KCMA-D8 Libre motherboards are going for around $260 on newegg

[Tai...@gmx.com]

This is a great chance to pick up one of the last and best owner
controlled x86 boards for much less than the usual price ($350) and MSRP
($315).

Compatible with Qubes 4.0!

Supports IOMMU for graphics! (so you can play video games in a VM)


CPU's cost around $10-50 and 16GB DDR3 ECC RAM is $30
Noctua makes a great C32 cooler for around $40 or you can get a not as
great one and have hotter temps for $20 on fleabay.


Recommended Accessories:

ASMB4-iKVM (BMC Module, required for the upcoming libre OpenBMC port for
KGPE-D16/KCMA-D8 the asus boards)

TPM (Coreboot supports an owner controlled core root of trust which is
more secure than otherwise)


Notes:

128GB RAM Max

You will have to get a graphics card if you want decent video, the
onboard chip only supports 1280x768 and is quite slow - AMD is
reccomended for better virtualization (see nvidia code 43 "bug" when you
try to attach their cards to a VM) and linux drivers that are almost
open source and don't suck unlike nvidia

43xx CPU's require microcode updates for secure operation

The init code including graphics init is entirely open source and there
is no ME/PSP, this board can be flashed with a libre version of coreboot
(unlike purism's laptops)



Reccomended CPU's:

4284 (Works securely without microcode updates)

4365EE (40W, for a low power build)

4386 (equivalent to AMD FX 8310)

[Gaijin]

How's your experience with the KGPE-D16/KCMA-D8 boards? Looking at the
NewEgg comments there are a lot of people complaining about seemingly
defective boards. A lot of RMA requests.

[Tai...@gmx.com]

Mine work fine, and I haven't heard of any issues on the coreboot
mailinglist.
What I learned about online reviews is that the satisfied customers
don't make one, so the failure rate is always vastly overstated.

$250 for the last best libre owner controlled x86 motherboard is a great
deal, and it supports playing games in a VM via a graphics card and
IOMMU-GFX
I would get a 4386 if you buy a D8, while it needs microcode updates it
is much faster than a 4284.

Here are some other buying options that are slightly cheaper (and not
owned by the chinese like newegg)

NOTE: I have no idea as to how trustworthy these companies are.

http://www.officespecialties.com/asus_computer_international_kcma_d8_server_motherboard_217195_prd1.htm?pSearchQueryId=420212

http://www.unitedoffice.com/pn/KCMAD8/Asus_46/
$270 another option

http://www.compsource.com/pn/KCMAD8/Asus-46/KcmaD8-Server-Motherboard-KCMAD8/
$260