October 2013
The current computer used at home is a custom-built desktop computer that was purchased from TX Computer Solutions on the 25th of February, 2006 for $2,378.00. It bears the name Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri).
New name: Alzirr (Xi Geminorum)
The new desktop computer is expected to be used in a similar fashion to the current computer: for software development under Linux, often with multiple virtual machines running at the same time. Hence, a multi-core system with a fair amount of memory is required. A quiet system with large fans and possibly passive cooling is preferred; it must also fit under my desk!
There is no need for advanced features like Memory Error Correction (ECC) or hardware/software disk RAID. No software (especially Microsoft Windows!) needs to be purchased.
The current monitor is a Dell U2713H 27″ UltraSharp LCD monitor with Premier Colour, and was purchased on 24th of April, 2013 for $664.30. It has a resolution of 2560 × 1440 pixels at 60Hz. Dell order number [removed], delivered on 17th May, 2013. Dell invoice number [removed], service tag (serial number) [removed], warranty ends 16th May, 2016.
The current Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 USB keyboard, Microsoft Laser 6000 USB mouse and Creative Inspire 2500 2.1 speakers are still working and do not need to be replaced. The current paper-thin mouse mat also does not need replacing.
In terms of performance, Intel processors are very much preferred over AMD variants. Intel have a number of ranges within their Core processor family: i3, i5, i7. Of these, i7 is preferred, although not necessarily the fastest variant is needed, for price / performance (value for money) reasons.
The current (4th) generation CPU architecture is Haswell (22nm process; released June 2013); the previous (3rd) is Sandy Bridge (32nm process; released January 2011) / Ivy Bridge (22nm process; released April 2012). According to Wikipedia, total performance improvement of Haswell compared to Ivy Bridge is roughly 3%.
Key differences between i7 and i5: i7 has hyperthreading, i5 does not; i7 tends to have a larger L3 cache than i5.
| Socket: | LGA1150 |
| Heatsink: | Can use LGA1150, LGA1155 and LGA1156 |
| Recommended chipset: | Z87 |
| Cores / Threads: | 4 / 8 |
| Maximum memory: | 32GB (DDR3-1333/1600) |
| Memory channels: | 2 (ECC not supported) |
| i7-4771 | 3.5GHz clock, 3.9GHz turbo, 8MB L3 cache, 84W TDP, N/A |
| i7-4770K | 3.5GHz clock, 3.9GHz turbo, 8MB L3 cache, 84W TDP, $387 (no VT-d, no Trusted Execution, can be overclocked) |
| i7-4770 | 3.4GHz clock, 3.9GHz turbo, 8MB L3 cache, 84W TDP, $353 |
| i7-4770S | 3.1GHz clock, 3.9GHz turbo, 8MB L3 cache, 65W TDP, $361 |
| i7-4770T | 2.5GHz clock, 3.7GHz turbo, 8MB L3 cache, 45W TDP, ? (no Trusted Execution) |
The i7-4771 is not widely available at this time (released only September 2013). Per usual industry trends, the i7-4770 is likely to be the best processor for performance per dollar.
The i7-4770 has an Intel HD 4600 graphics processor: 350MHz clock, up to 1.2GHz, supports up to 3 displays.
The boxed version of the i7-4770 (BX80646I74770) comes with E97378-001 heatsink and fan and some thermal paste; the fan requires a 4-pin fan header.
To purchase: Intel Core i7-4770
The i7 LGA1150 Haswell processor can use the following chipsets, among others:
| Z87 | 1 × PCIe 3.0 x16 / 2 × PCIe 3.0 x8 / 1 × PCIe 3.0 x8 + 2 × PCIe 3.0 x4, officially allows overclocking |
| H87 | 1 × PCIe 3.0 x16 |
| Q87 | 1 × PCIe 3.0 x16, Active Management, VT-d, Trusted Execution |
Common:
Any one of these chipsets will be adequate. Q87 chipset allows for vPro: remote management features.
There is a plethora of motherboards from various manufacturers using the Z87/H87/Q87 chipsets. Although there is no need to pay for the premium versions (prices range from $60 to $550!), versions with the Z87 chipset are preferred, as are systems with better cooling, power regulation, etc.
Manufacturers: ASRock, Asus, Gigabyte, Intel, MSI
Features required:
See the spreadsheet Computer Purchase 2013 Components [LibreOffice format] for a comparison of many motherboards.
To purchase one of the following (all such lists are in order of preference):
The Intel Core i7-4770 processor supports eight parallel threads of execution, as well as up to 32GB of DDR3 memory (dual-channel, four slots).
Either 16GB (4 × 4GB) or 32GB (4 × 8GB) is recommended, at either 1333MHz (PC3-10600) or 1600MHz (PC3-12800). Pairs of modules should be matched for best performance, due to the dual-channel architecture of the CPU. In addition, CAS Latency (CL) should be as small as possible.
Manufacturers: Corsair, G.Skill, Kingston, Team
See the spreadsheet Computer Purchase 2013 Components [LibreOffice format] for a comparison of memory modules. Not all modules are listed.
To purchase one of:
Perhaps the greatest increase in system performance is gained by using an SSD hard drive for the system drive.
| Current system disk usage, excluding /home and /data: | 14GB |
| Excluding /var: | 10GB |
| Including /home and /var: | 23GB |
| Including /home, /var and /data/vmware: | ~200GB |
Given that SSDs are much more expensive than HDDs (~$1000 per TB vs. ~$50 per TB), it makes sense to select a small disk size, keeping most files on HDDs. 128GB is adequate, although 256GB SDDs give better performance; preferance should be given to performance over capacity. Most cases today have provision for 2½″ disks.
Note that when manufacturers quote “Maximum sequential read speed” or “write speed” of around 550MB/s, that is the limit of the SATA3 6Gb/s interface. Real read and write speeds are almost certainly lower than any quoted speeds!
According to Tom’s Hardware, current “Tier 1” disks include:
Tom’s Hardware recommends, in no particular order:
See the spreadsheet Computer Purchase 2013 Components [LibreOffice format] for a comparison of some SSDs. Not all drives are listed.
To purchase one of:
Given the use of an SSD hard drive for the system drive, the key criterion for data hard drives is capacity per dollar. The “sweet-spot” for such drives is roughly $50 per TB, for 3TB consumer drives. It is not worth purchasing a larger-capacity drive as higher capacities are being released all the time: it is almost certain that the data drives will be replaced in roughly three years’ time.
| Current drives: | Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 (ST31500341AS) |
| Current data drive usage: | 3.8TB spread over three 1.5TB drives. |
| Current power-on hours: | /dev/sda — 13524 (warranty expires December 2013) |
| /dev/sdb — 10884 (out of warranty) | |
| /dev/sdc — 12101 (out of warranty) |
Perhaps keep two newest drives? Or even all three drives? Yes, all three: ASRock motherboard has ten SATA connectors (depends on case being able to fit all these drives).
Advanced format drives (with 4096-byte sectors) are permitted, although partitions and file systems on these drives must be aligned correctly for best performance.
Warranty on new Seagate drives is very difficult to determine before purchase: website requires serial number! From various forums, warranty seems to be between one year (most common) and five years. Hence, not worth purchasing Seagate.
See the spreadsheet Computer Purchase 2013 Components [LibreOffice format] for a comparison of HDDs. Not all drives are listed.
To purchase one of:
The i7-4770 processor has an inbuilt Intel HD 4600 graphics processor: 350MHz base frequency, 1.2GHz max. frequency, up to three displays supported. This graphics processor is supported by later versions of the Linux kernel and the X.org graphics drivers; OpenGL 3.1 is supported (4.0 under Windows), as is OpenCL 1.2. Memory bandwidth is 25.6GB/s.
Current Dell U2713H monitor resolution is 2560 × 1440 pixels at 60Hz using dual-link DVI-D or DP; HDMI cannot be used by this monitor. Future monitors are likely to be up to 4096 × 2304 pixels. Hence must be able to support resolutions this high.
ASRock Z87 Extreme 6 has the following on-board outputs; all three may be used at the same time:
Max. shared memory on this motherboard: 1792MB
NB: DVI-D: digital only, DVI-A: analogue, DVI-I: digital and analogue; also have single-link (max 1920 × 1200 at 60Hz) and dual-link.
Key question: is it worth purchasing an external graphics card, given my current use for fairly simple graphics / video processing (ie, no games!)?
According to the PassMark Software [PMS] video benchmarks, the HD 4600 has a score of 599; even a $180 card like the NVidia GTX 650 Ti has a score of 2696. The $350 GTX 760 has a score of 5011, while the $1250 GTX Titan has a top score of 8087.
Tom’s Hardware recommends, amongst others:
The GTX 760 seems to be the best in terms of value for money. Specifications, according to NVidia:
Max. resolution is 4096 × 2160 pixels: 3840 × 2160 at 30Hz or 4096 × 2160 at 24Hz supported over HDMI, 4096 × 2160 (including 3840 × 2160) at 60Hz supported over DP.
Note that NVidia OpenCL support may be poor: proprietary CG Toolkit is supported instead. Also to weigh up: NVidia cards require a proprietary (non-Open Source) driver for best performance, leading to hassles when installing a new Linux kernel. Also consider Wayland support: currently non-existent? AMD Radeon drivers have traditionally had performance / stability issues under Linux, although this is being improved.
See the spreadsheet Computer Purchase 2013 Components [LibreOffice format] for a comparison of some graphics cards.
To purchase one of:
Rationale: Spending $350 is a reasonable amount to pay for something that supposedly has roughly eight times the performance of what is in-built. In particular, the in-built HD 4600 would be accessing main memory continually for the graphics refresh, leading to a loss of bandwidth for other tasks, versus a separate PCIe card with dedicated video memory.
Current desktop computer has two DVD drives: a Pioneer A110D dual layer 16× DVD±RW writer and a Sony DDU1615 DVD-ROM. The concern at the time was wearing out the writer laser by using it for reads. This has proven completely unnecessary.
No need to purchase a Blu-ray writer or even reader: backing up files these days is done to external multi-terabyte disks, not to BD (25GB/ 50GB/100GB) or DVD (4.7GB/8.5GB). Playing Blu-ray discs is not easily supported under Linux, due to encryption issues.
The chief concern is to make sure the DVD drive firmware can be flashed to allow for region-free playing of DVD discs. See RPC1 website. Unfortunately, almost all newer DVD drives are not supported. The LtnRPC program may still work on LiteOn drives, and patched firmware for the LiteOn IHAS124 might be available. The Asus DRW-24D3ST might be a rebadged LiteOn drive; in fact, many drives might be rebadged LiteOns!
Most drives allow five changes of the region code; a new drive may be cheap enough that flashing the firmware is no longer as critical. The region must be set using regionset(1) before discs will play. Programs using mplayer(1) and/or libdvdcss2 might not need RPC1 firmware for region-free playing at all, so all this concern may be moot.
To purchase one of:
The current computer uses an Antec Sonata III Mid Tower Black case with a EA-500 Green power supply. This has proven an excellent choice. Should I just reuse the current case, perhaps with a new power supply? Quite tempting!
Maximum size (based on space under desk): 240 × 440 × 550mm (W×H×D).
Required:
Preferred:
Manufacturers: AeroCool, Antec, BitFenix, CoolerMaster, Corsair, Fractal Design, Gigabyte, Lian-Li, NZXT, Silverstone, Thermaltake, Tsunami.
See the spreadsheet Computer Purchase 2013 Components [LibreOffice format] for a comparison of some cases.
Quite difficult to find something suitable: most cases are too large, sometimes only marginally so! Choice comes down to Antec Solo II or CoolerMaster Sileo 500.
The Solo II only has three HDD trays, although one of the external 5¼″ bays could be used for this purpose—only two such bays are present. The Sileo 500 manages four and five respectively! (However, one of these HDD bays would be used by the SSD.) The Sileo is also over $50 cheaper and comes with an extra front fan.
The Sileo does not have any USB3 ports, but has an external 3½” bay that can be used by the ASRock USB3 panel. It is also constructed of much thinner (cheaper) material than the Solo II. Cable management might also be an issue; Solo II is a bit better here.
Getting to the washable air filters on the Solo II looks quite difficult: need to open side panel, then remove front bezel. Old Sonata III was much easier!
To purchase: Antec Solo II
The Antec Solo II (as with many other cases) does not come with a power supply.
Approximate power requirements:
| i7-4770 processor: | 84W max TDP; 40–125W |
| motherboard: | 25–50W |
| 32GB DDR3 memory: | 16–24W |
| GTX 760 graphics: | 225W max; 35–225W |
| 256GB SSD: | 1–2W |
| 3 × HDD: | 9–30W |
| DVD±RW: | 1–10W |
| fans: | 5–7W |
| Total: | ~135–475W |
Connectors required:
Other features:
NB: OVP: over-voltage protection, UVP: under-voltage protection, NLO: no-load operation, SCP: short-circuit protection, OCP: over-current protection, OLP (OPP): overload protection, OTP: overheating protection.
Key wattage to check: 12V rail—majority of computer’s power is used up here, not as much in the 3.3V / 5V rails.
Want the idle power usage to be roughly 20% of full load capability for best efficiency: 135W ⇒ 675W. Buying a 650W power supply also means its internal fan should not spin up as often, making the entire system quieter.
| Plus efficiencies: | 20% load | 50% load | 100% load |
|---|---|---|---|
| (Original): | 80% | 80% | 80% |
| Bronze: | 82% | 85% | 82% |
| Silver: | 85% | 88% | 85% |
| Gold: | 87% | 90% | 87% |
| Platinum: | 90% | 92% | 89% |
Silent PC Review recommends, amongst others:
Some supplies recommended by Tom’s Hardware [80-Plus Bronze Review #1], [80-Plus Bronze Review #2], [Power Supply Efficiency]:
The Corsair HX650 80Plus Gold power supply is apparently based on the Seasonic G-650 one. However, some users have noted annoying “clicks” when the internal fan switches on and off.
Manufacturers: AeroCool, Antec, Aywun, CoolerMaster, Corsair, Cougar, Enermax, FSP (www.fsplifestyle.com), OCZ, Seasonic, Silverstone, Thermaltake.
See the spreadsheet Computer Purchase 2013 Components [LibreOffice format] for a comparison of some power supplies.
To purchase one of:
Observation as at 21st November, 2013: the complete system, as built, uses roughly 120W input power (150VA, 0.63A) when idling.
No floppy drive needs to be purchased: this is an obsolete peripheral.
To purchase one of:
To purchase: 5¼″ bay to 3½″ tray adapter
See the spreadsheet Computer Purchase 2013 [LibreOffice format] for an overall pricing comparison. Placed an order with IJK on 24th October, 2013 for $2032, order number [removed]. Received and self-assembled on 1st November, 2013.