Developer focused build Guide

[Gustav A.]

Hello fellow computer Passionists,

 

I recently went through some older LTT vids and reached this beauty here:

So Linus (the one running this brand) is complaining that Developers usually don't bother about their hardware.

I, as a developer felt immediately challenged. Therefore I try to get a little in depth with my requirements and everyone who feels accounted could give his hardware advices.

 

Let's start with what I make my daily bread with:

I am an embedded Software developer for more or less big Platforms.

This has some direct impact on the way we work in comparison to other devs.

For example we usually do cross compiling, which means I am not developing software on the same Architecture I will later use it on.

With Architecture I am referring to the Technology used on the target system, like ARM, x86, MIPS ect.

Further we like to use Architectural independent languages, because our code is often sold on multiple Architectures and our compiler should be able to serve all of them.

Usually this means writing code in C/C++.

 

So here are the details, which I think are most relevant for the Hardware.

1. Often we compile and link with gcc and similar tools, Which means I can utilize all the multithreading I can get. Also, I don't want to use all of my processing power, to be still able to work while compiling. Otherwise your boss is asking silly questions why you are not in front of your working tool. This is taken good care by gcc -j but you get my requirement for at least some multicore thingy.
2. All this cross compiling means a lot of connectivity. Because our target systems are embedded we usually have a lot of connections to work with, to get the software on the device, debugg on it, do tracing, connect to some kind of console ect. Because those machines we program are also in use for much longer then the usual consumer PC we have to consider using very old connectors (Serial Port) as also the newest ones (Fiber). Of course this is often solved by custom media converters. But those are F**ING expensive.
3. This often leads to the usage of awkwardly old software, like antskript or BASIC, which is of course not so important for the hardware to choose, but maybe mentionable
4. To avoid all those cable stuff there is usually some kind of simulation of your hardware. So virtualitsation is also a big thing.
5. Lots of RAM usage while having all the IDE's, Debug devices, Compilers, Linkers ect. running.
6. Its really helpful to work on multiple screens. Preferably higher resolution to relax your eyes.
7. SILENCE! To get all the concentration.
8. Cheap would be nice. I mean, we get paid for what we do but much less than you think.
9. The case is usually the most important thing working in an office environment, because obviously, the case gives a direct impression of your programming skills and you want to stick out compared to those less of value marketing dudes.
10. Apparently writing apps for Android gets recently more and more considered to be embedded programming. Therefore I am on the best way becoming a flutter expert. Therefore my PC should be also able to handle all the Android Studio infrastructure.
11. No RGB bling bling please
12. I like Linux, mostly Arch stuff (Manjaro, maybe because I am German), but usually have to use Windows because companies tend to use it for development. Means I like dual boot and if possible handled directly in da BIOS.

So, to all the Hardware enthusiast out there: Help me finding the perfect homebuilt and I will honor you with thoughts and prayers in my next code documentation. We don't do those.

 

Gustav out

 

Credentials:

Country: Austria/Germany

Budget: 2000€

 

[SupaKomputa]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor  (€397.99 @ Mindfactory) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler  (€37.78 @ Computeruniverse) 
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€154.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Memory: G.Skill Flare X 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL14 Memory  (€201.70 @ Computeruniverse) 
Storage: Western Digital SN750 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€79.90 @ Alternate) 
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€119.80 @ Mindfactory) 
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card  (€396.99 @ Mindfactory) 
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh w/ Controller ATX Mid Tower Case  (€94.55 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12III 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (€57.88 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €1541.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-09 14:24 CEST+0200

 

For CPU you may want a Ryzen 5800x ($450, nov 10)

[KangUsapEmenq]

 

12 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor  (€397.99 @ Mindfactory) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler  (€37.78 @ Computeruniverse) 
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€154.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Memory: G.Skill Flare X 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL14 Memory  (€201.70 @ Computeruniverse) 
Storage: Western Digital SN750 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€79.90 @ Alternate) 
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€119.80 @ Mindfactory) 
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card  (€396.99 @ Mindfactory) 
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh w/ Controller ATX Mid Tower Case  (€94.55 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12III 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (€57.88 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €1541.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-09 14:24 CEST+0200

 

For CPU you may want a Ryzen 5800x ($450, nov 10)

Thought to be agree with this. Wait for 5800X either. For the sake of more quietness, tho, probably Noctua's fan and CPU cooler would be worth to invest. It's kind of below the budget anyway.

[SupaKomputa]

6 minutes ago, dhannemon13 said:

 

Thought to be agree with this. Wait for 5800X either. For the sake of more quietness, tho, probably Noctua's fan and CPU cooler would be worth to invest. It's kind of below the budget anyway.

i can confirm Hyper 212 is barely noisy, half the price of noctua's.

i'm using this for 10+ years.

[igormp]

18 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor  (€397.99 @ Mindfactory) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler  (€37.78 @ Computeruniverse) 
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€154.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Memory: G.Skill Flare X 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL14 Memory  (€201.70 @ Computeruniverse) 
Storage: Western Digital SN750 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€79.90 @ Alternate) 
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€119.80 @ Mindfactory) 
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card  (€396.99 @ Mindfactory) 
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh w/ Controller ATX Mid Tower Case  (€94.55 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12III 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (€57.88 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €1541.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-09 14:24 CEST+0200

 

For CPU you may want a Ryzen 5800x ($450, nov 10)

IMO, that GPU is way overkill, and the ram is probably not enough. 

Based on your build, I went for a cheaper GPU (with enough display outputs), upgraded the RAM and CPU (and the mobo to better support the 3950x):

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor  (€684.90 @ Alza) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler  (€37.78 @ Computeruniverse) 
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€306.92 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory  (€284.99 @ Corsair DE) 
Storage: Western Digital SN750 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€79.90 @ Alternate) 
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€119.80 @ Mindfactory) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB G1 Gaming Video Card  (€136.07 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh w/ Controller ATX Mid Tower Case  (€94.55 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12III 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (€57.88 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €1802.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-09 14:53 CEST+0200

 

@OP, do you have any problems with running nvidia's proprietary drivers on linux?

[KangUsapEmenq]

1 minute ago, SupaKomputa said:

i can confirm Hyper 212 is barely noisy, half the price of noctua's.

i'm using this for 10+ years.

Well, good to know about it still then lol, probably shoulda try it beforehand. 

Just kind of curious. Have you ever been comparing AMD's cooler with the cooler you currently using in noise and temps performance?

[SupaKomputa]

2 minutes ago, dhannemon13 said:

Well, good to know about it still then lol, probably shoulda try it beforehand. 

Just kind of curious. Have you ever been comparing AMD's cooler with the cooler you currently using in noise and temps performance?

Yes ofcourse.

 

With stock cooler idle around 40c max 70-80c.

Noise is a little lower, since it has slower rpm (1700rpm vs 2700rpm).

[Gustav A.]

4 hours ago, SupaKomputa said:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor  (€397.99 @ Mindfactory) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler  (€37.78 @ Computeruniverse) 
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€154.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Memory: G.Skill Flare X 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL14 Memory  (€201.70 @ Computeruniverse) 
Storage: Western Digital SN750 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€79.90 @ Alternate) 
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€119.80 @ Mindfactory) 
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card  (€396.99 @ Mindfactory) 
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh w/ Controller ATX Mid Tower Case  (€94.55 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12III 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (€57.88 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €1541.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-09 14:24 CEST+0200

 

For CPU you may want a Ryzen 5800x ($450, nov 10)

 

3 hours ago, igormp said:

IMO, that GPU is way overkill, and the ram is probably not enough. 

Based on your build, I went for a cheaper GPU (with enough display outputs), upgraded the RAM and CPU (and the mobo to better support the 3950x):

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor  (€684.90 @ Alza) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler  (€37.78 @ Computeruniverse) 
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€306.92 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory  (€284.99 @ Corsair DE) 
Storage: Western Digital SN750 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€79.90 @ Alternate) 
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€119.80 @ Mindfactory) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB G1 Gaming Video Card  (€136.07 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh w/ Controller ATX Mid Tower Case  (€94.55 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12III 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (€57.88 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €1802.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-09 14:53 CEST+0200

 

@OP, do you have any problems with running nvidia's proprietary drivers on linux?

thanks already for all the work! Both seem great! I tend to prefer the one with more Memory... 

I just red all the news of the new rayzen. What do you guys think, should I wait till the 3000 series drop hard in price or take the pill and buy a 5000?

 

@igormp at the moment I do my work on a intel xeon machine with integrated graphics. So no experience on my side. But usually Linux supports all the nvidia stuff great. We know, its not as good as the proprietary operaing systems, but it works fine.

 

And one more addition to the case:

Does some of you guys know something like:

https://ironsidecomputers.com/nightfall/?v=00dc5da36527

 

I like the approach on having a mat black and very minimalistic.

[igormp]

2 hours ago, Gustav A. said:

thanks already for all the work! Both seem great! I tend to prefer the one with more Memory... 

I just red all the news of the new rayzen. What do you guys think, should I wait till the 3000 series drop hard in price or take the pill and buy a 5000?

 

@igormp at the moment I do my work on a intel xeon machine with integrated graphics. So no experience on my side. But usually Linux supports all the nvidia stuff great. We know, its not as good as the proprietary operaing systems, but it works fine.

As a full time Arch user with nvidia graphics, it works flawlessly. I was asking because some people prefer AMD gpus due to the open source drivers (in which case I'd recommend you a rx560 or rx570 with enough display outputs). But since you don't mind, that 1050ti will serve you just fine and be a couple bucks cheaper  

 

Regarding the CPU, if I were you I'd wait for more reviews on the newest Ryzen CPUs, specially the ones from Phoronix since they do focus on productivity tasks on linux. But to be quite honest, I'd say that a 3950x should be more than enough for compile times, and buying another nvme/ssd to store your code would be better.