March 2022 Gentoo Enthusiast build (serious this time)

[ibrown39]

So I’ll preface this with I know I’ve asked pretty much the same before, however this was more theoretical and the medium/use case weren’t clear. This time I really want plan on building a desktop centered around fantastic emerge, compile, and build times. I won’t be gaming on this so no need for a monster GPU.

Before most suggested a 3rd gen thread ripper but now some others have suggested some multi core Intels (i9). I see myself using this for kernel development, OS DEV work, and possibly as a distcc node. But also just to have fun.

For gaming and graphic intensive work I have an i9 + 3090, so I would think/prefer to save the majority of the budget or this build for CPU and ram. From what I understand, there are greatly diminishing returns for each significant jump in cores and memory (16cores -> 24c -> … 64c + 64gb -> 120gb+ ram) and that a 3rd gen threadripper would more than enough. Honestly a case + cpu (+ thermal handling) + ram + psu (probs hunt around for an NVME) would all Id need for it. I have a r/buildapc thread going under the same user name so feel free to pop there too if you prefer.

I’m mostly asking given the difference in suggestions. Ideally the whole build would be <$3500, better if under $3000. I’m in CO, USA and have access to microcenter. Thanks and I’ll try to respond as soon as I can. I’m open to used prebuilt workstations to building it. DMs open.

[figueroa]

Too rich for me, but what's "DMs open" mean? Also, what is the question?
_________________
Andy Figueroa
hp pavilion hpe h8-1260t/2AB5; spinning rust x3
i7-2600 @ 3.40GHz; 16 gb; Radeon HD 7570
amd64/23.0/split-usr/desktop (stable), OpenRC, -systemd -pulseaudio -uefi

[OldTango]

[steve_v]

IMO this question could easily be rephrased as "how long is a piece of string". You want hardware recommendations for running Gentoo, but only you can find a suitable balance between price, performance, and patience.
If you want to compile chromium and co, you'll want plenty of RAM. Other than that, compile time is just a matter of raw general-purpose compute power and how much noise, heat and power consumption you're willing to put up with.

Personally, I like Intel CPUs with the best single-thread performance I can get, because I do stuff other than compiling or rendering on this box. TBH the last AMD CPU I bought was a K6-3, and they totally lost me with the bulldozer fiasco.

Last time I went with an overclocked 10900KF on air for my desktop, because there's something strangely satisfying about a machine that sounds like a tornado under load... Tastes will vary. It's pretty quick, and it cost a fair bit less than the figures you're throwing around.
There's a 233MHz Pentium MMX on my desk right now as well, and it's fine too. Patience is a virtue, and I needed something to stick a Voodoo in.
Home server? That's a dual (sandybridge) xeon. It gets along pretty well, and it was dirt cheap. Just sits in the corner and does its thing.


Did you have a specific question, or are we just rambling now?
_________________
Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. Four times is Official GNOME Policy.

[ibrown39]

@figueroa

DM = Direct Message. Basically I’m just looking for suggestions for a system build for optimal performance for given tasks in the allotted budget.

[ibrown39]

[ibrown39]

@OldTango

Thanks for your response! This was helpful and cleared up a bit. Especially with the TR, while the hardware
op’ness of it would appeal to me, I agree it’s thermals wouldn’t worth tempering and that the money would be better used for other components.

[ibrown39]

What do you guys think of this list?

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/NerdyKyogre/saved/TrvVFT

[NeddySeagoon]

ibrown39,

Can you really get 4 DIMMs on a Micro ATX motherboard?
All that heat in such a small space too.

All that CPU horsepower, strangled by the B550 chipset.
You will only get PCIe gen 4 to the video card.

I put together something similar in September. The same CPU on a X570 motherboard.
I only used 1TB of NVMe (PCI Gen 4) for the system. As rotating rust is quite good with large sequential files, I have 4x8TB in raid5 with LVM on top.
The half closest to the spindle is my media collection.

I can use some of the NVMe as an LVM cache to speed things up if I feel the need for speed. :)

I put 128G RAM in it too. That's on the basis that you need 2G per thread for building in RAM today. It will go up.
That's 64G, just to keep the CPU happy. I want some while it does its thing at "-j33" too, then I want to put /var/tmp/portage in RAM too.

I need to get a video card still. I'm using my old Radeon 550 until prices are sensible again.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[ibrown39]

@NeddySeagoon

Admittedly it was a suggested build from someone else. Thank you for your input, and more importantly thank you for your specific build! It seems promising.

[NeddySeagoon]

ibrown39,

I can dig out my parts list if you want but not tonight. Its late in Scotland.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[steve_v]

[pjp]

[steve_v]

[figueroa]

I think you could save a lot of money by going with half of the RAM and scale down the CPU. It's hard to effectively use 128GB RAM.

Do you really want built-in wireless networking? You'll almost always get sub-optimal antenna placement, early obsolescence, and something else more likely to fail than most other built-ins.
_________________
Andy Figueroa
hp pavilion hpe h8-1260t/2AB5; spinning rust x3
i7-2600 @ 3.40GHz; 16 gb; Radeon HD 7570
amd64/23.0/split-usr/desktop (stable), OpenRC, -systemd -pulseaudio -uefi

[psycho]

128G RAM. Wow. I've never had any problems building in 16, so thought my 32G box was probably overkill...but 128, that's more than I'd expect to be installing in anything for years. I'd have thought the CPU to be the bottleneck rather than available RAM: does 64G -> 128G really make a significant difference? I get that you can build a bookcase much more quickly if you have some room to spread stuff out, rather than attempting to build it in a closet...but once you're working in the middle of a football field, I don't understand how another field helps, when you still have to run the bits and pieces around yourself.

[pjp]

[NeddySeagoon]

ibrown39,

Here's what I have under my desk right now and my rationale.

AMD Ryzen 5950x My Phennom II lasted me 12 years. If this system lasts 12 years, I'll be 80, so it may well outlast me.
As I'm a pensioner, with a part time job right now, money for updates will be scarce one the job stops, so I don't have any upgrades in mind.
My usual advice is look in a PC mag that is about a year old and buy what it says is top of the range. Then plan for upgrades.

The 5950x is PCIe4 so it needs a PCIe4 chipset to get the best out of it. That means an X570 motherboard.
ASUS AMD Ryzen X570 ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero becase I wanted a fanless motherboard and most X570 motherboards have fans.
It also has WiFi and Bluetooth, which I will never use. Its all I could get that met the X570 fanless requirement.
Also I did not want a motherboard where the M.2 slots and SATA ports shared PCIe lanes, so you had to choose which you were going to install.

Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 64GB 3200MHz DDR4 Two two packs for 128G as that was a lot lower cost than one 4 pack.
The CPU addresses them in pairs. 64G would be enough to get started, just, but I don't plan any upgrades, once I retire again :)
I've left the RAM at its JEDEC speed and voltage. XMP is another name for overclocking. Maybe I'll turn on the XMP by way of an upgrade but I'm not keen on the over volting of the CPU and RAM that goes with it. It would be a very expensive mistake if it destroyed the CPU/RAM/Motherboard.

850W Corsair RM Series RM850 Full Modular, 80PLUS Gold That's almost twice the power output I need, but don't skimp the PSU.
It should have a long low stress life. PC PSUs are commodity parts, you get what you pay for. Ignore the ones in the lowest and highest 25% of the price range and pick something in the middle. The PSU derating is important. You tend to add bids over the years, which requires more power. The PSU dynamic regulation, which is very difficult to measure, gets worse as components age. Think the CPU going from almost zero to 150W in well less than a nanosecond and keeping the voltage correct within a few millivolts.

1TB Samsung 980 PRO, M.2 (2280), PCIe 4.0 (x4) NVMe SSD The system is PCIe4 everywhere. 1TB is plenty for the bits that matter. There was no point in fitting a PCIe3 NVMe module. That would be like keeping a Ferrari just to drive to the corner shop. There are two M.2 slots, so expansion is possible. There was not a lot of choice in PCIe 4 NVMes and Samsung are well known.

Toshiba 8TB N300 x4 In mdadm RAID5 with LVM on top. They hold /home, /var/cache/distfiles, /var/cache/binpkgs and my media collection with space left over.
I swithered over 4TB or 8TB drives, then thought about the no future expansion plan. I have all my distfiles back to 2006 with a smattering of older ones too. That's about 290GB now.
Its only going to grow.

Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow Edition Full Tower PC Case Its getting difficult to find cases with three or four 5 1/4" bays and I wanted at least 3.
I have two multi layer Bluray drives moved from my old system. For burning backups and ripping things. I also wanted USB-C on the front. USB-A will disappear soon, as its started to on laptops already.

Akasa InterConnect EX card reader for 5.25" Bay That provides the USB-C port on the front as well as an assortment of card readers, so I can write SD-Cards for the Raspberry That's all three bays on the case full.

Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black CPU Cooler I've never been one for water cooling. It's noisy but not objectionable when the CPU is going flat out. The down side or air cooling is the the fan/heatsink cover the M.2 slot closest two the CPU but that's the one I populated.

Thermal Paste Arctic MX-4 (2022) My thermal paste was over 20 years old, so time for some new stuff. :)

No video card yet. I want a Radeon 5xxx once they are back in the shops at a sensible price.

-- edit 27-Aug-22 --

Radeon 5xxx video cards are optimised for 1920x1080 and I have one 43" 4k screen. That's like 4x 22" 1920x1080 screens.
I got a bargain RX6700XT OC with 12G RAM.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[steve_v]

[DaggyStyle]

[NeddySeagoon]

DaggyStyle,

Live and learn :)

or maybe not ...

[DaggyStyle]

[sitquietly]

I have no recommendation but I can explain my process:
* Must be Intel cpu because heat.
* I'd want LGA 1200 socket because more pins (heat).
* I'd choose an Intel LGA1200 cpu with 8 real cores from the list
* with TDP of 95, or even 65, watts because such a design can run at it's rated frequency
* avoid high TDP -- such chips run great in bursts such as for games but must throttle during prolonged load
* fast memory support
* Then I'd choose an LGA1200 board with great i/o support. Looks like this would do.
* Add 128 Gbytes of fast ddr4
* Add four 2TB M.2 ssd (zfs raid10?)

Key point: a build beast should use low-thermal cpus so that it can sustain very high load without frequency throttling

Warning: I may be wrong. Maybe the board should support ECC memory.

[pjp]

[pjp]