Heavy software use machine

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drphill

Member
I write the software, and would lie plenty of threads. This is the potential spec that I currently have I would appreciate comments.

I am hoping to use the storage (m.2 and ssd) and ram (crucial 2 *16G 4800 SODIMM) from recently deceased pc; I will be installing Linux. I don't need pow

Thanks in advance for any help...

Case PCS AEGIS BLACK ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU) AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16 Core CPU (4.5GHz-5.7GHz/80MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM) 16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz CL40 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive 1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3500 MB/R, 3200 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply CORSAIR 550W CX SERIES™ CX-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable 1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling PCS FrostFlow 240 Series ARGB High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT
PORTS
Operating System NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

EDITS in response to Steaky360: Monitor is largely irrelevant - I use a 23(?)" 4k monitor, but the graphics are rendered in 1080.
The spec was generated by a helpful sales guy from PCS, but I will try to reproduce in the configurator and post the URL>
 
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D

drphill

Member
Case
PCS AEGIS BLACK ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16 Core CPU (4.5GHz-5.7GHz/80MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME X870-P WIFI (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
8GB PCS PRO DDR5 4800MHz CL40 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3500 MB/R, 3200 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CX SERIES™ CX-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 240 Series ARGB High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price: £931.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-workstation/XPxqbAtDAH/
 
D

drphill

Member
I am happy to reduce ram and reuse the 2 x 16 G crucial DDR 5 (SODIMM) from the machine that died. Even better if another 32G would work alongside them to make 64G (I run stuff in virtual machines to save polluting the main OS with software - eg day job stuff will run in a VM since they use chrome suite and need various config set up).

I don't really understand how to assess cooling/future-proofing/fan-noise. Are my choices sane? I would like to go max £1k - but I could stretch a little for good reason, or at a real pinch drop to 8 core/16 thread.

I intend to run Linux (Mint), Intellij, C compiler mostly.
 
T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Just so we know where we are...

What is your MAX budget? Is it the £931 of your current build, or are you happy to spend more on something with more power/longevity/quality?

You say you have 2x16GB 4800MHz SO-DIMMs to install, but these are laptop RAM sticks and won't work in a desktop motherboard (yes, there are some edge-case ITX motherboards that support them due to space constraints). You also can't / shouldn't mix & match memory makes/models/speeds as they'll be incompatible and cause instabilities. But if you want 64GB then it's better to go for 2x32GB sticks as this means you'll be able to run a higher speed kit (say 6000MHz), as AM5 motherboards don't have the capacity to run 4 sticks at higher speeds...and some will only be reliable at 3600MHz (which is very slow for DDR5).

You also want to use an m.2 SSD that you already have? What is the specific model, and are you intending to use this as a storage drive or a Linux boot drive?

The PCS components don't have the best reputation due to poor performance/specs/reliability (e.g. the case, cooler, SSD). But the PCS RAM will be fine as a placeholder as you're going to replace it anyway.

Unfortunately, budget non-gaming cases are a bit sparse on the configurator at the moment...and I'd probably have suggested a Corsair 3500X as a good quality budget case (you can disable the RGB if it's not to your liking)!

Heavy use implies long hours and high CPU usage, so I'd recommend a better cooler, higher tier motherboard, and better quality PSU.

Give me a minute and I'll build something along similar lines, but with premium components...but I think your build options were limited due to using the AM5 Workstation config tool, when there's more options available on the Gaming/Professional config tool.
 
D

drphill

Member
TonyCarter said:
Just so we know where we are...

What is your MAX budget? Is it the £931 of your current build, or are you happy to spend more on something with more power/longevity/quality?

You say you have 2x16GB 4800MHz SO-DIMMs to install, but these are laptop RAM sticks and won't work in a desktop motherboard (yes, there are some edge-case ITX motherboards that support them due to space constraints). You also can't / shouldn't mix & match memory makes/models/speeds as they'll be incompatible and cause instabilities. But if you want 64GB then it's better to go for 2x32GB sticks as this means you'll be able to run a higher speed kit (say 6000MHz), as AM5 motherboards don't have the capacity to run 4 sticks at higher speeds...and some will only be reliable at 3600MHz (which is very slow for DDR5).

You also want to use an m.2 SSD that you already have? What is the specific model, and are you intending to use this as a storage drive or a Linux boot drive?

The PCS components don't have the best reputation due to poor performance/specs/reliability (e.g. the case, cooler, SSD). But the PCS RAM will be fine as a placeholder as you're going to replace it anyway.

Unfortunately, budget non-gaming cases are a bit sparse on the configurator at the moment...and I'd probably have suggested a Corsair 3500X as a good quality budget case (you can disable the RGB if it's not to your liking)!

Heavy use implies long hours and high CPU usage, so I'd recommend a better cooler, higher tier motherboard, and better quality PSU.

Give me a minute and I'll build something along similar lines, but with premium components...but I think your build options were limited due to using the AM5 Workstation config tool, when there's more options available on the Gaming/Professional config tool.
Click to expand...
I could go a bit higher in budget to get logevity and and stability.
m2 is kingston pcie 4 1T. But I view these components as upgradeable...
(I'm in a work meet atm, so sorry for being terse...)

EDIT - I am trying to get the longer-term (less replaceable) components in place. RAM and storage can (and probably will) be upgraded in future. Case, board, PSU are less easy for me to change (I'd rather rely on the professionals).
 
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T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Case
CORSAIR 3500X ARGB TEMPERED GLASS MID-TOWER (BLACK) - better budget case, and from a known brand (with manuals & spares/accessories available)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16 Core CPU (4.5GHz-5.7GHz/80MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI 7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7) - much better quality motherboard, with better power control circuits
Memory (RAM)
8GB PCS PRO DDR5 4800MHz CL40 (1 x 8GB) - to be replaced with 2x32GB 6000MHz by you
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW) - faster, more reliable boot drive - no need to be as large as 1TB for boot drive
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET - lowest ATX2.4 PSU I'd go for a non-gaming machine...but if you're ever intending to put a gaming GPU in there then you'd want a newer, beefier ATX3.1 PSU
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR ICUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER - will easily keep that CPU in its optimum performance window, whilst being relatively silent (once fan profiles for both this and the case fans are tweaked, as they're a bit aggressive out of the box)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £1,067.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/ja7B0DHh8H/
 
D

drphill

Member
TonyCarter said:
Case
CORSAIR 3500X ARGB TEMPERED GLASS MID-TOWER (BLACK) - better budget case, and from a known brand (with manuals & spares/accessories available)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16 Core CPU (4.5GHz-5.7GHz/80MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI 7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7) - much better quality motherboard, with better power control circuits
Memory (RAM)
8GB PCS PRO DDR5 4800MHz CL40 (1 x 8GB) - to be replaced with 2x32GB 6000MHz by you
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW) - faster, more reliable boot drive - no need to be as large as 1TB for boot drive
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET - lowest ATX2.4 PSU I'd go for a non-gaming machine...but if you're ever intending to put a gaming GPU in there then you'd want a newer, beefier ATX3.1 PSU
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR ICUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER - will easily keep that CPU in its optimum performance window, whilst being relatively silent (once fan profiles for both this and the case fans are tweaked, as they're a bit aggressive out of the box)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £1,067.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/ja7B0DHh8H/
Click to expand...

(grabbing some mins between meetings)

Thanks, That looks good. I especially appreciate the explanations for the choices - more so since these are the areas in which I am ignorant. I suspect my previous machine was insufficiently cooled and I drove it too hard. (All threads maxed out for 30 seconds at a time)

Would this work with my existing ram - 2*16g crucial ddr5 4800 (sodimm)? I guess so as you have specified the same speed. Sure the memory would be a bit slower than 6000 but my previous machine seemed fast enough at the time. Obviously this is a prime upgrade opportunity once my wallet has healed over a little.

I am assuming that there are docks(?) for my 3.5 ssd.

Again, thanks Tony. Your help is greatly appreciated.
 
D

drphill

Member
drphill said:
(grabbing some mins between meetings)

Thanks, That looks good. I especially appreciate the explanations for the choices - more so since these are the areas in which I am ignorant. I suspect my previous machine was insufficiently cooled and I drove it too hard. (All threads maxed out for 30 seconds at a time)

Would this work with my existing ram - 2*16g crucial ddr5 4800 (sodimm)? I guess so as you have specified the same speed. Sure the memory would be a bit slower than 6000 but my previous machine seemed fast enough at the time. Obviously this is a prime upgrade opportunity once my wallet has healed over a little.

I am assuming that there are docks(?) for my 3.5 ssd.

Again, thanks Tony. Your help is greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Ah, bluetooth from the mother board? - Appears so. Not that BT is core requirement.
 
T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
If your RAM is from a laptop then it won't work on a desktop. SODIMM is not the same as DIMM - in fact it's about half the length so won't physically fit. Laptop RAM tends to run slower than desktop RAM too, as it's intended to be more power-efficient, whereas you're not bothered about a few extra watts on a desktop machine.

Comparison.jpg


4800MHz DDR5 leaves 10-15% performance (in memory-intensive tasks) on the table, so it's wasted on a high-end CPU.

Your 3.5" SSD would be a SATA one, so would just connect to one of the SATA headers on the motherboard (you'll get a box of 'spares' with the PC and it will contain a few SATA cables).

The m.2 SSDs use specific NVMe/PCIe slots on the motherboard.

Motherboard has wifi & bluetooth built-in - and you'd need to ensure the antenna are connected for full-speed wifi.
 
D

drphill

Member
TonyCarter said:
If your RAM is from a laptop then it won't work on a desktop. SODIMM is not the same as DIMM - in fact it's about half the length so won't physically fit. Laptop RAM tends to run slower than desktop RAM too, as it's intended to be more power-efficient, whereas you're not bothered about a few extra watts on a desktop machine.

Comparison.jpg


4800MHz DDR5 leaves 10-15% performance (in memory-intensive tasks) on the table, so it's wasted on a high-end CPU.

Your 3.5" SSD would be a SATA one, so would just connect to one of the SATA headers on the motherboard (you'll get a box of 'spares' with the PC and it will contain a few SATA cables).

The m.2 SSDs use specific NVMe/PCIe slots on the motherboard.

Motherboard has wifi & bluetooth built-in - and you'd need to ensure the antenna are connected for full-speed wifi.
Click to expand...
Thanks - that helps.

- The SoDimm memory is not suitable so I might upgrade the initial memory. Can I incrementally add memory or do I have to buy it all at once? Do all memory modules need to be same size/speed/manufacturer?
- Wifi would be good, but is not a core requirement. I have an ethernet cable that will reach the router which is in the same room anyway. Although I am not sure what you mean 'ensure the antenna are connected'. Is this adding an external antenna or a requiremnt for some internal connection? I have never used an external antenna and get 100Mbps which is max for my fibre more than I actually need. If you mean some internal connection is there something I would need to add to the order to ensure this?

(Apologies for questions that may be dumb ;-)
 
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TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
The built-in wifi (which is inside the case) can't get a strong signal due to the electronics inside the case and the case itself, so a socket(s) will protrude out through the case for you to attache the included antenna to - which significantly extends the range/power of the wifi.

If you don't use wifi then it's not an issue, but the same component provides the bluetooth connectivity.

This is what the antenna does...
2025-02-04_15-46-28.jpg


...and where it needs to be connected to the back of the PC, as it doesn't come pre-attached incase it gets damaged in transit...

2025-02-04_15-44-32.jpg


More information on that specific motherboard can be found on Gigabyte's website...
www.gigabyte.com

B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 Key Features | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...
www.gigabyte.com www.gigabyte.com
 
Nursemorph

Nursemorph

Silver Level Poster
WHilst you can add memory incremtally, you have to ensure everything is identical such as latency etc else is may cause issues. If you can afford to but it upfront, then it would likely be easier to buy upfront
 
T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
drphill said:
The SoDimm memory is not suitable so I might upgrade the initial memory. Can I incrementally add memory or do I have to buy it all at once? Do all memory modules need to be same size/speed/manufacturer?
Click to expand...
You can incrementally add RAM of the same spec...but even tiny difference can cause instability so we recommend installing identical RAM.

The other issue is 4 sticks of RAM can't run as fast as 2 sticks, as the memory controllers can only throughput a certain amount of data...more RAM slots in use just means that capacity is split into 4 instead of 2.

If you want 64GB, then go for a 2x32GB 6000MHz AMD config at the start - as this is a known sweet-spot for the current generation of AM5 processors.
 
D

drphill

Member
TonyCarter said:
You can incrementally add RAM of the same spec...but even tiny difference can cause instability so we recommend installing identical RAM.

The other issue is 4 sticks of RAM can't run as fast as 2 sticks, as the memory controllers can only throughput a certain amount of data...more RAM slots in use just means that capacity is split into 4 instead of 2.

If you want 64GB, then go for a 2x32GB 6000MHz AMD config at the start - as this is a known sweet-spot for the current generation of AM5 processors.
Click to expand...
Brilliant. Understood. Yet more thanks.......
 
D

drphill

Member
Hi again.
Just doing my homework - looks as if Linux support is there. Do you have a link to information about tweaking fans? Is it hard? From your comment it seems that they are initially set on full (and a little noisy) but that I can dial this back a bit. Starting on full seems the safest idea.

I'll probably go for the correct memory straight off (even if I have to mortgage my granny ;-). Everything else looks good to me.
 
T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Normally the Corsair fans are managed through an app called iCUE in Windows, but I don’t believe it’s available for Linux. It is the built-in profiles that are a bit aggressive…not full speed all the time, but they can ramp up too quickly for the new CPUs, as the older CPUs (3000/5000 models) needed more cooling.

I don’t know what the equivalent 3rd party solution is for Linux, but some others on here may do so. I’ve heard of FanControl, but have no direct experience of it, but there also the possibility of using motherboard software or fan settings in the BIOS.
 
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