Can not use 2008 Server on Intel based desktop Motherboards?

[codeslinger]

I have been told by ASUS tech support that all the recent Intel and nVidia chipsets will refuse to run a server OS on a desktop motherboard but AMD did not [at least not yet] restrict this. If true, this is really crappy of Intel and I will be finally switching to AMD processors.

Can anyone verify this for other mobo makers using Intel chipsets? It is at minimum true of actual Intel mobos as I have read exactly that on their website though they claimed it was a lack of drivers rather than flat out blocking which is what the ASUS guy told me they now do.

I would appreciate any good motherboard suggestions for building an "HTPC 2008 server". It will sit in my wire closet anyway so I want good 5.1 audio to my A/V receiver and video to my Sony HDTV as well as run 2008 Server with Hyper-V for my development and testing work. Hopefully IE7 running Silverlight for Netflix and Winamp run well on 2008 Server.

Also, I'm far from an expert at audio or video so I need advice on 1) for decent 5.1 audio, is the now normally builtin audio in the latest motherboards sufficient if I'm just going to route it to my A/V receiver with S/PDIF optical cable or are audio cards really worthwhile in this case even if not running speakers directly from the PC? and 2) will I get better video on my Sony 1080i HDTV using HDMI output from the mobo or a graphics card vs. using an analog D-Sub connection that will display the native 1366x768 resolution of the TV which is what I am doing on my current system. Sony support says the later is better even if analog and others claim the former would be better. One thing I don't like about HDMI is the audio apparently cannot be split out in the A/V receiver and would have to go to the TV and then back to the receiver. I know it is 7.1 capable but don't need but 5.1 so optical is fine for me if lostless but I want the best video I can get to a 1080i TV that has a 1366x768 native resolution. I have verified that my current XP system displays at this resolution using a Radeon card to the D-Sub connector.

Any advice and experience most welcome!

Thanks, Dave

[dicecca112]

Totally untrue. Apparently I imagined the 2008 Server Installs we have in work.

[codeslinger]

What mobos/chipsets are you using? Have you had issues with drivers? Thanks!

[dicecca112]

Trust me, they work on all of them. Were did you get this information from?

[codeslinger]

As I mentioned, ASUS tech support. Actually it was pre sales support but the guy was pretty knowledgeable in general even if wrong about this. Perhaps the very latest chipsets have this issue? I know there is no intrinsic reason to not run on a desktop mobo but I could think of a few ways to detect if a server OS and not allow it but it would indeed be very sleazy to do so. All the same, I don't want to invest in the lastest mobo/chipset to find out that 2008 server with Hyper-V does not work. I'm a developer but know hardware some. Intel's site does claim you cannot run the server OS on THEIR mobos but blame it on drivers so good to know I could use a Vista driver. Thanks for your input.

[DX]

Who here hasn't had a confident sales man tell them 100% bull crap? I have been told all kinds of stuff from a sales guy that "knew his stuff" but didn't.

Pre sales support is just another name for sales guy trying to get an up sale in. OH you can't possibly run a server OS on a $90 desktop board it just won't work here is the 400+ uberboard that you have to use for the server OS. The huckster is just trying to get you to spend more money that's his job.

[codeslinger]

Just to update and close this thread, I am running server 2008 standard with hyper-v enabled just fine on a gigabyte ep45-ud3p board which is a great board with dual bios and a cache of 8 bios settings you can remember.