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[Joey Raheb]

Boris,

>We are just about to buy computer configuration with AMD Thunderbird
>1.4GHz processor and 512 MB DDR RAM with ASUS A7A266 motherboard. We plan
>to use it for quantum chemistry programs (Gaussian, Gammes).
>Here are my questions: does anybody have any experience with this
>motherboard, and can anybody recommend me any other suitable
>motherboard (for example A7M266)?

I currently have one of these at home, it offers you the ability to choose
between SD and DDR RAM.  I currently work for a group in quantum chem and
built a beowulf for the group.  We just purchased 50 more PCs using the EPOX
AMD boards with AMDs 761 chipset.  There has been talk that the ALi 1 chipset
is not as efficient as the AMDs new 761 chipset which is a revision of the 760
chipset.  We found that the differences between the two boards were minimal,
but the 761 did outperform the ALi chip.  So, I guess as far as what to get,
go with whatever gives you the best price.

>Then, is it better to use DDR RAM or SDRAM?

DDR is much better that SDRAM if we compare them strictly together, however,
the question  you should be asking is do my applications require DDR or can I
get away with SDRAM?  We do some G98 and GAMESS calculations here to and found
that DDR does improve performance.

>I'm also interested to find out may I use Portland compiler on this AMD
>based configuration?

Of course!, thats what we  use!


Joey

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