Linux CPU build

Codar

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I want to build a Linux 'do it all machine', I'm wondering should I go for Intel or AMD CPU, I keep looking at AMD Ryzen 5000 series, I reckon a quad core would suit my needs, right now I'm on Win 7 Pro using a AMD A6-5400K dual core, not being a 'gamer' it suites my needs, I do think a 6 core would be an over-kill, obviously I want to see an improvement in the transistion.

I don't want to be using Windows 10 or 11 if I can help it, I may consider using a dual windows 7 boot for my PCB cad work if for nothing else.

Dare I ask another question? Quite somewhile ago I did use Mint maybe Mint 17 or 18 something like that, when using Wine I could load my windows cad work OK, it worked mighty fine except..... the cad work I could never get it open to 'full windows', I never did bother to find out why as Linux was new to me, this was about the time I switched from XP to Windos 7 pro, reason I mention this I wouldn't like to be faced with the same issue.... could well be something that I wasn't doing, I did try to run the program in 'max' windows but that didn't work.

Thanks, Dave
 


cpu.. see post 9 in the following thread
 
The problem I had was a long while ago, I forgot what version of Mint it was but when using Labcenter PCB cad, obviously I had to use Wine as it was a Windows programe it ran the program fine but I just could not get the program to open to 'full screen' - it'd leave a inch or two short around the edges to remedy this I clicked on program properties on the icon and click 'run in maximised window' every time I opened it - I closed the program and everytime I opened the program it'd revert to a smaller screen, yet the program was set to run in 'maximised window', be it Wine or Mint wouldn't do as told.

My post really was about which CPU for a new build, really not interested in hi speed gaming, I certainly won't need anything more than 6 cores, as said right now I'm running two cores, obviously I want to see an improvement of some kind no matter how little.

I kinda got my mind set on a AMD Ryzen.
 
sorry forgot to post the link, so here i have cut/paste my post from other thread,

For daily computing, you probably will not notice any difference between the I7 and the equivalent Ryzen 7, for gaming the Ryzen 7 is probably slightly better, more costly for gamers than the Ryzen 7,is the Ryzen 9.
My current machines are all Intel, but when building my own I always used AMD, the reason for this was back in the good old days the AMD K series was always more reliable than the intel P series so I always stuck with them for home builds
 
Hello, Codar. Welcome to Linux.org.

A "Linux 'do-it-all' machine", huh? Gawd. This is entirely subjective, and really boils down to what you see yourself doing with the machine.

Any decent modern quad-core should do what you want. Even nowadays, very little software is actually written to use multi-threading.......and that goes for a lot of games! Since you, like I, are not a "gamer", that aspect is irrelevant.

I had to replace my ancient 2005 Compaq Presario desktop PC at the beginning of the pandemic, just into January 2020. It was a dual-core Athlon64 with only 4 GB DDR1, so anything was going to be an improvement. I picked a middle-of-the-road HP Pavilion, with a G5400 Pentium 'Gold' @ 3.7 GHz. This is dual-core, but with H/T, so effectively a quad-core......and with far more modern instruction sets (SSE4.2 compared to the Athlon64's SSE3). It came with just 4GB of DDR4, so since I never wanted to be restricted due to RAM again, over the course of 2020 it eventually got maxed-out at 32 GB.

The original 1 TB Toshie HDD got replaced with a 1 TB Crucial MX500 SSD, and I treated myself to my first-ever GPU, too; a fairly basic, Asus GeForce GT 710 'passive-cooler' w/2 GB GDDR5. This was dictated somewhat by the fact that this HP has a weird, non-standard sized PSU, outputting just 180W; the GT 710 pulls just 19W, and that's supplied by the slot itself.

I run Puppy Linux; a small, ultra-lightweight distro, with very low hardware demands. All things being equal, this combo should last me for several years to come.


Mike. ;)
 
As has been said any of the Intel or AMD cpu's should be sufficient for the task Either one should do what you want.
I have intel here on all my machines simply because that is what was on the Motherboard when I bought it. But I find intel's are well supported in Linux. The I7 and I5's have all done what I needed. I haven't had an AMD machine in quite some time. But when I did it worked well also. So afraid we won't be of much help in your choosing. Enjoy the Journey and good luck in your endeavor.
 
Any decent modern quad-core should do what you want. Even nowadays, very little software is actually written to use multi-threading.......and that goes for a lot of games! Since you, like I, are not a "gamer", that aspect is irrelevant.

The first part I agree with. The second part, the part of it being irrelevant is one I disagree with. The kernel is pretty good at spreading stuff out between the cores. So, you will see an improvement with more cores. If the software isn't written to work on multiple cores, that's still okay. There are other cores that can be used (and are used).

If you were running one application, or four applications, that'd be accurate. Nobody has just four running processes on a desktop Linux system. Also, I'm pretty sure the major browsers are compiled to run on multiple cores. That's a big benefit there. But, the kernel happily spreads the load over the cores and the more cores the better the performance.

That said, I agree that 4 cores is adequate for most folks. I just disagree that more cores is irrelevant.
 
KGill wrote:
the kernel happily spreads the load over the cores and the more cores the better the performance.

Absolutely the case.

Under very light load of only a browser operating with 5 tabs open, all cores are at work:
Code:
[flip@flop ~]$ mpstat -P ALL
Linux 6.0.0-4-amd64 (flop)       23/11/22        _x86_64_        (4 CPU)

08:05:37     CPU    %usr   %nice    %sys %iowait    %irq   %soft  %steal  %guest  %gnice   %idle
08:05:37     all    7.66    0.02    3.14    0.99    0.00    0.02    0.00    0.00    0.00   88.18
08:05:37       0    7.28    0.03    2.82    1.12    0.00    0.03    0.00    0.00    0.00   88.73
08:05:37       1    7.30    0.01    2.82    1.12    0.00    0.04    0.00    0.00    0.00   88.71
08:05:37       2    8.87    0.04    4.16    0.74    0.00    0.02    0.00    0.00    0.00   86.16
08:05:37       3    7.18    0.00    2.76    0.97    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00   89.09
 
An 8 CPU system if you want:

Code:
kgiii@kgiii-msi:~/Downloads$  mpstat -P ALL
Linux 5.15.0-50-generic (kgiii-msi)     11/22/2022     _x86_64_    (8 CPU)

04:25:36 PM  CPU    %usr   %nice    %sys %iowait    %irq   %soft  %steal  %guest  %gnice   %idle
04:25:36 PM  all    1.43    0.05    7.64    0.34    0.00    0.01    0.00    0.00    0.00   90.53
04:25:36 PM    0    1.54    0.05    7.31    0.34    0.00    0.01    0.00    0.00    0.00   90.75
04:25:36 PM    1    1.43    0.06    8.91    0.17    0.00    0.01    0.00    0.00    0.00   89.41
04:25:36 PM    2    1.49    0.05    6.30    0.42    0.00    0.01    0.00    0.00    0.00   91.74
04:25:36 PM    3    1.41    0.05    7.93    0.31    0.00    0.01    0.00    0.00    0.00   90.28
04:25:36 PM    4    1.36    0.05    7.17    0.41    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00   91.01
04:25:36 PM    5    1.39    0.05    6.65    0.38    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00   91.53
04:25:36 PM    6    1.41    0.05    8.93    0.37    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00   89.24
04:25:36 PM    7    1.42    0.05    7.92    0.34    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00   90.26
 
@KGIII :-

Yah; that DID come out not quite as intended..! The mention of irrelevance was only a passing reference to the gaming side of things, in which I have very little interest.

You're right about the kernel "spreading the load". Especially with Chromium-based browsers, and all the sandboxing in use with each and every tab. I frequently have two or three browsers running simultaneously, since I like to 'beta-test' new releases of many of the portable-browsers I produce - for at least a couple of days - before packaging them up and uploading them for sharing with the community.

In this respect, at least, the new rig is such an improvement over the old one it's quite an eye-opener.


Mike. ;)
 
One can watch the cpus at work dynamically in the htop uppermost panel in real time, a static pic of which looks like :
Code:
    0[|||                                5.2%] Tasks: 107, 572 thr, 88 kthr; 1 running
    1[|||||                             10.3%] Load average: 1.06 0.98 0.67 
    2[||                                 2.6%] Uptime: 07:02:55
    3[||||                               6.5%]
  Mem[||||||||||||||||||||        2.05G/7.73G]
  Swp[                               0K/6.00G]
 
Thanks for all the replies, I don't think for what I do is going to need anymore than six core, a quad core would probably do me I dunno why but AMD is stuck in my mind, I guess its because I've always used AMD, I have thought of Intel.

Obviously, when you build something it's gotta be better than the one you have, I suppose it's like guessing the length of a ball of string.

Dave
 

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