Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] PCIe x1 or PCIe x4 SATA controller card
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2023 12:45:34
Message-Id: b43babb5-02f2-0367-2350-690358f5010a@gmail.com
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-user] PCIe x1 or PCIe x4 SATA controller card by Mark Knecht
1 Mark Knecht wrote:
2 >
3 >
4 > On Mon, Mar 13, 2023 at 7:35 AM Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com
5 > <mailto:rdalek1967@×××××.com>> wrote:
6 > <SNIP>
7 > > Another question.  My rig is getting a bit aged.  I have a AMD FX-8350 8
8 > > core CPU running at 4GHz.  I also have 32GBs of memory.  I've read that
9 > > Intel currently has the best bang for buck on CPUs nowadays.  I'm open
10 > > to the idea of switching.  As far as speed goes, if I built a new rig
11 > > that is using a reasonably cost CPU and memory, would I see any real
12 > > improvements?
13 >
14 > I think it all depends on what you're going to use the machine for and
15 > whether you really use all your CPU for extended periods of time. 
16 >
17 > For all the hours my machines run they are mostly idle, in the sense
18 > that even if I'm keeping the machine busy watching a movie, doing 
19 > backups, browsing the web, even on my older machines none of those 
20 > use more than 10-15% of my older machines. The only two things I do
21 > which drove the purchase of my new machine were:
22 >
23 > 1) Studio level audio recording using Mixbus32C (the for-pay version
24 > of the Open Source project called Ardour)
25 >
26 > 2) Astrophotography photo processing using the for-pay program
27 > called PixInsight.
28 >
29 > Mixbus32C issues are more based around real-time performance
30 > and use of both the Linux and Windows versions, and being able
31 > to transfer projects back and forth between both platforms. I've
32 > never heard you talk about using Windows, nor doing anything 
33 > that takes real-time capabilities so that probably doesn't apply.
34 >
35 > PixInsight is the processor hog. It can use all my 32GB memory
36 > (and more) and it can run for hours using 100% of my CPU so
37 > it's the one that drove my eventual purchase of a Ryzen 9 5950X.
38 >
39 > PixInsight has a benchmark program built in and all the results
40 > are open to look at:
41 >
42 > https://pixinsight.com/benchmark/index.php?sort=cpu&os=all
43 >
44 > Interestingly I didn't find your processor even on the list and
45 > the top says it covers about 3000 CPU models. You might
46 > take a look at this when you boil your processor choices down
47 > to 2 or 3.
48 >
49 > Note that for the specific processor type you can open up the
50 > group and look at individual machines. Most/many include what
51 > motherboard they were running so that can assist you making 
52 > choices also.
53 >
54 > Hope this helps,
55 > Mark
56
57
58 One of my concerns isn't just speed, it's the age of things like caps
59 and such on the mobo.  This mobo is around a decade old.  While it is
60 supposed to be a top of the line board, it's still got caps which tend
61 to be a weak spot.  I seem to recall looking when I bought this mobo
62 that it does have Japanese caps which are the best.  Thing is, even they
63 go bad sometimes.  While this machine is old, it is still pretty fast. 
64 I really wish I knew the life expectancy of a Gigabyte mobo like this. 
65 It claims to be 'ultra durable' and given it is in a Cooler Master
66 HAF-932 case with those large fans, it does run pretty cool, heat tends
67 to age caps and make the stink get out. 
68
69 The other reason, I'm just curious if I build a new rig if I should be
70 looking to really upgrade by a lot or just get parts that are newer and
71 less likely to fail due to age.  When I went from previous rig which was
72 single core to current rig which originally had a 4 core CPU, it was
73 about 6 to 7 times faster.  When I upgraded to a 8 core, it speed up
74 some more.  It was a noticeable improvement both times over original
75 single core rig.  Thing is, it seems CPU frequencies have pretty much
76 maxed out.  I think pushing above 4.5GHz or so is difficult to do. 
77 Dang, that is fast.  Over twice the frequency of a microwave oven for
78 goodness sake.  They seem to be making them more efficient, adding
79 cores/threads and such as that.  We had a long thread several years back
80 talking about reaching the max on frequency of CPUs and such.  It's
81 almost like we need a whole new technology now to make things faster as
82 far as the CPU frequencies go. 
83
84 In the past, I used a list on Tom's Hardware to pick CPUs.  I usually
85 started about 4 or 5 CPUs down the list, from fastest to slowest, and
86 started checking prices.  Sometimes a CPU that costs $500 can only be
87 just a fraction faster than a $200 CPU.  Given that my rig, as you point
88 out, sits here and waits on me to do something most of the time, that's
89 a lot of money for something I won't see much time savings on.  I might
90 add tho, I do sometimes convert videos from 1080p to 720p.  That makes
91 the CPU max out pretty good.  Compiling Libreoffice, Firefox etc also
92 maxes out the CPU but those are what, once a month or so???
93
94 I was also wondering what a mobo/CPU/memory combo would cost nowadays. 
95 Maybe someone who recently built a decent rig recalls how much they paid
96 for those three.  I don't go cheap on power supply but I don't require a
97 lot for a video card or anything.  Some spend half their money on a
98 video card alone but I just don't need anything that fancy.  I got a
99 Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 that drives both my monitor and my TVs through a
100 splitter and it does just fine.  Heck, the video card fan is pretty much
101 at idle and the temps cool most all the time so I can't be pushing it to
102 hard.  Usually, mobo and CPU is the main part of my cost.  Power supply
103 right behind that.
104
105 This is some good info tho.  Maybe someone who built a rig recently can
106 chime in on costs, US dollar would be nice.  ;-)
107
108 Thanks.
109
110 Dale
111
112 :-)  :-) 

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-user] PCIe x1 or PCIe x4 SATA controller card Frank Steinmetzger <Warp_7@×××.de>