Motherboards and SBS 2003

Has anyone noticed that is no support for SBS 2003 and what are considered
high end desktop motherboards?
I have clients that would like to run SBS 2003, but when I tell them the
price of a server board that has drivers for this OS they gag. I don't blame
them. Most of my clients have offices between 3 and 10 people. They don't
need dual processors and ECC memory. They just want to take advantage of the
"all in one" type package that SBS offers.
I have an MSI K8N Neo Platinum board with an AMD 3200+ 64bit processor that
I think would be perfect for a small business, but I can't find drivers for
it.
If any body has run into a board or boards that might solve this problem I
would appreciate knowing about them.
Other than an email campaign to these board manufactures and Microsoft,
getting them to lean on the manufactures, I see no releif in the short term.

 

*Raises an eyebrow*

If the motherboard has drivers for Windows 2003, then that's all it will
need.

There are NO SBS 2003 specific drivers.

And I hope you're putting at LEAST Raid 1 in these machines.

Matt Gibson - GSEC

 

I was a little to specific. I'm sure that drivers for 2003 will work with SBS
2003.
Yes, Matt there is RAID where I can and plenty of backups.

Take a look at the MSI board that I have. In the drivers download page for
it, there is an Nvidia Nforce3 system drivers section that says "All
Windows". I tried it last night and came up short with the video and
multimedia drivers. Giving this computer to a customer would make me very
nervous.
Take a look at Intel. I don't see any drivers for 2003 on thier desktop
boards, even on thier high end 925 boards.

I'm beginning to wonder if there is some hanky panky whereby the board
manufactures are not allowed, by contract, to creat drivers for the desktop
boards.

 

XP drivers will USUALLY work (emphasis on usually).

However, since these are desktop boards, I don't doubt there's not 2003
native drivers for most. Server products (IMHO) should not be put on
consumer level motherboards. I must admit, I am a bit surprised that Intel
doesn't have drivers for their high end stuff. If memory serves me
correctly, ASUS stuff has 2003 drivers.

Personally, I prefer Supermicro for my servers.

Matt Gibson - GSEC

 

I agree about Supermicro. I'm still running a S2DG2 dual p3 500 board. It
keeps my office warm in the winter, although I have lost B channel.
I will look at Asus also.
Thanks

 

No worries!

Let me know how it ends up.

Matt Gibson - GSEC

 

Also, I have run Windows 2003 on several machines with VIA chip sets using
generic Hyperion drivers. The drivers say nothing about Windows Server
2003, but they have always worked. Both AMD and P4 processors - I think the
boards were all Biostar. On the other hand, the machines were for lab use -
I wouldn't sell one to anyone.

Doug Sherman
MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP

 

Thank you Matt. The new Supermicro 915G and 925X are exactly what I was
looking for. The prices for these "server" boards are not much higher than
thier desktop counterparts and they have support for 2003. Now I have to look
for a case. Either I will have to buy a recommended case, which are expensive
or get a standerd tower and replace the power supply with a 24 pin. They just
don't make it easy do they?