On 16/12/2013 22:23, Darrell Anderson wrote:
> All,
>
> I'm considering an update to my office desktop computer I built 5
> years ago. A new system with SATA III, USB 3.0, quad core, an SSD,
> etc, would seriously help with Trinity build times.
>
> I would like to keep the system as quiet as possible with no
> increase in the electric bill over my current dual core AMD system
> (about 65-80 watts).
>
>
Hi Darrell,

I've had great pain lately with two new systems I built. Obviously, 
newer MBs are UEFI based which introduces complexities, especially if 
multibooting and booting from legacy devices can be problematic. 
Installing linux (debian in my case) also proved problematic with these 
UEFI boards and graphics cards. Windows seems to install fine, maybe as 
that is the OS everything is taylored to.

The two MBs in question are both AMD based (I will not use AMD in the 
future) as are the CPUs (obviously), both FX series, an AMD FX-8350 & 
AMD FX-6300. The boards are Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5 and an ASUS  M5A99X 
Evo R2.

The bigget issue besides UEFI bios is RAM. It's critical these days to 
ensure support prior to purchase, especially with AMD systems. AMD 
memory conroller is in the CPU so tools like memtest86 aren't as much 
use as they used to be. Both my systems (every combination of MB/CPU) 
fail memtest86 with more than one core enabled. Be careful with RAM qty 
and speed with AMD CPU/MB. 32GB RAM is not supported at certain higher 
speeds of RAM, a fact not well advertised by AMD.

If you go AMD route, the first thing to install therefore  is the latest 
chipset/raid drivers from the AMD site (rather than the MB cdrom). The 
next big issue is the PSU. Unfortunately, with these newer systems, 
bigger is better.

If possible, buy RAM/CPU/MB from same place (not easy I know) as 
resolving compatibilities when bought seperately is a nightmare.

Best solution of all (if Windows is not wanted), buy yourself a number 
of ARM devices and farm them :).

I will be going Intel in future, more expensive but I'm not willing to 
face the trouble I've had with this AMD kit ever again.

Cheers,

-- 
Mike Howard