# ITX Motherboard Recommendation



## Msgmax (Feb 1, 2014)

Wanting to learn FreeBSD.

Need solid recommendation on mini ITX Motherboard I can pick up on Newegg or other outlet. Would prefer recent Intel technology, Atom would be secondary choice. 

Thanks.


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## SirDice (Feb 1, 2014)

I have a MSI C847MS-E33 micro-ATX board. It has an onboard Intel Atom. I  bought it for my firewall because it's passively cooled. It runs 9-STABLE (amd64) just fine.


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## ondra_knezour (Feb 1, 2014)

Looking forward to test this one http://www.supermicro.com/products/moth ... -2758F.cfm

IPMI, Crypto processor (10 Gbps 128 bit AES throughput), ECC, 4 x 2.5 Gbe NICs, but I don't know how it will go with FreeBSD yet.


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## ralphbsz (Feb 1, 2014)

What are you looking for?  Extremely high CPU speed, massive IO, a gaming-type system (those exist in mini-ITX form factors)?  Or very low power consumption?  How about memory: With a 32-bit CPU, you are likely limited to 3 or 4 GB of RAM.  Do you need a 64-bit CPU?

I have an Intel Atom mini-ITX motherboard, namely the Jetway NF99FL.  It runs FreeBSD, and I'm mostly happy with it: low power consumption, large number of SATA ports, enough Ethernet ports to be a home NAT router.  The 3GB of available RAM and 32 bit CPU is fine for my application.  My only problem is that the serial ports on the motherboard don't work: here is a thread about it, and the corresponding bug report.  But that failure of the serial port may not be specific to this type of motherboard, and might actually simply indicate fried hardware.


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## Msgmax (Feb 1, 2014)

Right now I'm just interested in getting a working Image up and running to learn and hack around. Really not interested in edge case use like gaming or low power aspects. Just want to grab some known working hardware and get up and running.


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## Msgmax (Feb 9, 2014)

Thanks for the Motherboard suggestions.

Did my first install on a Intel NUC DCCP847DYE, for FreeBSD 10.0.

Install was painless
+ network: 100%
+ X: 100%, though had to add for mouse: Option "AutoDevices" false
+ Sound: 100%: though only tested the headphone jack off the monitor. Don't have any speakers
+ Mouse, Keyboard, etc...: 100%

Curiously, tried to install package KDE4, was informed no package name kde4 could be installed, XFCE works fine though, haven't attempted GNOME.

The NUC is not  ITX but the small form factor is a good substitute.

Look forward to working with this OS.


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