Pretty basic topic really. I want to build a separate system that will run only Linux based operating systems. For hardware, I am curious what people feel would be a decent system. That can mean different things to different people.
Motherboard preference ? Used Gigabyte and Asus boards primarily in the past
Processor? I have used Intel and AMD and feel AMD will be a better choice these days for this build.
Memory ? I will probably go 32GB at this point. Not sure which ones yet.
Drives? Likely NVME, SSD, and slower mass storage depending on usage for each.
Video Card ? I prefer Nvidia. Mainly for driver support but might consider alternatives.
Main usage will be gaming and video / image processing with music library and the typical browsing. Thats about it. I have a 1070 Nvidia card that runs most anything well. The couple of AMD based cards I have owned over the years have left me unimpressed. All the incidentals like case will likely go to a price / quality determination as will the power supply, cooling system, etc.
Looking for thoughts, existing builds people like, etc.
I have a similar setup - Asus motherboard, 32 GB RAM, (2) SSDs, AMD Ryzen 7 2700, GTX 1070 - and it runs great! Just to be safe, though, I did add the LTS kernel in concert with the 5.14 release. The latest Nvidia 470 driver works out-of-the-box.
I would go for the Gigabyte Aorus Extreme X570 with at minimum the Ryzen 5600X because it’s only 65 watt. This is a fairly expensive board but it has WiFi built on and is one of the best X570 boards. 32 GB DDR 4 3200Mhz memory Corsair or Kingston, Western Digital Black SN750 m.2 drives are most reasonable price. Western Digital SSD are also reasonable prices. Video cards are hard to get and don’t pay over the MSRP otherwise you are getting ripped off. Buy from reputable vendor of computer parts. I can tell you exactly what the prices are here and what they should be.
I find that funny honestly. The worst experiences ever have been with AMD / Radeon cards. Don’t get me wrong, I like to support the “underdog” but that is one place I won’t for now. Add to that the terrible driver support, I will stick with that part.
I appreciate your input as I asked but I have not been convinced otherwise so far. Maybe the newer ones are different now. Dunno and might be worth trying a newer version on a test system. Thanks.
Sounds like a design close to my desires / needs. Thanks. More research on my part is needed it seems.
To add, seeing a lot of negative reviews on the motherboard. Appears Gigabyte quality is not as it once was. More research is needed on my part it seems.
At that Price @Drifter should just buy the Evga X570 Dark which is miles beyond the Gigabyte board in quality and with a much better Bios implementation than pretty much every other Board Manufacturer.
Though If we’re looking at a more resonable price the B550 Aorus Master actually has at least equal or better VRMs than the x570 extreme and is like 1/2 the price.
WD has a habit of being shaddy these days and they like to swap out the nand flash and controller to lesser performing parts after release. The 3 best for SSDs are Crucial, Intel, and Samsung IMO
I just want to point out here that those both use Hynix DRAM chips usually, Ideally on Ryzen you want Micron Edie or Samsung Bdie. Micron E die is easy, just buy crucial ballistix. Its not a HUGE deal but Ryzen IMCs can be a bit picky sometimes.
AMD hasnt had terrible driver support for several years now, that little bit needs to stop as its simply not true. You could argue that their video encoder is kinda crap but not the driver support as they have been very good with the Adrenalin series. Also on Linux the drivers are built into the kernel and they have the best support next to Intel GPUs on linux.
Actually that wasn’t the board i was thinking about. That one is too expensive. It was the Gigabyte X570 Aorus Ultra which is expensive enough. But it has WiFi and 3 m.2 slots plus a host of other features.
The B550 Aorus Master is actually a much better board than the Ultra. Nothing wrong with the Ultra just the B550 spanks just about any board short of the x570 extreme and its cousins.
As far as the Western Digital drives go i use them and i haven’t had any issues with them. They are reasonable in price and perform well. There’s lots of choice obviously. I like the B550 boards too. I have an MSI B550 sitting here with 2 ethernet ports 1 GB and 2.5 waiting for a cpu someday.
MSI is pretty solid these days, back in the wayback machine not so much but the rebuilt that reputation luckily…except their video cards they keep borking thermal pad placement and heatsink design on their GPUs the past 2 generations but Im sure theyll learn eventually and make good ones again.
I just double checked the B550 Aorus Master uses the same VRM design as the x570 Aorus Extreme which is a 700-800$ board. EDIT: The only major difference is going to be the output filtering on the VRMs, the extreme has more CAPs on the output side which isnt a big deal as you simply cant push Ryzen enough without exotic cooling to worry about your output filtering.
Seasonic Focus Gold delivers some of the cleanest power you will come across, transient response is stellar and its a plain great PSU.
Noctua is Noctua, enough said lol
I love Fractal cases, theyre some of the easiest to work with and the meshify has amazing cooling.
Crucial Ballistix is Micron E die ram which is ideal for Ryzen
GPU and SSD just stick with your GTX 1070 and pick the SSD that meets your size and price requirements.
they keep borking thermal pad placement and heatsink design on their GPUs the past 2 generations but Im sure theyll learn eventually and make good ones again.