I’m working on a budget build server build, it needs to have good single-thread performance and it will also be running small services for the LAN. It will be headless and running Linux.
I’ve been interested in the Ryzen 5600X for this.
Things I care about:
price! price ceiling is $1000
good single thread performance for things like code compilation
I only need enough graphics capability to configure the hardware and maybe perform the OS install (hopefully I can just automate that over the network). The graphics ports on this board won’t work with only this processor, right? If not what’s the best route to get super cheap basic graphics in this machine?
I’m not at all confident about my choices of RAM and motherboard. Do they look OK?
For the case I don’t need/want a window. Just something simple with relatively good energy efficiency.
Personally, for your use case I’d buy an Asus PN50 R7-4800U for $650 and combine that with a 1TB NVMe SSD ($100) and 2 32GB SO-DIMMs ($300). While slightly above budget ($1050), it should work for you.
Advantages
8 cores, 16 threads
Quiet as a mouse
Possible to hide on the back of a screen with VESA mounts
Case fits the palm of your hand
When EOL it can easily work as an Emulation Station
Integrated graphics so no need to think about that
Entire system draws 30W(!)
Drawbacks
85% the performance of the 5600X
Not possible to upgrade RAM or CPU further on that platform
No way to install extra components like network add-in cards
So, while single threaded performance admittedly is not the best, it is still decent and the hardware ticks all your other criteria. If you still want a more traditional build, here is a quick PC Part Picker with quality parts:
Component
Part
Price
Comment
CPU
Ryzen 5 5600X
$299
Motherboard
Gigabyte B550I AORUS PRO
$199
RAM
Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x32GB 3200MHz
$309.99
Storage
ADATA Swordfish 1TB M.2-2280 NVMe
$102.99
Case
Silverstone SG13 v2
$51.99
PSU
EVGA GD 600W 80+ Gold
$68.98
Total
$1028.95
Not the most quiet of boxes, but it gets the job done. If you want really quiet, add $100-$150 more to this. You could tweak this build slightly, getting a cheaper B550 or even an A520 board, too - but not really recommended. Of course, during installation you need to add a GPU of some sort, but once SSH is installed that can be removed, too.
Thanks! I’m checking out those components now. I thought about the asus pn50 but I really want to try out the 5600X for this project… it’s kind of an ulterior motive for this whole build.
Of course, during installation you need to add a GPU of some sort, but once SSH is installed that can be removed, too.