New comuputer setup

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folderol
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New comuputer setup

Post by folderol »

This could probably cross several topics, so I hope it's OK here :)

Today I took delivery of a new computer for my music to take the place of the old one that was showing real signs of stress. The new one was custom built by Scan (UK). It is in a 4U rackmount case and has an AMD Ryzen 5 1500X processor, on an ASUS motherboard and with a Radeon R5230 fanless graphics card. Audio I/O is via an M-Audio Mtrack 8, and MIDI via a Prodipe 4i/4o.

That graphics card was a significant problem, as it was difficult to get hold of one, but it was worth the hassle.

The machine arrived quite early this morning, extremely well packaged. They had even put bubble wrap inside for additional shock protection - with a very clear warning on the top! Looking inside it has been very neatly assembled, no random loose wires. I added a CDROM drive I already had, and a second SSD, both of these robbed from the older machine. The SSD has all my working project files on it.

I installed devuan Linix 2.0.0 rc without any issues at all - no more inexplicable SystemD failures. I then built up the system with all my favourite programs. This was the most time consuming part of the install.

And the performance? Stunning! The machine is totally silent. There wasn't so much as a whisper when maxing out all 8 cores compiling the latest Rosegarden image! One of my most complex projects had to run at 5.33mS Latency on the old machine, and I didn't dare touch anything while it was going. On the new one I can run it at 1.33mS, and shuffle various windows around without a single Xrun.
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vitaminx
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Re: New comuputer setup

Post by vitaminx »

This is interesting. I was wondering about this since a while as I have a desktop with rack mounts.

4U is a bit high for me, as I have only 8U total rack space and 3U are used up.
Do you think it is feasible to build a 2U or 3U comuputer? What would be the drawbacks of a smaller case?
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Re: New comuputer setup

Post by folderol »

The decider on size was the heatsink/cooling system for the processor. Not only it's actual size, but also headroom to allow space for a proper airflow.

Presumably, if you go to the expense of a water cooling system you could reduce that.
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Re: New comuputer setup

Post by vitaminx »

folderol wrote:The decider on size was the heatsink/cooling system for the processor. Not only it's actual size, but also headroom to allow space for a proper airflow. Presumably, if you go to the expense of a water cooling system you could reduce that.
Hmmm no, water cooling seems a bit over the top for me.

What do you think about this heat sink and fan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eLML5SybjM
I bookmarked it because it seems to be really quiet and small, but would I still need 4U for that one?
What model are you using, are your heat sink and fan much bigger?
folderol wrote:with a Radeon R5230 fanless graphics card. That graphics card was a significant problem, as it was difficult to get hold of one, but it was worth the hassle.
I've had a Radeon more than 10 years ago and it seemed that the Nvidia graphics drivers for Linux were better than the ATI/Radeon one's back then.
What is the status now? Would you recommend Radeon over Nvidia, and why? Are the drivers better now?
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Re: New comuputer setup

Post by folderol »

vitaminx wrote:
folderol wrote:The decider on size was the heatsink/cooling system for the processor. Not only it's actual size, but also headroom to allow space for a proper airflow. Presumably, if you go to the expense of a water cooling system you could reduce that.
Hmmm no, water cooling seems a bit over the top for me.

What do you think about this heat sink and fan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eLML5SybjM
I bookmarked it because it seems to be really quiet and small, but would I still need 4U for that one?
What model are you using, are your heat sink and fan much bigger?
I don't really know, although the write up only seems to mention Intel CPUs.
Scan (the builders of mine) do actually test things like air-flow and apparently the headroom above the cooler is quite critical. This is partly due to the lack of convection with low profiles (which also means more powerful case fans). I decided the let 'them wot know' decide :lol:
folderol wrote:with a Radeon R5230 fanless graphics card. That graphics card was a significant problem, as it was difficult to get hold of one, but it was worth the hassle.
I've had a Radeon more than 10 years ago and it seemed that the Nvidia graphics drivers for Linux were better than the ATI/Radeon one's back then.
What is the status now? Would you recommend Radeon over Nvidia, and why? Are the drivers better now?
Nvidia match their drivers against 'standard' kernels, and if you are using an RT one it may be fine, or you might get crashes. For some time now, AMD have not only produced better Linux drivers, but are also much more friendly to the FOSS community. Having said that, I don't need especially good graphics for my work - but I do insist on it being silent!
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Re: New comuputer setup

Post by vitaminx »

folderol wrote:apparently the headroom above the cooler is quite critical.
OK good point, I guess I could ask for recommendations from the vendor itself.
folderol wrote:Nvidia match their drivers against 'standard' kernels, and if you are using an RT one it may be fine, or you might get crashes.
I'll check out AMD/Radeon for my next setup.

Thanks a lot for your tips :)
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