[Asterisk-Users] Motherboard and processor recommendations

Thu Sep 8 02:01:33 MST 2005

Thanks Tzafrir and canuck15 for your comments.

Yes I don't think the NIC will be saturated, and I'll search the quality of 
the Onboard RAID. I guess I have to learn more about canuck15's comments 
though, because I am actually questioning what happens to the board when 
you're adding onboard peripherals and whether that would create problems 
with, say, Digium cards. I remember I've read comments on the list saying 
that some chipsets/motherboards cannot handle the interrupt frequency that 
Digium cards demand, thus miss some interrupts. So, even though a regular 
desktop user would not notice any problems, an Asterisk server would suffer 
a lot. But I'm afraid there is no rule of thumb on such matters (except Xeon 
motherboards?).

The load on the computer will never be too high, but my purpose in asking 
about processor preference is that if there is any processor dependant dsp 
routines (such as G729 codec), then I thought that I might have problems. As 
another example, I don't know the details of the echocancelers on Asterisk 
(all 5 of them), but perhaps their performance is more satisfactory on, say, 
a P4 2.4 machine rather than, say, an AMD64, even though I'd expect AMD64 to 
be a more powerful processor. So I am questioning code 
compatibility/performance based on processor type rather than processor 
load. If that's irrelevant, please disregard this question (I need to learn 
more about dsp routines).

Thanks again for your answers,
Soner

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "canuck15" <canuck15 at hotmail.com>
To: "'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion'" 
<asterisk-users at lists.digium.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2005 3:46 AM
Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Motherboard and processor recommendations

>
> Regarding Chipsets/Motherboards.  I would stay FAR away from cheap ones.
> Any chipset/motherboard that electrically and logically separates some PCI
> slots (ie. interrupts) from onboard peripherals (network controller, VGA,
> USB etc.) makes compatibility issues with Digium cards much less likely.
> Many of the newer Intel chipsets do this.
>
> The Xeon chipsets/motherboards are the best IMHO because they usually have
> PCI-X slots connected directly to the memory controller hub, that you can
> put your Digium card(s) in, which are completely separate from the
> peripherals and PCI slots on the I/O controller hub.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tzafrir Cohen [mailto:tzafrir at cohens.org.il]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 4:59 PM
> To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
> Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Motherboard and processor recommendations
>
> On Wed, Sep 07, 2005 at 11:02:58PM +0300, Soner Tari wrote:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> For sometime now I've been searching the wiki and googling, but I
>> think I'm missing some of the very important answers. So I'll have to
>> ask this to the list.
>>
>> I'm trying to decide on the right motherboard and processor. Here are
>> my
>> questions:
>>
>> 1. Would I have problems with all-onboard motherboards (Onboard VGA,
>> LAN/GLAN, Sound, SATA, RAID) ? I've read the comment about an Onboard
>> VGA on wiki.
>
> Considering the exceptional quality of graphics you'll need with Asterisk,
> and VGA-compatible adapter would suffice. The on-board one would be more
> than enough. Ditto for the sound card, at least in most cases.
>
> As for the network adapter: Are you going to get anything close to
> saturating the card? I figure that the efficiency of the network adapter 
> and
> its driver will not be your bottleneck. Most of the WAN-oriented systems
> would have worked fine with an old 10Mbps card, probably without a 
> noticable
> performance hit (right?).
>
> So their quality is not much of an issue. If you have the extra space, you
> can always add an extra one in an expansion slot. But it should not be
> required.
>
> An extra raid controller is something you may consider. But then-again, if
> it is a cheap software-based raid, it is practically the same as using 
> linux
> for that (but with more problematic drivers). But it is for you to decide 
> if
> it is worth the extra cost.
>
>>
>> 2. Which chipset should I prefer: Intel, SiS or VIA? I've read the old
>> SiS chipset problem on wiki.
>
> There is much voodoo about this. There are good and bad boards made with
> each of those chipsets. In fact, for practically each model of board that
> has been sold for over a month or so, you'll probably find someone in this
> list who had bad experience with it.
>
>>
>> 3. Which processor has the least support problems: P4 (478 or LGA775,
>> or even EMT64) or AMD64 ? For example, in G729 config file Athlon
>> comment reads as "untested" (so far I don't have problems), and there
>> is no config option for AMD64 at all. There is no mention of EMT64
>> either. Is anything processor dependant in codecs/transcoding, echo
>> cancellation, busy detect and similar software, i.e. in dsp routines in
> general ?
>
> First of all, what do you intend to do? Much transcoding? How many lines?
>
> Because if the load on the CPU will be light enough, than the CPU brand
> won't really matter, you know.
>
>> I think this is a very complicated issue, and given so many variables
>> perhaps luck plays an important part.
>
> I figure some people on this list will happily sell you pre-configured
> systems. Or at least pre-built ones.
>
> -- 
> Tzafrir Cohen         | tzafrir at jbr.cohens.org.il | VIM is
> http://tzafrir.org.il |                           | a Mutt's
> tzafrir at cohens.org.il |                           |  best
> ICQ# 16849755         |                           | friend
>
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