# New PC Build Compatability



## kapz (Jul 8, 2010)

Greetings,

I just bought a new system and want to confirm if FreeBSD is safe to run on  it. I read FreeBSD HCL but was still unsure about i7 being compatible. Here are the specs:

Intel i7 860 processor
Intel DP55HC motherboard
Kingston 6 GB 1333 MHZ DDR3 RAM.
250 GB SATA Seagate HDD.(This works)
Nvidia Geforce GT 240 graphics card.

Any help is greatly appreciated.


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## Matty (Jul 8, 2010)

if you bought the system already why don't you give it a spin?

maybe you should turned off the speedstep/turbo.


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## jem (Jul 8, 2010)

The i7-860 is one of the LGA1156 i7 CPU's - it only supports dual-channel memory, not triple-channel.

"6GB RAM" suggests you bought a matched triple-channel memory kit.  That was a bad idea.  You'll be able to use two of the DIMM's ok, but you'll need to buy a fourth matching DIMM before you can use the third one.


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## kapz (Jul 8, 2010)

> "6GB RAM" suggests you bought a matched triple-channel memory kit. That was a bad idea. You'll be able to use two of the DIMM's ok, but you'll need to buy a fourth matching DIMM before you can use the third one.



What the.... mmm my vendor should have suggested that!
but anyways thanks man, it was an eyeopener...Just to clear up my doubt, so my system will not detect the third ram module? or that it will detect but wont use it!?


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## kapz (Jul 8, 2010)

To clarify what I bought: 3 modules of 2 GB each with 1333 mhz freq.


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## zeiz (Jul 8, 2010)

Matty said:
			
		

> why don't you give it a spin?


+1
why not?


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## kapz (Jul 8, 2010)

Sure I'll try it as soon as I download the 64 bit copy. It will be a while as downloading it will take atleast 20 hrs...


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## zeiz (Jul 9, 2010)

O, boy! If your connection is slow it maybe worth to try alternative methods like
http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=14162
The iso is only ~30MB and then you download from ftp only base, kernel and manpages. Then having working basic system just install only what you want.
For example on dvd there is a bunch of freebsd docs in many languages and it's about 300MB, just one sample.
I tried the method above and it works great. I didn't use the script and did all the commands manually. To get basic stuff from ftp I ran ftp ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/8.1-RC2/ and then got base, kernels and manpages with *mget* command.

To commit to 20h download I'd at least wait for 2-3 more weeks for 8.1-RELEASE.


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## kapz (Jul 10, 2010)

> To commit to 20h download I'd at least wait for 2-3 more weeks for 8.1-RELEASE.



Yeah that would be a sane thing to do plus I hope 8.1 will have (better)compatability with quad cores and i7's in general. 

Definately worth the wait!


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## kapz (Jul 10, 2010)

And thanx a lot for that info jem, I installed another module and all 8 GB is in use now.


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