Ryzen 3000 series Arch Linux build

[whjones2]

Aloha everyone,
I will be building my first PC and am moving from an Intel NUC7i5BNH, which I’ve outgrown. I already have the Corsair MP500 256GB M.2 NVMe and a 2TB Seagate Barracuda 2.5" HDD, which I will transfer. Please take a look at the following and give me any suggestions/changes you would make:

Motherboard: MSI MEG X570 Unify
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3000 series (most likely 7 3700X or 9 3900X)
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z Neo F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC
GPU: Sapphire Radeon Pulse RX 5600 XT
PSU: EVGA 750 B5
Case: NZXT H510

I’ll be running Arch Linux, so I won’t be able to control any RGB, hence the motherboard. Should I want RGB, I saw a 5-fan set from Pccooler, on Amazon, that is controlled by a remote control. Not optimal, but I could also use be quiet! Silent Wings 3 fans instead.

My use case will be video editing/transcoding, work with VMs (both server and clients), and shell scripting/programming. I currently don’t game, but that could be in the future, what with Steam

The one question I have, with respect to the Unify motherboard is with the Nahimic sound. From what I can tell, Nahimic is Windows-only, but is somewhat prevalent on several motherboard manufacturer’s products. Has anyone here had any experience with Linux and Nahimic sound? If so, how does it work in Linux?

Thank you in advance for any and all responses.

[SgtAwesomesauce]

@whjones2

I’ll be running Arch Linux, so I won’t be able to control any RGB

There are RGB Linux controls in the works. Board support is hit or miss, however that’s a nitpick.

@whjones2

My use case will be video editing/transcoding, work with VMs (both server and clients), and shell scripting/programming.

What tool do you use to edit videos? If you’re using DaVinci Resolve, you should really go Nvidia. You can get 1070s for stupid cheap these days.

@whjones2

Nahimic sound

No experience with it, but it looks like it’s some sort of spacial audio projection tool. I suspect it’s more gimmick than benefit, but I also suspect that it will absolutely not work on Linux. The Linux and Windows audio stack is just too different.

---

@whjones2

NZXT H510

This is a terrible case. No proper airflow. If you’re going to have a anything that gives off heat in the case, you probably don’t want to use this case.

These temps are degrees over ambient.

@whjones2

AMD Ryzen 3000 series (most likely 7 3700X or 9 3900X)

Given your use case, and the fact that you didn’t specify a budget, I’d recommend as many cores as is practical for you.

Normally, for people looking for “bang for your buck” builds, I’d recommend the 3700x, since it’s got 8 really powerful cores and the price steps to the 3900x and 3950x are just too steep for me to justify personally.

And as someone who has a 1950x, I have to say that the additional cores aren’t really worth it, unless you’re going to be running many multi-threaded loads all day. (I bought it because I need the PCIe lanes)

[whjones2]

Aloha sgtawesomesauce,

What a great screen name Thanks for your comments. I was aware of the airflow concerns with the NZXT cases, and I suppose the NZXT 710 isn’t any better. I’ll have to look for other cases, but with enough clearance for a Dark Rock Pro 4, should I go with a Ryzen 9 3900X.

I was originally going to go for a blackout theme, hence the Silent Wings 3 fans consideration. I could maintain positive airflow with a pair of 140mm in the front and 2x120mm in the back/top. The Pccooler fans aren’t quite as good (other than Noctua, what is?), but they would provide just a bit of light - they are RGB on the edge, like the Riing fans . I liked the lack of RGB on the Unify motherboard, but wasn’t sure about the audio.

I forgot to mention that my budget is $2000 maximum, but I would like to the most band for the buck. I would also like to provide room for upgrades in the future.

As for RGB, it looks nice, but I’ve heard that it can become quite overwhelming. One of my coworkers said that he would just sit and watch his computer instead of using it, sometimes for hours at a time, but he finally decided to turn it all off and actually use his computer The remote controller would allow me to just set one color or mode and have done with it.

As for video, I also have a MacBook Pro and was using Final Cut Pro, but haven’t decided, yet on which specific video editing tool I want to use. I understand the RAM and GPU considerations with respect to Davinci Resolve, and was thinking along the lines of using Kdenlive to start, although Resolve may be in the future. The one thing about Nvidia GPUs that I don’t like, however, is that they don’t support Wayland. I don’t see X going away anytime soon, but Wayland will eventually replace it, and it doesn’t seem as if Nvidia is interested in providing support for it, at least not from what I can gather now.

I am intrigued by Ryzen 9 3900X, but would probably be better served by the 3700X, although I can fit either one into my budget. I also neglected to mention that I have a logitech wireless mouse/keyboard set and a monitor, so that is also not to be counted against the budget. Basically, I’m only budgeting for the case and everything in it, except for storage.

Thanks again for your response.