[Bioclusters] recommendations on cheap hardware?

[Fernan Aguero]

Hi!

Due to a very tight budget, we're considering buying what we
call 'old technology' nodes ... ie mobos and CPUs that are
based on technology that is being replaced but that can
still be found for purchase. The obvious idea is that we can
add more nodes (slower but cheaper), instead of less (but
faster) nodes.

We're evaluating building AMD socket A
or Pentium socket 478 machines. 

Do you have any recommendation on particular motherboards?
Any particular chipset that should be avoided (badly
supported) in Linux?

I've heard good things about MSI and Tyan mobos, but haven't
had any personal experience with them.  I've been bitten in
the past by a bad mobo design and would not like to be
bitten again.

We will be buying standard ATX mothers and building the
nodes ourselves.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Fernan

-- 
Fernan Aguero -  fernan at iib.unsam.edu.ar
Phone: +54 11 4580-7255/7 ext 310, Fax: +54 11 4752-9639
Check http://genoma.unsam.edu.ar/~fernan for more info.