This system is built for two main purposes: building and running the Firestorm client for Second Life. The client is a 1.2MLOC C++ monstrosity that takes 30 minutes or so to build on my current system, a dual-hex Mac Pro 5,1 with 64 GB, and it’s getting kinda slow running two clients simultaneously on that system with a GTX 960. The OS is Pop!_OS 20.04, an Ubuntu variant from System76 that has the singular advantage of being very good at Just Working out of the box. No fiddling required. Pop!_OS does Nvidia a lot more easily than it does AMD, so I’m sticking with it.
I got interested in the NZXT H1, and Wendell told me he liked it, so I specced out a build and came up with this, based on not only what was good but also what I could actually get. (B550 motherboards are hard to find at the moment.)
PCPartPicker Part List
| Type | Item | Price |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor | $429.99 @ B&H |
| Motherboard | Asus ROG STRIX B550-I GAMING Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard | $229.99 @ B&H |
| Memory | G.Skill Trident Z Neo 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory | $274.99 @ Newegg |
| Storage | Sabrent Rocket 4.0 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $199.98 @ Amazon |
| Video Card | Zotac GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB GAMING Video Card | |
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts | ||
| Total | $1352.91 | |
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-20 18:34 EDT-0400 |
I wound up spending just under $1800, soup to nuts, including the H1 (at $349). My budget was $1500, but I’m not unhappy. I was originally going to get a 1660Ti, since the Second Life client doesn’t and won’t ever use the RTX raytracing, but for $30 more, the 2060 is a bit faster, so it was an easy upgrade.
As I write this, I’m waiting on the SSD and graphics card to arrive; both should be here tomorrow. I’ve gone ahead and built the system aside from those two. Putting it together was straightforward, though you do want to take your time and route the cables carefully so as not to get any between the motherboard and AIO fan. I am going to take Wendell’s advice and force the PCIe slot to PCIe 3, just to make sure it’s good and solid. I’m also not planning on pushing the CPU clock much if at all, certainly not before seeing what the temps look like running flat out.
My big hope is that I get better performance with less power use. PCPartPicker estimates 363W; my Mac Pro idles about 280 or so, and can hit 450 if I push it hard. I expect this to idle down in the low 100 watt range or maybe even less. I don’t expect to save all that much on my power bill, but it will be nice not to have quite so much heat.
I’ll report back when I have everything in it and the OS installed.
