[ale] upgrading desktop

Mon Aug 3 07:51:22 EDT 2020

>Earlier I heard Ryzen wasn't totally compatible with Linux. Have those
>issues been solved?

I think you might be talking about Threadripper here.   AMD currently has
two CPU product divisions: Ryzen (think Intel Core i-(3,5,7,9)) and
Threadripper (think Intel Xeon).  Their most recent Threadripper release
and motherboard bios spec had some undocumented bugs that gave certain
Linux installers (like Ubuntu's Ubiquity) some big problems.  The installer
would complete and the installed system would be unbootable.  I don't own a
3rd-Gen Threadripper (they're quite pricey) so I didn't experience any of
this rodeo and have only heard about it 3rd-hand.

In this video (actually an audio interview):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvlc34BpIX0

Jay La Croix interviews Jeremy Soller at System76 about how PopOS is not
"just another Ubuntu" implementation.  In this conversation Jay and Jeremy
talk about how this low level incompatibility caused some serious
heartburn, but also how PopOS was able to get a fix into the installation
ISO more quickly than other distros.  This is an hour-long interview, but
if you start at 04:10 you can jump past some of the channel's housekeeping
and get into the particulars of the problem as explained by Jeremy.  Or if
it seems interesting, start at the beginning and listen until life intrudes
and you must break.  Other than this, I'm not aware of any
compatibility issues with Linux.

On Mon, Aug 3, 2020 at 5:31 AM Steve Litt via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:

> On Sun, 2 Aug 2020 22:45:14 -0400
> David Jackson via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>
> > I tend to build a lot of systems, so my perspective is influenced by
> > this bias.  But I'm unclear about your priorities.
> >
> > If you were doing something demanding (say rendering videos or doing
> > heavy computation or competitive gaming or whatever), you would be
> > well beyond a 3rd gen i5 cpu.  Since 3rd gen Intel level of tech
> > seems to suit you fine, it seems to me your performance requirements
> > are rather low.  Another thing I'm curious about is how much change
> > are you willing to tolerate.  Would a lot of added performance be a
> > bad thing or a good thing?
> >
> > I think you might be missing how easy it would be to get a *massive*
> > performance upgrade with a relatively slight effort or cost by
> > upgrading all your whole architecture.
>
> The OP can get improved performance by buying a $50 SSD. Perhaps
> he'll need to buy a $25 PCIe to 4xSATA converter.
>
> The minute he buys a better processor (probably over $100, he needs to
> buy a new mobo (probably over $80), and all new RAM (about $400 to do
> things right, as opposed to slightly improving what he has right now),
> as well as the SSD he's contemplating. He might need a new power
> supply. Probably new fan connectors and gender benders. If the
> processor runs hotter, he'll need more and bigger fans.
>
> He already has enough power to author computer programs, write 300 page
> documents, and use his computer as a voluminous and well organized
> filing cabinet. For $50 to $75 he can make it a fair amount faster,
> which is fine if he closes browser tabs when he's done with them, isn't
> a gamer, and doesn't do frequent audio or video processing.
>
> Even if he decides he needs huge power and goes for a new system, using
> his current system as a spare or server or whatever and equipping it
> with an SSD is very cost effective.
>
> > A LOT has changed since 3rd
> > gen Intel was current.  For about the cost in difficulty and dollars
> > in upgrading your 3rd gen architecture, you could probably find a
> > more current Ryzen system that would give this massive upgrade.
> > What has changed a lot very recently is that AMD Ryzen normally beats
> > Intel in terms of performance per dollar (bang for the buck)
> > nowadays.  (I'm trying to keep it simple here.) And the surrounding
> > architecture has massively improved as well.  Current gen platforms
> > are much more efficient and performant overall than a 3rd gen i5 was.
>
> The preceding is what I contemplate doing in the next year or two. The
> insane bloat of youtube-capable browsers, plus the fact that you pretty
> much need Firefox or Chromium (probably both) to participate in today's
> world and job market mean that eventually I'll need to combat the bloat
> with raw power, even though my current six year old dual core  AMD
> A6-6400K with 16GB six year old RAM with several TB of spinning rust
> and 128GB of SSD mounted as / and an Openbox WM performs outstandingly
> when browsers aren't gumming up the system.
>
> [snip]
>
> >
> > I tend to think the most "bang for the buck" system today (in my mind)
> > would be a B450 motherboard with a Ryzen 5 3600, 16G RAM at about
> > 3200 or faster, and I would go for an NVMe M.2 SSD at around 500G.
> > You can use a cheap video card (about $35) and the case and power
> > supply as your budget and preference dictates.  Power supplies and
> > cases are a bit more expensive these days, thanks to COVID-challenged
> > supplies, but memory, ssd's and CPUs are relatively cheap.  This
> > system would cost you about $550-600 or so, depending on your
> > choices.  One example:
> > https://pcpartpicker.com/user/deepbsd/saved/#view=6tqG3C I wager this
> > system would make you grin each time you sit down at your PC. I'd
> > also wager that the "grin factor" would quickly offset the dollar
> > damage.
>
> I'll be keeping the preceding paragraph as advice for when I build my
> next system, which shouldn't be too much longer. Of course, I
> already have 16 GB RAM, so I'll get either 32 or 64GB. I'll
> probably also boost my disk space to something exceeding 10TB.
>
> Earlier I heard Ryzen wasn't totally compatible with Linux. Have those
> issues been solved?
>
> SteveT
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