A Linux workstation and windows 2000s gaming pc

[Guest]

TL;DR: This is going to be a long post. Just leave now. 

 

If you've seen my other recent topics you'll know I've recently bought a GTX 1050 TI for my windows 7 pc so I could make shadowplay youtube clips of gameplay. Upon installing the graphics card I've experienced TONS of instability, and crashes. Turns out to be something essential on the motherboard. Ram CPU or motherboard however most likely the motherboard. 

 

My Windows 7 32 bit PC originally was in a slick prebuilt HP case with an AS ROCK A785 gm-le motherboard, Athlon ii X2 270, and 8 gb of DDR2 ram at 800 MHZ. 

Because of instability issues I tested the graphics card on a different motherboard showing no crashes, or problems whatsoever!!! YAY MY NEW GPU WORKS... ALSO BOO-if it was my GPU, I could have just exchanged it at Best Buy...

 

Currently I have a 750 watt PSU in the HP case with the old motherboard and HDDs. The motherboard it's using is in the Original Antec Lanboy aluminum case with the GTX 1050 ti. 

The cases both have their side panels off with the power cables coming out of the HP case into the Antec case, and the Sata Cable comes out of the Antec case into the HP case. It's very comical to have this 1 PC using 2 cases. 

 

My Linux PC (previously my main Windows 10 PC for everything) had an intel i5 3450, 12 GB of ddr3 ram, and an R9 390. 

My plan is to take the motherboard, ram, and CPU from the Linux PC, put it into the Windows 7 PC and install the GTX 1050 TI. 

 

With my best CPU and mobo being under-utilized by a 32 bit version of Windows 7, my R9 390 is now a worthless- I mean 400 USD paper weight. 

My hopes is to now build a super awesome AMD CPU based PC to have an enthusiast AMD Linux workstation. 

There are 2 minor set backs on this plan for an ultimate AMD PC.

1. I'm a real Mr. Krabs, and don't like spending money.

2. I had a valid second reason but I forgot what it was. 

 

To get more money to afford this new AMD computer I will

1, try my best at taking on a lot of programming contract work online, and then 

2. Annoy everyone in the programming section asking why my code isn't working.

 

Until I raise enough money I will take my R9 390, and install it into the family computer.

Also, 32 bit windows can only use 3.5~ gb of ram. Why does my i5 have 12 installed? Great question. I will remove 8 GB and put it in the family computer.

The family computer has an i7 3770 and some other stuff too I guess. 

I know what you're thinking: "Why don't you just take the i7 3770, put it into your good motherboard, and use the R9 390 and return the GTX 1050 TI?"

The answer: "Because THAT MAKES SENSE!!!"

 

Now... To the system build for my AMD enthusiest PC.

I'm going to need a case. That Antec lanboy sucks so much Donkey when it comes to airflow, and cooling. There is ZERO opportunity for cable management, unless you have no DVD drives,and shove all the cables in there like I did. 

The only thing I will miss about the Lanboy is HOW LIGHT IT IS!!! A full ALUMINUM and light plastic construction makes the thing so easy to take places. I'm going to need a light case... or one with HANDLES. 

That's where the Corsair Vengeance Series C70 comes in. 

It looks like an ammo box, and has handles on it. That makes it really easy to carry, but it's made of steel so it'll be heavy as trucks. 

This case is really expensive so I'll be sad when I spend 100-150 dollars on it. The next cool thing about it is that it supports... LIQUID COOLING!!! I don't know about you, but I like to get things wet. My forehead when I'm hot, dishes when they're dirty, and the inside of a cpu block for performance. 

 

With an awesome case I need an awesome AIO that costs the same amount for whatever reason. 

Because I'm lazy, and dumb I won't do a custom water loop because I'd rather not void all my warranties and break all my components with non-distilled water. 

For my CPU cooling, I'm going to go with the Corsair H100i because it's the one I see in the stores. And if you read the back of the box it has a comparison chart between this cooler and the Intel stock cooler showing that the H100i does really well, and the stock cooler does "fail" (I'm serious. The back of the box says fail.) 

 

My GPU doesn't need water cooling. I'm not made of money! 

 

to power this system I'm NOT going to use my Ultra LSP worst tier 500 watt PSU.

This time, I'm going to get a modular PSU because it will look really cool when the box has a million unused wires in it. 

because everything else I'm buying is corsair I'm going to go with the Corsair Certified RMx Series RM750x 750W 80 Plus Gold Full Modular Power Supply because it is

1. only 79 dollars (5 more than the 650 watt RMi Corsair PSU)  That was for the refurbished one...

2. Gold 80 + certified

3. top #1 super tier on this PSU tier list. 

 

Now... I'm going to need a CPU, motherboard and ram. (I don't think th DDR2 ram from my Athlon ii x2 pc will suffice.)

 

If I'm going to build an AMD PC I should probably go Ryzen. (I missed the 8350 FX sale on Amazon. No 100 dollar 8 core CPU for me.)

Logically speaking (if you know what I'm saying) I only NEED 4 cores. Because of this I'm getting 8. 

The AMD RYZEN 5 1400 has 4 physical cores, and 4 Logical cores. 

To me this compares to modern i7 CPUs with 4 cores, and 8 threads. 

Will the i7 outperform the ryzen 5 1400? Prolly... Will it be cheaper? NO! Intel is being that kid that can dish it out but not take it when it's his turn to be made fun of. Intel is all like "remember you like me? Right?" And I'm all like "Ryzen is like 100 dollars cheaper... And you called me fat that one time." (Intel didn't actually call me fat, but Intel doesn't remember that either.)

 

Now for the Motherboard I'm getting an MSI board because my graphics card is an MSI GPU. (Dat military standard tho... BOIIII)

After filtering the motherboard on Newegg (Lowest price first) I have carefully selected the MSI A320M Gaming PRO AM4 AMD A320 because it has an M.2 slot whereas the MSI A320M PRO-VD PLUS does not. 

 

Finally I'm going to need some ram. 

Now because the motherboard supports 32 gb, and buying 2 separate 16 gb of ram is boring, I'm going to get a 2 pack. 

Due to the absurd reason that 32 gb of ram is going to be 300 USD no matter what I'm dishing out the CORSAIR Vengeance LED 32GB (2 x 16GB) because it has LED lighting. Also it's corsair and I'm going to stick to the one brand. (If I'm going enthusiast... I'm GOING ENTHUSIAST.)

 

Before I add this up and realize it'll be a billion dollars and I cry in the corner wondering if guys can be prostitutes again I'm saying thank you for reading this long build plan, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I won't enjoy paying the amount of money this will cost. 

 

From newegg the 

Corsair H100 i costs 129.99 when not on sale

Corsair Vengeance Series C70 costs 139.99 when not on sale

CORSAIR RMx Series RM750X 750W 80 PLUS GOLD Haswell Ready Full Modular ATX12V & EPS12V SLI and Crossfire Ready Power Supply costs 129.99 when not on sale

AMD RYZEN 5 1400 4-Core 3.2 GHz costs 169.99 USD when not on sale

MSI A320M Gaming PRO AM4 AMD A320 costs 74.99 when not on sale

MSI B350 and Ryzen 1600 combo package 289.99

the redonculous CORSAIR Vengeance LED 32GB (2 x 16GB)  costs 338.00 when not on sale

Corsair vengeance 16 GB RAM  160 

Bringing my sad soul to a debt of 

982.95

849.96

Dang... that's a lot of money... Also I put it in comic sans so you would hate the number as much as I do. 

 

Any criticisms, or thoughts on my build are greatly welcomed. Thanks! 

 

PS: Below this I will post pictures of my ghetto PC in an edit of THIS post so you can see my shenanigans. 

 

 

[Guest]

uh nice

 

good luck on raising the money...

[Zando_]

You can't overclock on an A320 mobo, so no free MHz. ?

 

And after you you get that rig, you can get some cheap games (Battlefront II, hint hint)! Or expensive ones (Battlefront 2, hint hint). 

[Mira Yurizaki]

I'm having trouble figuring out where "Windows 2000" comes in.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Zando Bob said:

You can't overclock on an A320 mobo, so no free MHz. ?

Can you recommend another motherboard? 

Does overclocking that CPU make much of a difference? 

[Guest]

4 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

I'm having trouble figuring out where "Windows 2000" comes in.

Sorry, I forgot to mention; My windows PC will mostly be used for 2000s games. 

I like Star Wars Battlefront 2, Stalker, Fallout New Vegas, and the original Dawn of War. That's why I will not upgrade it to 64 bit. 

[Zando_]

Just now, fpo said:

Can you recommend another motherboard? 

Does overclocking that CPU make much of a difference? 

Yup, you should be able to get it to 3.8 without too much trouble. I'd get an ASRock B350 Pro4, or an MSI Tomahawk. 

 

(And see my edit, hint hint)

[Zando_]

Just now, fpo said:

Sorry, I forgot to mention; My windows PC will mostly be used for 2000s games. 

I like Star Wars Battlefront 2, Stalker, Fallout New Vegas, and the original Dawn of War. That's why I will not upgrade it to 64 bit. 

Battlefront II runs fine on 64 bit win10. 

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Zando Bob said:

snip

I'll check out the tomahawk! Trying to keep brands the same, though I'd like to save money with the AS ROCK; If I'm going hardcore build (for me hardcore build) I might as well go as far as reasonable. 

 

I played through all of BF2 2005 on 64 bit windows 10 and it does run perfecly fine, but I don't have the license key used for this copy of windows 7 soooo... I'm kinda stuck at 32 bit... I have no requirement to upgrade to 64 bits so I'll keep at 32 for now. 

[TVwazhere]

35 minutes ago, fpo said:

The AMD RYZEN 5 1400 has 4 physical cores, and 4 Logical cores. 

Minor correction

It has SMT, so  8 logical cores. Ryzen 3 will have 4 core 4 thread variants (Estimated $110-140)

36 minutes ago, fpo said:

To get more money to afford this new AMD computer I will

1, try my best at taking on a lot of programming contract work online, and then 

2. Annoy everyone in the programming section asking why my code isn't working.

#2 made me laugh way harder than it should have

[Guest]

1 hour ago, TVwazhere said:

 

#2 made me laugh way harder than it should have

I'm glad someone laughed! 

 

Also on newegg it says 8 logical cores for the 1400. Is that wrong? Or did they mean 8 threads? 

[TVwazhere]

4 minutes ago, fpo said:

on newegg it says 8 logical cores for the 1400. Is that wrong? Or did they mean 8 threads? 

It's correct. 8 logical cores and 8 thread are basically the same thing. The entire R5 series has Simultaneous Multi Threading (SMT), AMD's version of Hyperthreading

[Guest]

9 hours ago, TVwazhere said:

It's correct. 8 logical cores and 8 thread are basically the same thing. The entire R5 series has Simultaneous Multi Threading (SMT), AMD's version of Hyperthreading

Ahh okay. 

 

By the way, some admin changed the font of my really big number from comic sans so something else. I know you hate comic sans but I'm fairly certain that's admin abuse! Haha Okay so now back on Desktop it shows up as comic sans. My iPhone displays it as an odd fancy cursive font for whatever reason...Bug? 

 

As promised here are the pictures of my 2 pc cases wired together. 

 

 

 

 

and finally, my HP case was too small to accept the i5's motherboard. I had to use the antec case. Here is the PC with 1x 4gb ram, the i5, mobo, and gtx 1050 ti. 

 

[TVwazhere]

@fpo It still shows comic sans for me

[Guest]

11 hours ago, Zando Bob said:

Yup, you should be able to get it to 3.8 without too much trouble. I'd get an ASRock B350 Pro4, or an MSI Tomahawk. 

I checked out the MSI Tomahawk B350 on Newegg, and it has some bad reviews. A lot of people said it would wipe drives, corrupt files, or brick. 

Was this just because of the early bugs in the new hardware? If so, a source, or 2 would help me out a bit in getting the better motherboard with better rest assured. 

 

Also, the overclocking is in the BIOS/UEFI/WhateverTheNotWindowsThingIsCalledNowadays right? As you likely recall, this motherboard would be for a Linux build. (Most likely the LuBuntu flavor of Ubuntu; Presuming it makes a difference in what Distro is used.) 

[seon123]

27 minutes ago, fpo said:

I checked out the MSI Tomahawk B350 on Newegg, and it has some bad reviews. A lot of people said it would wipe drives, corrupt files, or brick. 

Was this just because of the early bugs in the new hardware? If so, a source, or 2 would help me out a bit in getting the better motherboard with better rest assured. 

 

Also, the overclocking is in the BIOS/UEFI/WhateverTheNotWindowsThingIsCalledNowadays right? As you likely recall, this motherboard would be for a Linux build. (Most likely the LuBuntu flavor of Ubuntu; Presuming it makes a difference in what Distro is used.) 

B350 Tomahawk is fine. Hasn't done it for me, anyway (though it has some annoying bugs in the BIOS). It has 4 phases, instead of 3 phases on the Asrock. Shouldn't make a difference (unless you plan on LN2 overclocking). The Asus Prime Plus also has a 4 phase, but with better components than the MSI board. 

Overclocking is done in BIOS

[Zando_]

37 minutes ago, fpo said:

I checked out the MSI Tomahawk B350 on Newegg, and it has some bad reviews. A lot of people said it would wipe drives, corrupt files, or brick. 

Was this just because of the early bugs in the new hardware? If so, a source, or 2 would help me out a bit in getting the better motherboard with better rest assured. 

 

Also, the overclocking is in the BIOS/UEFI/WhateverTheNotWindowsThingIsCalledNowadays right? As you likely recall, this motherboard would be for a Linux build. (Most likely the LuBuntu flavor of Ubuntu; Presuming it makes a difference in what Distro is used.) 

Yup, overclocking is in the BIOS. Ask @revsilverspine, he has one and seems to be quite happy with it. 

[Guest]

4 hours ago, seon123 said:

snip

 

4 hours ago, Zando Bob said:

snip

Thanks for the replies! I just wanted to make sure I knew where the overclocking was done. 

 

Seon123, care to say what bugs in particular you are/were experiencing? What are the phases, and what do they mean/do?

 

Zando Bob, I'll message Revsilverspine and see what he thinks! Hopefully it's a good board. I don't want MSI to make a bad product, I'm just being cautious. 

[seon123]

3 minutes ago, fpo said:

 

Thanks for the replies! I just wanted to make sure I knew where the overclocking was done. 

 

Seon123, care to say what bugs in particular you are/were experiencing? What are the phases, and what do they mean/do?

 

Zando Bob, I'll message Revsilverspine and see what he thinks! Hopefully it's a good board. I don't want MSI to make a bad product, I'm just being cautious. 

The RAM speeds and/or CPU speed that I set in BIOS weren't applied when it booted (a few restarts solved it), and some annoying false readouts in Windows (e.g. saying that the CPU runs at 1.55V). 

More phases (in general) means better voltage stability and current abilities, which is benefitial to overclocking. If you want to get a better (and much longer) explanation, there's this guy. 

 

[Guest]

4 hours ago, seon123 said:

If you want to get a better (and much longer) explanation, there's this guy.

 

Not for 29 minutes I don't. Thank you for the offer though.  

 

That's odd with the oc not starting. 

 

Thank you for the information! 

[dogetorhue]

Spending $130 to cool a 65w cpu seems overkill. Cryorig H7 would be better value imho...

[You_are_a_cunt]

On 7/26/2017 at 3:56 AM, Zando Bob said:

Yup, overclocking is in the BIOS. Ask @revsilverspine, he has one and seems to be quite happy with it. 

Did I just become the go-to guy for B350 Tomahawk/Ryzen 5 1600 infoz? <__<

[Guest]

5 hours ago, revsilverspine said:

Did I just become the go-to guy for B350 Tomahawk/Ryzen 5 1600 infoz? <__<

Yes, thank you. 

 

To update the build plan-I decided to go with the Ryzen 5 1600 as it was marginally more expensive at the planned price point.

Tied with the MSI Tomahawk B350 motherboard which has been agreed to work, and not be a useless garbage PC component there is a combo on newegg saving 14 dollars if bought as a bundle here:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.3482340 289.99

 

Next for RAM. Yes... 350~ dollars in ram is a LOT... I don't need 32 GB off the bat, and with upgrade room for 64 total, I don't want to spend another 300 dollars on ram in the future in another one swing go. 

I decided to go with the Corsair Vengeance LPX. They lack RGB, but make up for in being cheap enough that I could but RGB kits if I REALLY wanted to have RGB. 

Here is the choice I went with:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233944 160 

At a single 16 GB stick for 150~ usd I will save around half the money in the beginning. I was going to go with the dominator platinum:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233849 184

This kit would max me out at 32 gb however the kit is MORE expensive, and as just stated; The kit will limit me to half the board's potential limit. 

 

Thinking to go with 64 GB total in the long run is really a far stretch for a home user to utilize. 

I will likely never go beyond 32 GB in actuality when purchasing, however I'd like to think I can go up to 64 if I need to. 

My workstation will likely never need 12 GB of ram so this move is smarter for me to save more money by opting for a low cost lower capacity RAM stick. 

 

The new price of the system will end up at:

849.96 USD. This is a whole 132.99 USD less money, delivering a better computing experience with a better CPU, and overclocking motherboard. 

 

6 hours ago, dogetorhue said:

Spending $130 to cool a 65w cpu seems overkill. Cryorig H7 would be better value imho...

I do like those fancy heat sinks the size of power supplies. 

The main reason I chose the corsair water cooler is because I am quite jealous of the water cooling systems people have, and wanted to be part of the club. However, that cooler you showed me is significantly cheaper. Does Corsair make a cooler like the one you've shown me? I'd like to keep the brands matching just because I think it'd be a nice showpiece to brag about saying "yeah, everything in here is Corsair, MSI, and AMD."

[You_are_a_cunt]

1 minute ago, fpo said:

"yeah, everything in here is Corsair, MSI, and AMD."

I plead guilty. Ish. (GPU is Sapphire, PSU is OCZ, 2 fans are Cooler Master, SSD is Intel)

[Zando_]

7 hours ago, revsilverspine said:

Did I just become the go-to guy for B350 Tomahawk/Ryzen 5 1600 infoz? <__<

Yup. If you can suggest anyone else, I can stop tagging you...