On Mon, 20 Sep 2010, David McLean wrote:

> Just looking for any recommendations for computer hardware to use or to
> stay away from. I'm looking to build a reasonably fast, dual/multi
> processor system but can't afford to end up with a system that is so
> cutting edge that it is not supported. Our institution gets good deals
> through Dell so I'm sure they will purchase a Dell system as opposed to
> specifying individual components, but I'm still concerned with SATA
> support and various graphics device support. <br>
> <br>
> Any suggestions, recommendations, or warnings are welcome!<br>
> <br>

Stay away from:

     Nvidia chipset based motherboards.

     Nvidia Quatro 420 video cards.  Note that Dell sells this card.
     They install the vesa driver and you get "wimpy video".  The Nvidia
     graphics driver installs but never finds any "screens".

-Connie Sieh