
I am fairly certain, but would love confirmation, that:
- by choosing an Intel chip running HD 2500 integrated CPU, I need to run FreeBSD 9.1-RC1.
- I may have to build the drivers for the RealTek 8111F.
- The SSD will require quite a bit of configuring, but should work fine

I would be using multimedia/xbmc/ mostly for music via the optical out, and occasionally for video via the HDMI (but audio still via optical out). To that extent:
- The hardware sound list mentions support for the VIA VT1708 via snd_hda(4), but not the VIA VT1708S. Should I be concerned? This seems to imply not, but I'd rather ask the experts than regret my purchase.
- I see that snd_hda(4) supports optical audio and HDMI. If my card is supported by snd_hda(4), does that guarantee that those two ports will work? Or is there a way to check this?

I've never used powerd(8) or configured acpi(4). The motherboard is ACPI 2.0a, (allegedly supported since FreeBSD 5).
- Am I correct in assuming I will be able to keep this rig quiet and power-efficient (after reading more from the handbook)?

Finally:
- Have I missed anything? Are there any other things I should consider before purchasing this hardware?

Thanks very much for taking the time to read this and help out.

Andrew
 
9.1-RELEASE should be out soon, 9-STABLE is already tagged 9.1-PRERELEASE. So you won't need to build a custom kernel for that 8111F driver. That's if you don't want to use/track development branch.

For the other part, you shouldn't have problems. The chance of having a faulty ACPI implementation to the extent where you can't scale power states is minimal. Regarding sound, put up the thread on ASUS forums and ask people who own that mainboard to do you a favour and post their soundcard's PCI ID value.
 
Sorry for the delay. I never got an answer from Asus, and ended up going with a different motherboard anyway (the Z77 model instead of the H77) because of an improved sound card. It also features an Intel ethernet interface, which appears better supported.

I have yet to really test out the machine, but install went fine and I've had no problems so far.

The final build, for others who may be curious about compatible hardware, is as follows: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/m3jk

Thanks,
Andrew
 
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