Think about a case when you are done picking parts that go inside. A fancy case won’t make your system any faster or more stable and hardly any more quiet.
I’m still in the middle of reading very long threads on motherboards and RAM compatibility. Slowly getting more informed. In general, the Asus Prime X370 Pro and the Asrock Taichi come up a lot. The length of the QVL seems to be a major consideration for Ryzen builds. I can get the X370 Pro for 175 CAD (195-20 MIR) vs the Taichi for 235 CAD (285 - 50 MIR). 60$ difference for seemingly better RAM compatibility and some bonuses like 2nd M.2 slot and wifi. I’m pretty sure both of these are ultimately overkill. MSI has less expensive models like the X370 Gaming Plus that seems similarly featured.
Which is better with virtualization? I currently dual boot. Is it now possible to use just VMs and avoid dual boot hassles with Windows (7)? I saw Wendell’s video about passthrough with the Taichi, but I don’t know anything yet about this interesting subject.
For RAM, ultimately I will want 64GB at some point. I’ve been favoring 16GB modules to make it easy to upgrade without worrying about replacing/selling modules. I noticed the supported frequencies with 64GB are much lower – is this likely to improve on existing boards? If not, then it might not make sense to even consider faster RAM than the max supported in that eventual configuration. But if support will improve, or if it’s too much hassle/cost to go with 16GB sticks I might go with lower capacity modules like most people right now.
Another thing of interest:
Also I have a correction: The Prime X370 Pro has only three fan headers that can be controlled, the CPU_OPT is mirroring CPU_FAN, AIO-PUMP and W_PUMP are running full tilt. CHA-FAN1, CHA_FAN2 and CPU_FAN are configurable. You can monitor all of them though, I think that is why I got that wrong.
Nofan is appealing. Sadly it’s hard to find here. Also, I wonder if the compromise of going semi-passive might be better from both performance and cost points of view, especially since any half-decent GPU is bound to make noise under load anyways.
Thanks for the correction. Do you know if Asus or Asrock has better fan control? The three controllable fan headers on the Prime X370 Pro should be ok for me especially if I can use fan header splitters. That would be ok, right?
Yeah, I am using splitters and stuff for my systems all the time. You want to pair up the same type of fans of course.
Completely passive is always more expensive and less powerful. That is just the nature of it.
I just bought one of those nofan things on ebay but it might take some time until I can report on it.
I have an ASRock Taichi X99 somewhere but no CPU for that.
I would guess ASRock X370 boards are pretty much on the same level with the Asus.
If I had no intention to have a strong GPU, I’d be very tempted to aim for a fully passive setup.
I plan to start ordering within the next couple of days, but I’m still curious to hear your results with nofan.
Getting closer to completing the parts list. Insightful criticisms and alternatives welcomed.
CPU: R7 1700
Easiest choice in this list.
MB: [Asrock X370 Taichi or Asus Prime X370 Pro]
Willing to pay the ~60 CAD difference if meaningful. Both seem great. Whichever is likely to give me fewer headaches. Both seem popular in the linux crowd. Maybe there’s a bit more info about virtualization with the Taichi? Asus has one more PCIe x1, video outputs, and lower price. Taichi has an extra M.2, wifi (but just 1x1, although apparently replaceable), and of course the VRMs that everyone seems to love.
RAM: […]
I’m really lost here. Is the 2133MHz max with 4 DIMMs a fixed limitation? If so, it doesn’t make sense to get anything higher, does it? 16GB module(s) preferred for ease of upgrade to 64GB. Willing to be swayed by reason. Asrock’s QVL is easier to navigate.
PSU: Corsair RM650x
Good reviews, semi-passive, decent price. Seasonic fully passive would be on wishlist. Alternatives welcome.
GPU: passive GT 1030 (any AMD equivalent?)
- Buys time for prices to drop.
- Buys time to see how ROCm support develops before choosing NVIDIA or AMD.
- 30W passive GPU might be a useful second GPU (passthrough VM?) even after an upgrade.
CPU Cooler: Arctic Freezer 33 Plus
Seems to have decent cooling ability and semi-passive fans are appealing. Alternatives?
Case: [Define C, Define S, 400Q]
Is there a list of video card model lengths to make it easier to pick a case that won’t limit future GPU options?
Case fans: [BeQuiet Silentwings 3, Noctua ??]
For future consideration in case default fans aren’t quiet enough. PWM having lower RPMs seems more appealing. Silentwings seem recommended by people sensitive to noise and claim that certain Noctua fans have a “tone” that bothers them even at low RPMs. I dunno. I don’t yet understand the significance between different fan designs (static pressure, high air flow, etc).
UPS
Haven’t looked into it yet. Recommendations?
Sorry for so many questions. Thanks for bearing with me. There’s a bit of a learning curve since I hadn’t been looking into desktop hardware lately. Your insights are appreciated.
I’ve got a 1700 on a Taichi. It’s a fine board. Let’s put it this way: The real question is: Do you want WiFi and an additional m.2 slot? If so, get the Taichi. If not, go with the Prime Pro.
On my Taichi, I’m running 4x8GB at 3200MHz (they’re rated 3200MHz) They only “support” 2133MHz because everything else is technically overclocking and they can’t guarantee you can hit the speed. If you get 3200MHz memory, chances are, it will work at 3200MHz, assuming you check that it’s on the motherboards QVL.
AMD hasn’t made a passive card in some time, from what I can tell. The closest thing is a RX 550, which retails for $79 and userbenchmark claims ~30% more speed. You can’t go wrong with the 1030, but the RX 550 is a good option as well, if you can find it for a decent price.
Can you define your requirements? There are different “levels” of UPS.
- surge protector, battery backup, battery lasts to shut off system.
- surge protector, power conditioner (fixes voltage/hz issues), battery backup, battery lasts to shut off system.
- surge protector, power conditioner, battery backup, battery lasts for a few hours to finish some work in hopes that the power comes back on.
I’m not super experienced with them, but this should give me and others (hopefully with more experience) somewhere to start.
Definitely need wifi, so the Taichi would make things simpler for me. Also, I read about some people with the Asus having fan control issues, so I’m leaning quite a bit towards the Taichi.
Aside, if a sata m.2 is used in the slot, does it still disable the PCIe x4 slot or not?
What is the highest reported frequency using 4 X 16GB ?
Thanks. The RX 550 pricing is not much more than the 1030, though the power draw is about double. I wonder if it wouldn’t be better to save the power and thermal budgets for the eventual 2nd card. I’ll still look into it.
Well of course 3 would be ideal, but at what cost… This is one feature I enjoyed with my previous laptop which was used as a DTR.
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Which PCIe x4 slot are we talking about?
I don’t know. You start to get diminishing returns after 3200 though.
You asked about AMD, so I thought I’d throw out an option. The 1030 would probably be your better choice.
There’s going to be a significant cost associated with that. I think the important question is: Do you want power conditioning? If you live in a region with poor power quality, you might want to opt for a conditioning UPS.
On page 25 of the manual:
PCIE5 (PCIe 2.0 x16 slot) is used for PCI Express x4 lane width graphics cards.
- If PCIE5 slot is occupied, M2_2 will be disabled
It’s not clear to me if the M2_2 being occupied also automatically disables PCIE5, or if it has to be using PCIe for that to happen. i.e. what happens if using msata?
And a lot poorer. But the point of my question is to find constraints. Eg. the QVL mentions 2666 max for 4 X 16GB modules. If nobody succeeded in faster results, then I would not look at anything more than that. If it’s really expensive, I was even considering going for 1 X 16GB of “good” ram temporarily, just not to be stuck with having to remove 8GB modules later. Does that make sense?
It seems so.
None of our other computers have ever been on UPS, so I guess I’d be fine without it.
With all those requirements I’m starting to think a Threadripper system is what you want.
What I want? Yes, it always was. But probably not what I’ll get… at this time.
What I mean is I think you are setting yourself up for trouble because you want Ryzen to be something that it just isn’t. Making a machine do more than it can always ends in tears. Scale it down, maybe split it up into two systems.
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Which of my requirements is too much for Ryzen?
The combination of all of them. Dual GPU, two M.2, 64GB RAM that are somewhat fast, all of that in a bedroom and kind of affordable … it’s a lot.
I would honestly think about just building a quiet/silent desktop system for daily use, like a B350 board, maybe a 1600, some RAM and a passive GPU. put that in the bedroom and build a server for everything else. You have way more options if you don’t have to think about noise.
I still don’t see the problem with trying to optimize and get a lot out of a system. Otherwise, why bother with a desktop? Just get a DTR and be done with it.
In any case, do you have any comments on my parts list post?
Yes, that would be an option again, of course.
I don’t have any beef with those parts other than what I already said. I am a whore for specific brands because I had the least amount of problems with them. And I would try to wait for the 2700. But your list is fine.
Understandable.
I keep thinking about this, but even if I painfully manage to wait another month somehow, what would it achieve?
2700 vs 1700
- 200 MHz faster? Could be matched with a small overclock on the 1700.
- New boost and power management features seem to be only for X series processors (+ 400 series chipset), so irrelevant for the 2700.
- Higher cost.
- Linux compatibility. When?
- Motherboard compatibility. When? Presumably soon, but…
- Memory compatibility. Maybe the biggest “feature” but again how long until motherboard and memory manufacturers test and update firmware and QVLs?
Am I missing something?
I would hate to miss out on a meaningful improvement, but so far I don’t see much in favor of the 2700 over the 1700. But there is a lot of unknown wait time and the prospect of being a beta tester.
Please prove me wrong. I mean it, I’d really like to be wrong on this.
I can’t prove anything, I don’t have a Ryzen 2X00 chip.
Thing is, you can’t prove anything either.
That is why I would wait.
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