[tech] Proposed new parts to replace Porcupine

[bob at ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au]

Hi Felix,

Thanks for putting this together. To start with, it's great that we can 
re-use some of those parts. I do think the budget is pretty low for this 
though - we've previously spent around $1100-1200 on a machine, and given 
the current bank balances, I see no reason to skimp (even if we do end up 
replacing maltair). With a more reasonable budget, we can sit a little bit 
ahead of the curve with this machine, and it will hold up better over 5 
years.

CPU first: The spec looked good, but the ebay item you linked has ended, 
and I couldn't see another for under $500. A $365 alternative could be an 
i5 which actually benchmarks slightly higher than the i7 anyway: 
https://www.ple.com.au/Products/629393/Intel-Core-i5-8600K-36GHz-Coffee-Lake-9MB-No-HSF-Retail-Box

Is there any reason you didn't look at AMD? From what I can tell, the 
Ryzen 7 2700 is more powerful than either of the suggested intel chips, 
isn't susceptible to spectre/meltdown, and is in the same ballpark price 
($379) 
https://www.ple.com.au/Products/631478/AMD-Ryzen-7-2700-32Ghz-20MB-AM4-Retail-Box---With-Wraith-Spire-LED-Cooler-

RAM: ram is ram. Get whatever suits the mobo, but get at least 16GB, so 
$220

SSD: tricky to decide this without knowing what machine this hardware will 
end up in. If linux, size is less of an issue, but it would be really nice 
to get a blazing fast M.2 SSD. If windows, it needs to be at least 
1TB...and it would be really nice to get a blazing fast M.2 SSD, but that 
puts us over the $500 mark for one that is faster than SATA3. My M.2 
option is then $273 http://www.msy.com.au/waonline/m2-ssd/21322-samsung-970-evo-mz-v7e500bw-500gb-m2-ssd-solid-state-drive.html 
and my windows/SATA option is $309 https://www.ple.com.au/Products/630704/Crucial-MX500-1TB-SATA-25-7mm-SSD

Mobo: I'm not sure what the issue with Realtek LAN is? I also went for 
something with a USB-C port (even my work laptop has it these days), $145: 
https://www.ple.com.au/Products/632874/ASRock-B450M-Pro4-AM4-mATX-Desktop-Motherboard-
...or an intel mobo to suit the i5, $129 
https://www.ple.com.au/Products/631567/Gigabyte-B360M-D3H-LGA1151-CL-mATX-Desktop-Motherboard

Totals, keeping in mind the AMD benchmarks higher:
Linux AMD total: $1017
Linux Intel total: $987
Windows AMD total: $1053
Windows Intel total: $1023

Andrew Adamson
bob at ucc.asn.au

|"If you can't beat them, join them, and then beat them."                |
| ---Peter's Laws                                                        |

On Fri, 10 Aug 2018, Felix von Perger wrote:

> 
> Dear tech and committee,
> 
> Here is a quick parts list which I propose to buy to replace Porcupine (or to replace Cobra/Catfish and swap some bits around to eventually end up with a suitable replacement). This is
> a fairly high end system using the latest 8th gen Intel CPUs and a reasonable quality motherboard.
> 
>  *  Intel i7-8700T - $300 (https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Intel-Core-i7-8700T-Processor-12M-Cache-up-to-4-00-GHz/223089946483)
>  *  ASRock B360M LGA1151-CL mATX motherboard - $110 (https://www.ple.com.au/Products/631588/ASRock-B360M-HDV-LGA1151-CL-mATX-Desktop-Motherboard)
>      +  Note: cheaper motherboards use Realtek LAN
>  *  8GB DDR4-2666 RAM - $120 (https://www.ple.com.au/Products/632330/GeIL-8GB-Single-DDR4-Pristine-C19-2666MHz)
>      +  if 8GB RAM is not enough, 16GB DDR4-2666 modules can be found for $220 (https://www.ple.com.au/Products/628441/GeIL-16GB-Kit-2x8GB-DDR4-EVO-X-RGB-LED-C16-2400MHz) however this
>         has the potential to go over-budget
>  *  500GB SSD - $170 (https://www.ple.com.au/Products/630702/Crucial-MX500-500GB-SATA-25-7mm-SSD)
>  *  Power supply - use existing
>  *  Graphics card - use existing
>  *  Case - use existing
> 
> Total cost for this build should be around $700, within the budget as proposed in the minutes here.
> 
> Please provide feedback on any cost-saving measures, missing components, if this is under or over specced etc.
> 
> - [FVP]
> 
> 
>