Computer hardware
The following is my hardware shopping list, more or
less. Observations and rants are included.
Workstation
- CPU
-
(Low-end) Intel Xeon processors are generally nice and
suitable for a workstation: ECC memory support, fine TDP, and
all the perks of being mainstream. Though there are security
vulnerabilities, potential backdoors (particularly enterprise
features, ME), vulnerabilities in backdoors, and numerous
backwards compatibility warts, but there are comparable ones
in other affordable and suitable for common computing tasks
CPUs (PSB in AMD CPUs). Though as of 2019, it seems that AMD
CPUs may be a generally better option: ECC is not disabled
even in Ryzen (desktop, unlike the considerably more expensive
EPYC or Threadripper) CPUs, and they seem to beat Intel in
benchmarks/specifications at the same price. After 2022,
intel.com geo-blocks me, nudging even closer to
AMD. cpubenchmark.net provides a variety of benchmarks,
including "best value" ones, useful for budget builds. Tom's
Hardware has the "best picks" category with good pointers,
aiming different needs (budget, workstation, gaming). As a
side note, some suggest to choose by performance/watt, rather
than by announced TDP, and then possibly throttle a CPU with
software.
- Memory
-
Software keeps taking all the available memory, and even if
one manages to avoid memory hogs, it is still nice to cache
more. So it is usually a good idea to have plenty of
memory. Kingston seems to be relatively reliable and produces
ECC memory; Crucial and SuperMicro seem fine; personally I
have only had issues with Corsair (which makes non-ECC memory
anyway). All DDR5 memory has in-chip ECC, but the "ECC"
versions still come with additional lanes, to allow detection
of in-transit errors.
- Storage
-
Probably it is the time to move to SSDs, but I am still using
HDDs as the primary storage. There are reliability statistics
around (usually it is, from least reliable to most: Seagate,
WD, Hitachi and Toshiba, which is also reflected in prices);
it's hard to deduce reliability by a vendor, but WD Red disks
work fine for me: by 2024, I only had one faulty WD disk,
after about 15 years of regular usage.
- Graphics card
-
Integrated CPU graphics are useful as a backup, and sufficient
if you do not do heavy gaming, video editing, or things like
that. They also take the price down and reduce the number of
components, including moving parts, so there is less noise,
less heat, lower power consumption, fewer possible
failures. As for discrete video cards, the primary issue for
me is software support (both drivers and higher-level software
such as X compositors). NVIDIA is most problematic:
proprietary drivers are not supported for long, and
reverse-engineered libre ones are not usable at all for some
cards, and slow for others. AMD is better: in addition to
proprietary drivers, there are mostly working open
ones. Integrated Intel graphics seem to be the most
reliable. h-node.org listing alone does not guarantee that
drivers will work any smoothly.
- Motherboard
-
ASUS workstation motherboards seem to be fine, and usually
there is a few to choose from. Non-workstation ones tend to
come with Wi-Fi, LEDs, and other things one may prefer to not
have. Though generally it is better to check reviews and
benchmarks for motherboars on a chosen chipset at the time of
buying. As of 2024, AMD workstation motherboards are quite
expensive, while non-workstation ones support ECC as well.
- CPU heat sinks and fans
-
Noctua is nice. Painless CPU mounting is great, it is silent,
and cools CPUs well. Newer AMD stock coolers are not so bad
either (except for LEDs), though still behind Noctua.
- Power supply
-
Since a PSU malfunction can fry a motherboard and components
on it, it may be a good idea to attempt to pick a reliable
one, which would easily handle the used hardware. "80 Plus"
ratings can be consulted, and Thermaltake PSUs are not the
worst, though their newer models are covered in gaudy LEDs.
- Chassis
-
Full-tower metal cases are good for building and for cooling,
and often come with handy features that are less common on
smaller cases (e.g., front panel ports for SATA HDDs and other
I/O, large/slow/silent fans), though tend to be
heavy. Thermaltake ones are fine, NZXT looks nice too.
Unfortunately annoying and ugly LEDs are common on
full-towers. Maybe smaller and lighter cases would be fine,
and they are easier to move, maybe even suitable for placement
on a desk.
- UPS
-
APC by Schneider Electric is nice (except for its software,
which is awful, as usual for software shipped by hardware
vendors, but it is usable without that software). An RBC7
battery lasts for about 3 to 5 years (and it is recommended to
change them every 3 years), though it is a pain to recycle one
properly. I hear Falcon Electric and Eaton are nice as
well. But APC ones tend to make beeping noises, and may not be
quite suitable for bedrooms. Also heavier ones are quite
inconvenient to deal with: even if you rarely move them or
their batteries, it happens sometimes, and it is nice to have
something more manageable then. After my larger APC UPS
started malfunctioning (after about 15 years of usage), I
switched to more home-oriented, quieter, and lighter
CyberPower (1300 VA, which is still an overkill). This model
(CP1300EPFCLCD) was handled by Debian 12 easily, without any
tweaking, and estimated to keep my computer setup (85 W)
running on battery (while it is new) for about 40 minutes.
- Keyboard
-
The "Truly Ergonomic" keyboard has a relatively nice layout,
though custom keyboards may suit one better (and are fun to
build). Split keyboards seem nice too, but I haven't tried
them yet.
- Mouse
-
Gaming hardware tends to be unreliable, but mice advertised as
gaming ones tend to be handy. Logitech mice seem to live
longer than others (and particularly than those made by gaming
companies, like Razer). They have gaudy LED lights, but those
can be controlled with Piper (available from Debian
repositories), at least on G102.
- Home router
-
So far I had D-Link and ASUS routers that died, Linksys that
lived until it got outdated, and TP-Link router that lives,
though it's not much of data points. Apparently Zyxel shipped
backdoored firmware, so it may be better to avoid. LibreCMC
and OpenWRT maintain supported hardware lists, which are handy
for choosing from. OpenWRT seems to be better at supporting
router models long-term, while LibreCMC drops support sooner
and supports much fewer models. And there are interesting
router projects like Turris Omnia (open and quite overpowered,
by CZ.NIC).
- Printer
- I don't have a printer, but apparently Brother makes nice
and inexpensive black-and-white laser printers with working
Linux drivers. And there are horror stories about HP
printers.
- Computer speakers
- I'm not using anything fancy: only trying to avoid
particularly heavy computer speakers, since I don't like to
move heavy things. Smaller and lighter ones are certainly
better for moving them around.
- Microphone
- While not using a dedicated microphone, I've investigated
those. Apparently (and as one may expect) decent microphones
are standalone (not embedded into headsets, cameras, etc) and
fully analog (that is, don't include sound cards and USB
interfaces, but just focus on being microphones, usually with
an XLR interface). Dynamic microphones are said to be more
suitable for non-studio setups, and condenser/capacitor ones
-- for studio setups. Condenser microphones require phantom
power, so a suitable audio interface is required; for dynamic
ones one may get away with just an XLR-to-TRRS cable (although
a preamplifier is commonly recommended, so it may be better to
get a basic audio interface anyway). The popular options (for
speech, basic and inexpensive ones) seem to be Shure SM58 for
a dynamic microphone, Audio-Technica AT2020 and plenty of
others for a condenser microphone, Focusrite Scarlett external
audio interfaces.
- Power cords
- Apparently accidental unplugging is a fairly common issue,
so IEC locks may be nice to have (even though the IEC 60320
appliance coupling has no interlocking, unlike the industrial
IEC 60309): locks on C13 work like finger traps, on C14 they
work like tension sleeves, but perhaps they are better than
nothing. APC also makes cords, but they come either with no
locking at all, or with non-standard interlocking locks
(requiring support on both ends). It also seems that contacts
become loose with older female connectors, so occasionally
replacing those may be useful. They all are supposed to handle
10A, but one may also check current-carrying capacity tables,
as well as their claimed certification (some companies,
including Cablexpert/Gembird, violate the standard and make
C13-C14 cord versions for other maximum currents as
well). Apparently APC cords are good and expensive, Cisco ones
are similarly priced, Tripp Lite is inexpensive and seemingly
okay, others (not counting weird audiophile ones) are
inexpensive and their quality varies.
- Since C13 and C14 connectors can be rewirable, one can also
acquire those and make cords of a desired length (and
potentially be more picky about the connectors and wires
themselves, paying more attention to plating, insulation,
etc), but they can be fiddly, and it may be challenging to
find good ones (just as with premade cords).
Generally it is a good idea to look up the models on websites of
vendors in order to get accurate and complete specifications,
though it doesn't guarantee availability in local stores, and
may take a few iterations. As of 2019, tech companies didn't
adopt structured/machine-readable data exchange/publishing, so
hardware search/picking services tend to provide and use
incomplete information. Though they still may be easier to get
information from, since official websites tend to be infested
with JS and marketing. I've considered composing a table with
various vendors, indicating whether they cover hardware in LEDs,
make websites unusable and drivers hard to download, etc, but
it's basically as bad as it gets for every major vendor.
One can also get a small server rack and server hardware, which
generally aims reliability and is less prone to silly designs,
but it may be more challenging to keep it quiet than a desktop
computer, and there are likely to be minor annoyances: for
instance, usually there's no analog audio I/O in server
motherboards.
A basic setup can be quite similar to that of a workstation: a
computer, a screen, speakers, some input devices. The major
issues are content retrieval and manipulation (documented
separately, in the Home entertainment centre note), and awkward
hardware (documented below).
A computer
It is much easier to begin with giving up on workstation
priorities (such as ECC memory and not having gaudy LEDs), since
there are plenty of compromises to be made even without
those. In the end of 2019, I went for a build with Ryzen 7 3700X
(because of a relatively low TDP, and a stock cooler), ASUS TUF
GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI), HX432C16PB3K2/32 memory (which seemed
a bit strange, with my workstation from 2012 also having 32 GiB,
though this memory is faster), GV-R57XTGAMING OC-8GD graphics
card, Corsair HX750 PSU, a couple of NVMe SSDs, and just a
voltage stabilizer instead of an UPS (which probably was a
mistake: brief power cuts happen quite frequently here; or
possibly it's just voltage going too far down sometimes, but
either way it's not quite fixable and leads to computers losing
power). Finally tried an NZXT case (H710); it's indeed quite
nice, though heavy for a mid-tower.
The Xbox One controller works easily with MS Windows 10 over
Bluetooth (though the batteries only lasted for 40 hours of
gaming, and one has to select "mice, keyboards, etc" when adding
a device, despite MS Windows suggesting to pick a separate
option for Xbox controllers) and over an USB cable
(micro-usb). For some reason (which I have no idea how to debug
with a reasonable effort, and likely it would violate long and
unreadable game licenses) games lag when it vibrates, but
disabling vibration gets rid of the lags. Seems to work well on
Linux as well.
Wireless input devices may be particularly convenient for a
setup like that, but one should keep in mind that they tend to
use proprietary protocols, which are almost always insecure
(see, for instance, Penetration testing wireless keyboards from
2022, and HN comments, though I think it was pretty much common
knowledge before that).
M-Audio Keystation 88 MK3 is an inexpensive MIDI keyboard; I
don't have other MIDI keyboards to compare it to, and only
played a regular piano before, but it seems fine. Both Yoshimi
and LMMS work easily with it, on both Windows and
Linux. Synthesia mostly works with it on Android too (though
apparently misses some events, especially key releases, and then
almost hangs; no idea where the issue is). Z-shaped keyboard
stands are sometimes recommended for their stability and
independent height and width adjustments, which indeed seem nice
(I went for an OnStage one, which seems nice -- but once again,
I don't have much to compare it to). I've also acquired an
M-Audio SP-2 pedal, with its switch either being broken before
it arrived or breaking on the first attempt to use it (and given
that it's pretty cheap, attempting to replace it looks like more
trouble than it's worth); fortunately a MIDI pedal is just a
basic on-off switch, so one can try to replace it with a
paperclip or two, but that's rather junky.
A screen
OLED matrices seem to be used relatively commonly for
media-oriented "TVs", but modern "TVs" are monitors with
built-in computers, loaded with proprietary software, malware,
and even advertisements (see also: HN thread discussing spyware
on smart TVs). Apparently there are similar screens marketed as
"conference room" or "commercial" ones, and perhaps non-OLED can
be fine too. With comparable specifications, regular screens
seem to be quite a bit more expensive than TVs; possibly that's
because TVs can feature frame interpolation and double frame
rate in their specifications, and/or advertise resolutions with
interlacing. Though it's commonly suggested that preinstalled
spyware and adware lead to lower prices as well.
I went for a gaming LG screen (32GK850F-B, VA matrix) in 2019,
which seems rather nice and not particularly expensive.
Old cable television
While OTT services may make more sense these days, one may want
to preserve regular TV (such as DVB-C). There are receivers (aka
"set-top box") that can output video over HDMI and sound
separately (e.g., over RCA), as well as speakers with dual
inputs (e.g., also RCA), and computer screens commonly support
multiple inputs, so that both DVB-C receiver and a computer can
be connected to both a screen and speakers (so that TV can
function independently of a computer). There are PCI and USB TV
tuners too, but according to comments on the Internet their
quality is very low (both hardware and software), so solving it
with additional wires seems like a better option. See
also: MythTV, LinuxTV, DVB-C devices in LinuxTV wiki.
Builds
I decided to put together approximate builds I would consider,
so that I will have those at hand in case if I will need to
replace a computer urgently, and just as a reference. I have not
tried those though, so there may be compatibility issues. The
approximate prices I refer to are taken mostly from Russian
stores, where hardware is more expensive, but pcpartpicker links
with similar builds are provided for reference.
Year |
Purpose |
CPU |
Memory |
Motherboard |
Graphics |
PSU |
Storage |
CPU cooler |
Case |
Cost |
2024 |
Budget computer |
AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT |
Non-ECC, maybe 64 GB |
The B550 chipset, like MSI PRO B550M-VC WIFI
(microATX) |
Integrated |
At least 300 W, preferably quiet |
Kingston NV2 1 TB M.2 |
Virtually anything (TDP 65 W), preferably quiet |
Virtually anything, preferably quiet |
$600 (pcpartpicker) |
2024 |
Cheap computer |
AMD Athlon 200GE |
Non-ECC, 8 GB |
MSI A520M-A PRO (microATX) |
Integrated |
Virtually anything |
Maybe a 500 GB SSD, possibly SATA (some motherboards may
not support NVMe with this CPU) |
Virtually anything (TDP 35 W), preferably quiet |
Virtually anything, preferably quiet |
$250 |
2024 |
Modest workstation |
AMD Ryzen 5 9600X |
ECC, 32 to 128 GB (e.g., 4 * KSM48E40BD8KM-32HM) |
ASUS TUF GAMING B650M-E WIFI (microATX, ECC support) |
Integrated |
At least 300 W, preferably quiet |
Kingston NV2 1 TB M.2, optionally WD Red 4 TB |
Virtually anything (TDP 65/88 W), preferably quiet |
Virtually anything, preferably quiet |
$900 to $1800 (pcpartpicker) |