Linux Mint Forums

I intend to get a new entry level desktop motherboard to use purely for Linux.
Some experimentation with different distro's and perhaps multiboot. (Not Windows)
The usage will be:
Internet, email, command line, CD and DVD backup to iso.
No gaming but I might do some limited 2D video editing.

Which motherboards are Linux friendly?

I have a Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H. It works perfectly. Absolutely no issues with Mint.

Hi TechGhodTrole,

Thanks for the reply.
What CPU are you using with it?

I am also concerned about the new bios systems not playing well with Linux. Any problems there?

Regards, Catchpole.

Motherboards don't cause that much Linux problems - there are more people having problems with graphics than with the motherboard.

About the BIOS, Gigabyte in the past had boards with so-called "Hybrid EFI" which could cause problems. With Mint 14, however, most boards with UEFI (the new BIOS technology), are just working for a Linux Mint only installation; dual-boot can sometimes cause problems but is now working fine too in many cases (usually problems are caused by Windows trying to boot using traditional BIOS and Mint trying to boot with UEFI, or the other way round - if both boot the same way, dual-boot usually works).

You can just take any cheap B75 motherboard with an Intel CPU with integrated graphics, such as the Core i3 3225 which has Intel HD Graphics 4000. I have magazine in front of me with a review of six of those boards. The MSI B75MA-P45 is preferred here. It has four DIMM slots, VGA and DVI outputs for use with the CPU's built-in graphics, and a below average power consumption.
I have not seen much problems with MSI's UEFI on this forum so far.

Hi AlbertP,

Thanks for the advice.
I looked up B75 Motherboards and it seems to be a standard.
Asus and Gigabyte refer to it in their literature. I guess that the "B" means business.
Is Gigabyte any more Linux fiendly than Asus?

I'm not chasing performance but just want as few problems as possible.

Regards, Catchpole

I used to exclusively use Asus, mainly because it tended to be wrung out more completely: although they also had problems sometimes

However having watched Gigabyte for some time, I believe they are also pretty good with support and performance
--you never have to max out performance, instead you can opt for slightly less than optimum but get better mainboard stability (clock timings)

Catchpole wrote:Is Gigabyte any more Linux fiendly than Asus?

Gigabyte boards may sometimes be of better quality than Asus, but their Linux support is worse. MSI which I recommended, is a good quality manufacturer too and hardly causes problems with Linux (and is often cheaper than Asus).

B75 is the motherboard chipset that all those cheaper boards use. This is a Basic model from Intel (the business chipsets have a Q). If you do not need to use multi-GPU or overclocking, the B75 is usually fine. Else you can use a board with the more expensive Z77 chipset. Both are chipsets used with socket 1155 Intel CPUs. Intel manufactures all motherboard chipsets themselves; they don't grant licences for chipset manufacturing to other companies for their latest CPUs (which they did in the past, for socket 775 and before).

Thanks guys I can now search and choose with the benefit of knowledge picked up here.

Catchpole wrote:What CPU are you using with it?

Intel 3770.

I am also concerned about the new bios systems not playing well with Linux. Any problems there?

Like I said, no issues. UEFI can be turned off easily.