On Tue, April 8, 2014 3:44 pm, Chris Metzler wrote: > > In the past, I've sorta DIY'd my home machines -- sorta because it's > been more integration than building. Most of the parts would come from > some vendor like Newegg; but the processor+cooling/motherboard/memory > would come from the now long-departed Monarch Computer. The part of > building that scared me was doing a good job coupling the heatsink to > the processor; Monarch sold processor/motherboard combos where they'd > taken care of that, and tested the combo to make sure it was happy > before sending it to you. And their prices were good and they were > reliable. So, I'd do a little research on motherboards, pick a couple > of candidates, then google to see whether other folks were using those > motherboards with Linux and what experiences they were having. And if > it all looked good, I'd order it all and do the final integration, and > I've never had any problems, including with Linux/hardware > compatibility. > > However, it's been quite a while since I did this the last time, mainly > because the machine I have now has done me pretty good. But I'm ready > to replace my machine, and apparently two things have happened since > the last time: > > - Monarch became an unreliable company, then went bust; > > - I became insanely busy all the time, and less motivated (but not > completely unmotivated) to build. > > So, I'm looking to find out about hardware vendors. Specifically, I > want to know about: > > 1. folks selling fully-built machines with Linux in mind, so that > there'll be no real worries about any hardware compatibility issues; > > 2. folks selling motherboard/processor combos that they test before > shipping to the customer, like Monarch did back when they were still > around and reliable. > > In case it matters, I tend to go for as souped-up a home machine as I > can, and then ride it for a long time. The machine I end up with will > be used for Linux audio, with an Audiofire 8 interface that'll connect > to the machine by Firewire. So obviously it's going to need to have low > latencies in mind. It'll also get used for gaming, and for code > development for scientific computing. I dunno whether it's even an > option anymore, but having one legacy PCI slot around would be nice, > but isn't a dealbreaker if that's just too obsolete. > > Any suggestions on vendors to look at, or sources of information on > build options (I used to start at Tom's Hardware and Anandtech years > ago; dunno if they're still the best choices), would all be greatly > appreciated. > > Thanks much! > I have found the Intel NUC range is well supported by Intel and has the power to do the job. They have a dedicated support channel and were able to quickly roll out firmware updates based on my feedback. Another option is an ASUS mini-itx board in a Shuttle case. If you go that route you will also be able to install an ATI or NVidia GPU and leverage the power of openCL support in ffmpeg. If you want a well supported board then you should probably stay away from AMD. They are getting worse not better. But if you do choose AMD the fusion chips offer reasonable performance vs cost/power consumption. Just don't expect any real support from AMD. Even the open source drivers are developed by NVidia devs in their spare time. If you just want a decent low cost machine that gives you all the power you need then the NUC's are hard to beat. Gigabyte are also competing with the same form factor but I haven't tested their offering yet. It looks like they are using the reference design for the NUC though so it should be well supported. FYI, several LAD's have also looked into the various Android devices that are on the market. I have found that the ARM Chips are just not powerful enough for serious professional work but they are very good at handling specific use cases especially for things like fx boxes or dedicated machines running specific low latency tasks. If you are interested in visual multimedia the difference between the graphics on an ARM board versus the NUC or a dedicated ATI/NVIdia GPU is a non starter. The ARM boards are not pbscene but the quality difference is noticeable. I have found the low end NUCs can handle full screen 1080p at around 25 fps for a modern 3d engine which allows to capture almost decent 1080p video but a more powerful GPU can handle 200FPS on the same engine. If you are into gaming the low end NUC's will allow you to play but you will want a more powerful model to have the optimum experience. In that case I recommend looking into the i3/i5 models. You can get a pcie card for firewire support. Failing all of the above a new ultrabook might give you performance and mobility but the price difference is substantial. -- Patrick Shirkey Boost Hardware Ltd _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-user mailing list Linux-audio-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user
