Desktop

This is my dualboot Wintendo/mini compiler farm, running Windows 10 and Debian 11 Bullseye.

Hardware specifications

• Corsair Obsidian 550D
• AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
• Noctua NH-U14S AM4 cooler
• 32 GB Crucial Ballistix DDR4 3200 RAM
• MSI MAG B550M Mortar
• BitFenix Whisper BWG450M
• Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6700 XT
• Samsung 970 EVO 1 TB NVMe SSD
• Samsung 850 512 GB SSD
• Plextor PX-891SAF
• Dell Ultrasharp U2717D
• Dell KM636 keyboard/mouse combo

Setup

The Windows 10 installation merely got migrated from the old Phenom box; the Linux installation got a fresh install on the Samsung PM951 NVMe 256 GB SSD, which came from my Dell XPS 13 (the Linux setup had been through a Wheezy to Jessie to Stretch upgrade after all...). The new Debian installation being UEFI and the existing Windows 10 still being a legacy BIOS install made GRUB2 integration a bit of a hassle; but it can be done. At this point, due to Android's size requirements, the PM951 got replaced by a 970 Evo, also NVMe. After 11 years of faithful service, I retired my Club 3D Radeon 6950 Coolstream edition and replaced it with a Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6700 XT.

AMD rushing their Ryzen release means problems like incorrect temperature offsets and memory compatibility issues, resulting in loud CPU coolers (my motherboard thinks the CPU is hitting 80° C while it should be 60° C, kicking the Noctua into overdrive), and the original Corsair 16 GB RAM set running initially at the minimally supported 2133 MT/s instead of its rated 3000 MT/s... Of course, such is the curse of the early adopter; with newer UEFI versions, the RAM has stabilised at 2933 MT (which is what the XMP specs in the BIOS set), so it is running 'as advertised' - Ryzen has no memory divider for 3000 MT; it does for 2667, 2933 and 3200 e.g. though. The Crucial Ballistix 2x 16 GB set is rated for 3200 MT, but my CPU's memory controller doesn't like that; it consistently throws errors during certain Memtest86 test suites, but limited to 2933 MT, it seems to work fine.

I have replaced my crappy NEC DVD writer with the Plextor, which seems to be a way better drive to rip my CD collection.

The box is mainly booted when I have some Windows-only stuff to do, or when I need to compile heavier stuff (like an OpenWrt checkout or Android, for example).