- Jan 14, 2024
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Building a rack-mount PC for a friend for the purposes of audio recording. I already have the case, PSU and enough parts to throw something together, but I want it to be the best bang for the buck for minimal thermal outputs.
In light of Microsoft's 'you vill zurrender ze data' email, I have strongly recommended some form of Linux for an OS, as I am currently shopping distros for my own purposes. We both use Audacity to record analog signals from a mixer, which I understand should not be a problem for Linux.
He currently uses a Dell Optiplex 990 mini tower with an i3-2100, maybe 2 GB RAM, unknown storage but suspect a HDD of unknown origin / hours / etc. At the very least, this machine will need more RAM and at least an SSD upgrade. This platform's advantage is that the i3-2100 is a 65W chip, which will help thermals, and he is okay with the idea of simply swapping this board and processor to the new case.
What I already have at my disposal --
AsRock B450M-HDV with Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3600
Asus Tuf B550-Plus with Patriot Viper Blackout 4 DDR4-3200
Ryzen 5 3600X
IS-55 Cooler (brackets for LGA or AM4)
RackChoice 2U ATX case with four 80mm fans
Asus Phoenix GTX1650 OC (slot powered)
Asus Tuf Gaming GTX1650S-4-OC (requires 6+2)
I don't want to make him spend more money than necessary, and I also don't want the thing to be a furnace. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. If the 65W i3-2100 on its original Dell board would be fine with a few upgrades and run cool in this case, then so be it.
One other question, would a machine that Win11 does not support, bother with prompting for an upgrade anyway?
Ideally, I would like this thing to stay below 50-55C, as not only will it be housed in a DJ-style rack, my friend and I both suffer from Irritable Larynx Syndrome, which makes us sensitive to heat.
But for the purposes of recording audio, would a Dell Q67 board with i3-2100 with SATA SSD at 3.0 Gbps be comparable to say, a 2400G / 3200G with a PCIe3 M.2 on an AsRock B450M or Asus Tuf B550?
Would that be worth the added cost of another CPU and M.2 over the added heat of a dedicated GPU?
Also, I've so far been recommended several versions of Linux for my own purposes (gaming / audio recording / recording my personal DVD collection), which include Mint, Ubuntu, Cinnamon, Nobara, ZorinOS, PopOS, Qemu, and KDE.
We both more or less need as seamless a transition as possible, though I know that's a tall order with Linux. But the less terminal and line-command stuff we have to do, the better. I am reassembling my old 1700 rig for the purposes of testing distros this weekend.
In light of Microsoft's 'you vill zurrender ze data' email, I have strongly recommended some form of Linux for an OS, as I am currently shopping distros for my own purposes. We both use Audacity to record analog signals from a mixer, which I understand should not be a problem for Linux.
He currently uses a Dell Optiplex 990 mini tower with an i3-2100, maybe 2 GB RAM, unknown storage but suspect a HDD of unknown origin / hours / etc. At the very least, this machine will need more RAM and at least an SSD upgrade. This platform's advantage is that the i3-2100 is a 65W chip, which will help thermals, and he is okay with the idea of simply swapping this board and processor to the new case.
What I already have at my disposal --
AsRock B450M-HDV with Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3600
Asus Tuf B550-Plus with Patriot Viper Blackout 4 DDR4-3200
Ryzen 5 3600X
IS-55 Cooler (brackets for LGA or AM4)
RackChoice 2U ATX case with four 80mm fans
Asus Phoenix GTX1650 OC (slot powered)
Asus Tuf Gaming GTX1650S-4-OC (requires 6+2)
I don't want to make him spend more money than necessary, and I also don't want the thing to be a furnace. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. If the 65W i3-2100 on its original Dell board would be fine with a few upgrades and run cool in this case, then so be it.
One other question, would a machine that Win11 does not support, bother with prompting for an upgrade anyway?
Ideally, I would like this thing to stay below 50-55C, as not only will it be housed in a DJ-style rack, my friend and I both suffer from Irritable Larynx Syndrome, which makes us sensitive to heat.
But for the purposes of recording audio, would a Dell Q67 board with i3-2100 with SATA SSD at 3.0 Gbps be comparable to say, a 2400G / 3200G with a PCIe3 M.2 on an AsRock B450M or Asus Tuf B550?
Would that be worth the added cost of another CPU and M.2 over the added heat of a dedicated GPU?
Also, I've so far been recommended several versions of Linux for my own purposes (gaming / audio recording / recording my personal DVD collection), which include Mint, Ubuntu, Cinnamon, Nobara, ZorinOS, PopOS, Qemu, and KDE.
We both more or less need as seamless a transition as possible, though I know that's a tall order with Linux. But the less terminal and line-command stuff we have to do, the better. I am reassembling my old 1700 rig for the purposes of testing distros this weekend.
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