On 01/13/2018 12:50 PM, Mick wrote:
Thank you Taiidan for taking time to respond.
Always man!
On Friday, 12 January 2018 17:21:19 GMT you wrote:
AMD says they are releasing microcode updates for their previous
generation CPU's (Opteron, FX, etc) next week.
So much better than intel throwing older CPU owners to the wolves.
Indeed, this is one more reason I will not look at Intel ever again!
In terms of what CPU to get - I would get either an AMD G34/C32 Opteron
(pre-PSP) with a compatible libre firmware board (KGPE-D16 or KCMA-D8)
or if you can afford it a POWER9 system as IBM quickly released updates
for POWER to solve this issue and if they ever stopped due to
considering your system "too old" POWER9 is owner controlled and
documented so the community could theoretically patch its own microcode.
You can make a C32 libre firmware gaming system for around 500-700, so
that is quite affordable.
The problem with KGPE-D16 and KCMA-D8 is that I can't find these new in the
UK. All I find is stripped down second hand MoBos in ebay from businesses
shuttering and repossessions. Also, they do not appear to come with modern
niceties for a desktop like HDMI or DP ports?
You have to install a graphics card - like with any other
server/workstation motherboard the onboard graphics are crappy.
I would order one from the US if you can't find a UK retailer, these are
the most easily obtainable and affordable owner controlled boards.
Power9 appear to be quite new and again I can't find a place that sells them
or provides a price for them ...
https://raptorcs.com
The TALOS 2 - made by the same folks who did the coreboot ports for the
D8 and D16 boards
It is pending RYF certification, is 100% owner controlled and it has
libre firmware from the factory.
POWER is the only owner controlled performance CPU out there, IBM
publishes a lot of documentation and there is absolutely no hardware
code signing enforcement not even for the microcode.
Please note that 5K is an average price for server hardware in that
performance class, there are a variety of lower end owner controlled
options if that is too much/if you don't need something that fast.
We don't do any gaming with our PCs. General office suite applications, heavy
browsing/emails and some media transcoding.
The market has been cornered by the near monopoly of Intel, especially on
laptops. The last PC I built was a relatively cheap and cheerful AMD
A10-7850K on an ASUS MoBo, which sadly comes loaded with its own hardwired PSP
rootkit. :-(
You can install a FM2 CPU on that, the plus has PSP the regular doesn't.
Any ideas for places I could look for a power9 workstation - assuming it is
affordable, or are there are any other CPU/MoBos I could look at?
Define affordable?
People have gotten used to intel's cheap CPU's that they don't really
own - even just 15 years ago computers used to cost significantly more.
I remember when the P4 was just released and crappy pre-builds were
going for 2K+.
