Advice for a non-glitzy Debian box?

[CptKrf]

We finally got a Micro Center within driving distance, replacing the defunct Frys and now I can begin to plan an upgrade that I have been pondering for ages. The problem is that almost everything I have seen so far is for "Gamers." To myself (a non-gamer, in the main) the word means expensive, plasticky, hot, loud, and loaded with garish and useless flashing leds on everything.

My current machine is cheap (now, that is), of solid metal that can be stood on to reach a top shelf, quiet, unblinking and... well, it certainly is not exactly cool, but 4 out of 5 isn't bad. The Mac Pro Cheesegrater is the best Linux machine I have ever had, but even with dual 4-core Xeons, it can't begin to match today's processors. It runs a local LLM with all the speed of a broke-leg dog (with apologies to Johnnie Cash, I think.)

I use the LLM JAN for learning, debugging and test modules and it makes all the difference for programming. My projects get made far faster than back when I had to page through manuals or wade through Google clickbait and ads to find answers.

It has been a long time since I built my own stuff, and I have not kept up with current processors - (some)lake this or Rysen xx that. I would like something like an Apple Studio - lots of ports, fast, quiet and cool, but I have had really bad luck in trying to run Debian on any newer Mac, and I do not want to run in a VM. (I program to hardware ports ports directly for maximum throughput, bypassing API's - not something that Windows, MacOS or VM's like to allow without major hacking.)

Graphics horsepower is not needed. The most intense GUI app that I run is Kicad and it runs fine even on a ancient 2014 ATI card.

Any ideas, anybody?

 

[Brickwizard]

I used to build my own, my last one had 8gb ram,ATI graphics,5.1 sound, 5 plate spinner HDD's 12 USB ports [all in use until I retired ] driven by an AMD athlonx2 6000, when it died I could have built a replacement, but the cost, made me look for an alternative, as I now only do basic home computing and Linux Don't need the latest greatest machine, I picked up a 4 yrs old HP desktop [I5 quad core]it wasn't bad for the price the only extra cost to improve it was for a PCIe adaptor and an NVMe,for the main drive.

 

[organist1958]

I would definitely stick with AMD. They have really been killing it with the last couple generations (though the new 9000 series doesn't seem like anything to write home about), and with all the problems Intel has been having with the 13th and 14th gen chips, I don't trust them at the moment. If you don't need insane single-threaded performance (they are not bad by any stretch, just the newer chips are better) and don't mind a platform that is at end-of-life, then you can save quite a bit of money with a Ryzen 5000 series. If you want something newer, the Ryzen 7000 series is a great option. The AM5 platform will be supported for quite a few years, and the chips have great performance. The 9000 series seems like they are pretty similar to the 7000 as far as performance (minor improvement) with significantly lower power consumption.

As far as motherboard, RAM, etc. I would just pick what is appropriate for your needs. If you don't need all sorts of bells and whistles that come with a $250+ mobo, then save some money and get something simple. It will work just fine and cost less.

I don't know if it is an option for you, but if I were you I would not just look at Micro Center. They're great but there are so many options that may be (potentially a lot) cheaper online.

Maybe this just me but from what I have done in the past couple years I've found Debian to be pretty good with hardware compatibility (with the exception of one completely proprietary Dell workstation).

IMO pick the most important parts and then build around that.

 

[CptKrf]

As a matter of fact, I decided on a Ryzen 5 5600, which turns out to have all the horsepower that I need. It has a integrated GPU, but I found a cheap dual monitor GPU that is Radon based, and gives me good 4k output. With a new and huge tower case and large slow fans, it looks like it will be a good development system.

The biggest surprise was the pcie NVME drive that I installed. The speed over SSD is unbelievable. In fact, when I reloaded the OS the first time, I was across the room from the monitor and assumed that the boot had hung with a black screen. As it turns out, the system boots so fast that the usual Linux dmesg scroll does not have time to display in the delay before the monitor syncs and comes up. Quite impressive.

Still playing with it. Have a USB3 card and a parallel printer adapter (yes, really) yet to install.

I am getting a long list of missing firmware for gmp that I need to work through, but so far so good.

 

[organist1958]

As a matter of fact, I decided on a Ryzen 5 5600, which turns out to have all the horsepower that I need. It has a integrated GPU, but I found a cheap dual monitor GPU that is Radon based, and gives me good 4k output. With a new and huge tower case and large slow fans, it looks like it will be a good development system.

The biggest surprise was the pcie NVME drive that I installed. The speed over SSD is unbelievable. In fact, when I reloaded the OS the first time, I was across the room from the monitor and assumed that the boot had hung with a black screen. As it turns out, the system boots so fast that the usual Linux dmesg scroll does not have time to display in the delay before the monitor syncs and comes up. Quite impressive.

Still playing with it. Have a USB3 card and a parallel printer adapter (yes, really) yet to install.

I am getting a long list of missing firmware for gmp that I need to work through, but so far so good.

What SSD do you have? The new ones, (PCIE gen5) can do >12GB/s (yes, 12+ gigabytes/second). Even the gen3/4 ones are insane. I got a Samsung 990 Pro for an external enclosure not because I need 8 GB/s but for the random read/write performance, which is off the charts compared to older/smaller drives.

 

[CptKrf]

I have a pile of 1 TB ssds, but nothing special. Just off the shelf Amazon stuff that I have used for years.

The NVME was just a "behind the locked glass cabinet" purchase at Micro Center and the PCI card from Amazon. The speed is impressive, but certainly not something that I needed or use very often. No idea of the brand. Thus far, it is the only drive in the machine except for a 1tb PNY ssd used only as an Rsync target.

Except for JAN, my needs are far less horsepower and GPU performance and more "I need more desktop screen space than these pittifully small 32 inch monitors have."