On 02/03/2022 19:39, Philip Webb wrote:
After > 6 years , I'm planning to build a new machine ANB6.
The present machine ANB5 -- details at end -- continues to perform well,
but I can't rely on that for ever.
I use it for everyday desktop work + fun.
The weekly Gentoo update is the main stressor, for which ANB5 is adequate,
but it's always nice to get a bit more speed & avoid too much heat-up.
I expect to buy the parts from the local store
-- Canada Computers in Downtown Toronto -- & prices below are in CAD.
I'm price-sensitive, but willing to pay a bit more for a better part.
Here's the list + a few comments ; '*' denotes presently prefered item :
ANB6
[ CPU : not much difference, but comments very welcome.
I've had good luck with AMD in the past, less so with Intel ]
220208 CPU AMD : CPAMD00131 : Ryzen 7 : 5700G : 8-core 16-thread : $ 388
Socket AM4 : 3,8 / 4,6 GHz : Radeon Graphix Wreath Stealth
00055 : Ryzen 7 : 3700X : 7 nm : 8-core 16-thread : $ 400
Socket AM4 : 3,6 / 4,4 GHz
* 00110 : Ryzen 7 : 5800X : ZEN 3 : 7 nm : 8-core 16-thread : $ 460
Socket AM4 : 3,8 / 4,7 GHz boost
I stick to AMD. Prejudice? Quite likely.
[ Mobo : ANB4 (previous machine, now stand-by) + ANB5 have Gigabyte ]
220219 Mobo AMD : MBASU00311 : Asus : Prime B550+ (Ryzen AM4) : $ 180
dual M.2 : PCle 4.0 : 1 GB Ethernet : SATA 6 Gbps
USB 3.2 gen 2 Types A/C : Aura Sync RGB headers support
* MBGIG00145 : Gigabyte : X570 Aorus elite WIFI : $ 220
dual PCle 4.0 M.2 : Intel dual-band 802.11ac wireless
front USB Type C : RGB Fusion 2.0
Again, I stick to Gigabyte.
[ Memory : Kingston has always performed well & 16 GB sb adequate ]
220222 Memory : MEKIT00581 : Kingston : 2 x 8 = 16 GB $ 110
DDR4 3600 MHz CL17 dual channel
What's the largest chip a slot takes? If you can afford it, buy two of
those. My new mobo takes 16GB, and they were only GB£50 each - £100. If
you ever want to upgrade the ram, you won't need to "chuck and replace".
[ Graphics card : this seems to be the big problem.
There are cheaper cards, but they're all "sold out" :
apparently, there's a supply problem at present ;
this was the cheapest in stock in late Feb ]
220223 Graphix : VCASU00223 : Asus : $ 280
Phoenix PH-GTX1650-O4GD6 GeForce GTX 1650
4 GB GDDR6 : 1.41 GHz Core : 128 bit Bus Width
DisplayPort HDMI DVI
[ cheapest available : most types sold out : >= $ 60 ]
Look at the new "combined CPU and Video" chips - most boards have had
onboard graphics since don't know when, but the newer boards need a
combined G/CPU for onboard to work.
[ SSD : Kingston as above : 1 TB sb adequate ]
220222 SSD : SSKIT00058 : Kingston : 512 GB $ 95
KC600 SATA3 6 GB/s 2,5" R 550 W 520 MB/s
* SSKIT00069 : Kingston : 1 TB $ 170
KC600 SATA3 6 GB/s 2,5" R 550 W 520 MB/s
SSSAS00105 : Samsung : 500 GB $ 100
870EVO SATA3 R 560 W 530 MB/s
SSSAS00106 : Samsung : 1 TB $ 140
870EVO SATA3 R 560 W 530 MB/s
SSWEE00015 : W Digital : 500 GB $ 90
3D NAND SATA R 560 W 530 MB/s
SSWEE00015 : W Digital : 1 TB $ 140
3D NAND SATA M.2 2280 R 560 W 530 MB/s
If you're planning to use the mobo's SATA ports, just make sure you know
how many will be usable. Both an M2 board and a Graphics board nick PCIe
channels, and the mobo may disable SATA ports to free them up ...
[ HDD : for back-up + alternative OS (Mint).
ANB5 has Seagate : anyone prefer W Digital & if so, why ? ]
* 220222 HDD : HDSEA00144 : Seagate : 2 TB $ 55
SATA 3,5" 7200 RPM
BarraCuda? That's an SMR drive. Look at the FireCuda instead or even
better an IronWolf. Only snag is, it'll push the price up. Umm ... the
firecuda costs a lot more than I thought - a 4TB IronWolf is £84.
HDWD002115 : W Digital : 1 TB $ 60
SATA 3,5" 6 GB/s 7200 RPM 64 MB cache
WD Black? Again, probably SMR. The BarraCuda looks cheaper, bigger, better.
[ Case : ANB5 has Deepcool, which seems a good price ]
* 220223 Case : CSDCL00019 : Deepcool : $ 55
E-Shield 120 mm Fan Radiator Support
E-ATX/ATX/MicroATX/MiniITX
00032 : Matrexx 50 $ 60
00035 : Matrexx 55 MESH $ 70
PSU Shroud
00044 : Macube 310P WH $ 80
Magnetic/CableManagement/FAN HUB Pre-install
[ Power : ANB5 has Thermaltake : is 700 W likely to be adequate ? ]
Crumbs. For the system you're spec'ing, 250W is probably adequate. That
said, at $60 I wouldn't skimp on a decent supply. A stressed supply is
more likely (a) to blow, and (b) to take out components with it. That
$60 is money well spent. My PSUs are Corsairs, for no particular reason.
* 220223 PSU : PSTHL00007 : Thermaltake $ 60
700 W 80 PLUS
PSSES00017 : Seasonic $ 60
FOCUS SSR-650FM 650 W 80+
Gold Semi-Modular ATX12V/EPS12V Compact 140 mm
PSCO001438 : Corsair $ 60
CX-M CX650M 650 W 80+ Bronze
PSEVG00043 : EVGA $ 60
600 BQ, 80+ BRONZE 600 W Semi-Modular FDB Fan 3-Yr Warranty
PSCO100109 : Corsair $ 80
CX750F RGB 750 W 80+ Bronze Fully Modular
[ Wifi : currently, I'm using a landline for Internet,
but my new apartment has free Wifi. Is it standard on Mobos these days ? ]
Dunno. If it doesn't you should be able to get a USB dongle ...
Wifi : sb std on mobo
[ Sound : I've never installed sound on my computers, but it wb nice.
Do all Mobos have a sound chip today ? -- I'm an utter novice here ]
Sound : sb available fr mobo, card is opt'l extra
I think sound has been standard for absolutely years. Note that most
VDUs are HDMI nowadays - get one with speakers and the sound should come
out that.
[ DVD drive : I don't believe I need this anymore ]
DVD ?
You don't need it, just get one anyway, they're about £20 max? (Or
salvage one from an old PC - they're all SATA nowadays anyway.)
[ These are the specs for the present machine, built Oct 2015 ]
ANB5
150914 CPU : AMD X8 FX8370E 8-core 4,3 GHz 16 MB 32 nm 95 W : 259.00
Direct replacement : 3 yr : 38.85
150926 Mobo : ASUS M5A97 LE AMD 970/SB8950 DDR3 1866 GHz : 104.99
150914 Memory : Kingston HyperX Fury 8 GB DDR3 1866 MHz CL10 : 68.99
150914 Graphix : Asus GT610 810 MHz clock 1200 MHz memory : 74.99
150914 SSD : Kingston SSDNow V300 240 GB SATA RW 450 MB/s : 109.99
150914 HDD : Seagate Desktop SATA3 1 TB 64 MB 6 GB/s : 57.99
Ont recycle fee : 0.75
150914 DVD : Samsung SH-224FB 24x SATA 1.5 MB : 21.99
Ont recycle fee : 0.75
150917 Case : Deepcool Terraract BF : 39.99
150917 PSU : Thermaltake TR2 500 W : 59.99
ANB4 ANB5 have Gigabyte mobo (ANB5 had Asus, wh had 2 defects) ;
ANB1-3 had Asus mobo (ANB2 orig'ly had Soyo)
[ 'ANB' = 'Aristotle's new body' : Aristotle was my original XT in 1989
& when I built my 1st machine in 2000, it was his 1st new body,
since when he's been my computer spirit (smile).
I'm a Classicist by training & wrote my PhD thesis on the philosopher.
I have a mathematical side too ]
For your hard drive, SMR will be fine for backups. I'd try and create
two 50GB partitions for /gentoo and /mint on the SSD. Try and use UEFI
for boot, it'll probably make booting simpler. I've got
BIOS/GRUB/gentoo+SUSE and they trample on each other :-( Then you've got
900GB for /home etc.
I'd put LVM on the backup drive, so you can create snapshots of your
backups and do full backups with an incremental copy - look at rsync
with --in-place. That makes the BarraCuda even better value ...
Cheers,
Wol
