Hi, For various reasons I tend to buy AMD processor based laptops (or DIY desktops)

Starting to think about building up a desktop this summer for serious work use, probably with a modest video card. (I don't really game anymore because it is too distracting)

Honestly, pretty much anything is powerful enough for what I do, so using a Ryzen processor vs an A8 APU is more about fun than actual need.

I wondered if anyone has built up a desktop using a Ryzen and especially if anyone has Linux experience on one, as I tend to use Linux Mint.

Thanks

Harry
 

I just priced up a new home-build system around an Athlon II x4 845 (3.5G, socket FM2+) on this.

I tend to buy stuff that's > 2 generations behind, can't really afford or need the latest. Also sometimes drivers & such may not be up to scratch for up to several years.

So the cpu and mb are bargain-basement, and I will splash out (by my low standards) on 16GB memory and a Radeon RX 460 (assuming it even fits) should about cover my relatively modest gaming needs for several years. Already have a new 1TB hdd and a fairly decent PSU.

Phoronix has a bunch of stuff up on linux on Ryzen.

I was reading about the server side version of the CPU today, and it looks pretty impressive. I heard people were complaining about how the non-server chip can't address as many memory channels as the Intels. This version kinda knocks that into a cocked hat. 

I'm very tempted by Ryzen as my current PC is a 2009 Core i5 (first Intel setup I've had in years), and it is finally beginning to show its age lately. However the first reviews of Ryzen I've seen suggest that it is still an immature platform from both a hardware and software point of view, so I reckon I might look a bit more seriously in a few months time.

Nothing wrong with letting others pay for the bleeding edge, that is for sure.  You are 100% right about drivers.

I might be wrong, but I think the FM2 socket is for APUs (combo CPU and video chip) and the AM3 socket is for (CPU+ video card) based systems.

IMHO, the risk you take combining an APU + video card is that all of the software has to really work together across both video processing setups or it sort of wastes at least one of them.  In windows that might be fine, but in Linux that can be more challenging. No idea if the game has to be smart enough to run that combo or not.  I am not saying it won't work, I just try to avoid complicated setups.

My son built up a gaming desktop last year using an AM3 board (it was around $80) + FX8370 + decent video card. You could also use about anything in that entire processor series and it will do ok.

He didn't over clock it, but did use pretty fast ram, which is critical for AMD based platforms, not so much for Intel platforms based on the reviews and comparisons I read.

I need to ask him exactly which mother board it was, but the only real issue was that the video card took up two slots so the wifi card didn't fit. He ended up just using CAT5 to the dsl modem and it runs very stable and very fast.

The video card appears to be doing most of the work on the games that he plays and the only latency he really notices is internet latency.

If the game you are playing doesn't need as many threads, the FX4300 is a surprisingly strong performer due to the large L3 cache and just $70 at newegg.  I think the only reason that he didn't use the 4300 was that he wanted to create videos of his game play, that that took it over the 4300 thread limit.

I can't say much about what he spent on the computer parts, he worked for a semester at Target full time + and earned it all himself.

Similarly, I am giving it a few months to get beat up by the gamers and figure out which motherboards are actually stable.  So many times processors get a bad rap for what are actually MB or some kind of system combination stability problem.

I have been waiting a long time for the AM4 platform and can give it a bit more time.

Depending on how things go, I might do a father and son build of this thing with a modest video card, then let him take the best parts of both systems as his new game rig - end of the year Christmas gift.


 

The IPC figures for Ryzen are well above what the older AMD architectures can do, so it'd be worthwhile purely as a future-proofing exercise. I think Linux from 4.10 onwards plays better with Ryzen than Windows does (apparently) - the newer the better really in this case.

The chips are also 14nm and should run cooler than the other AMD options. If you don't need 8 cores / 16 threads and the performance they can bring, then wait for the R5 and/or R3 series to come out, they should be even cheaper and still quite good choices. Furthermore, if you prefer the APU approach, then I think the Zen-based ones should be coming out in late 2017, by which time both Linux and Windows should have far fewer bugs. On top of this, whatever platform the APUs come with should be far more future-proof than current AMD APUs.

I'm of the firm opinion that more cores (and therefore more threads) is a Good Thing; I was slightly ridiculed for this when I bought the old Q9550, turns out I was justified to do so in the long run since I only replaced it a couple of months ago.

So... tldr, wait until late 2017 and decide then, the picture should be much clearer then.

Ryzen 5's out

- still too rich for my blood starting at ~US$170/Can$226 for the 4-core model (the Athlon II 845 4-core 3.5G is 60 Canadian pesos)