Seeking advice on desktop purchase

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1

I am rather a noob when it comes to hardware. My wifes desktop (HP Pavillion with 4x AMD AMD A10-7800 Radeon R7) is dying. Most of the time power on does nothing, not even the BIOS splash.

So for a new one.
I am now looking at a HP Pavillion Desktop TP01-2050nd. I think most there will not create any problems using openSUSE, but I have questions about the following:

Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 5 5600G (tot 4,4 GHz boostkloksnelheid, 16 MB L3-cache, 6 cores, 12 threads)
Is this different architecture then the x86_64 I use now on my systems? And when yes, what architecture code to look at when choosing the download?

Disk: 512 GB PCIe® NVMe™ M.2 SSD
The size is OK (the present system uses 4GB for swap, 20GB for ext4 / (43% used) and 200GB for ext4 /home (31% used). Does this NVMe require any hoops to jump through?, The same for SSD (I assume she will experience a very fast working system).

An alternative is a bit heavier system with Ryzen 7 (do not think that is needed) and a 1TB revolving disk. Any reason to have that disk, assuming that the SSD will last as long as the system lasts and the space is not needed?

Video: AMD Radeon™-videokaart
Until now I only usede Intel. Does this run out of the box?

Any other useful remarks?
Of course I plan to use the whole disk when installing openSUSE, thus the pre-installed Windows 11 will be a deadborn one.

2

Hi
Power supply and/or cmos battery needs replacing? Blow out all the dust bunnies? Pull the RAM and clean contacts and re-insert.

It’s x86_64 arch so no difference.

For NVMe, I set mine to 4096 sectors, ensure disk scheduler is configured to ‘none’. Stick with an NVMe device for sure.

3

Took it to the repair shop. They assume broken MB or CPU. I hope they would have found a bad CMOS battery. Not very helpful. It just started as it does most of the times in the morning. Trying directly after shutdown often goes wrong. I will do some dust removing, always a good thing.

That is fine. Always using confusing strange names for the same :(, I hate that.

No idea where to do that. Will come back to this when the system is here.

Most important for the moment is that I do not buy something that gives extra problems during installation and/or usage.

4

I bought my first computer from an OEM, but since 1995 I rely on retail components. Web sites such as memorypc.de and others are a great resource for planning.

Plug and play parts list April 2022:

**erlangen:~ #** inxi -zFm  
**System:    Kernel:** 5.17.9-1-default x86_64 **bits:** 64 **Console:** pty pts/1 **Distro:** openSUSE Tumbleweed 20220522 
**Machine:   Type:** Desktop **Mobo:** Micro-Star **model:** B550-A PRO (MS-7C56) **v:** 2.0 **serial:** <filter> **UEFI:** American Megatrends LLC. 
           **v:** A.90 **date:** 03/17/2022 
**Memory:    RAM:****total:** 31.26 GiB **used:** 5.79 GiB (18.5%) 
           **Array-1:****capacity:** 128 GiB **slots:** 4 **EC:** None 
           **Device-1:** DIMM 0 **size:** No Module Installed 
           **Device-2:** DIMM 1 **size:** 16 GiB **speed:** 3200 MT/s 
           **Device-3:** DIMM 0 **size:** No Module Installed 
           **Device-4:** DIMM 1 **size:** 16 GiB **speed:** 3200 MT/s 
**CPU:       Info:** 6-Core **model:** AMD Ryzen 5 5600X **bits:** 64 **type:** MT MCP **cache:****L2:** 3 MiB 
           **Speed:** 2198 MHz **min/max:** 2200/3700 MHz **Core speeds (MHz):****1:** 2198 **2:** 2196 **3:** 2197 **4:** 2196 **5:** 2195 **6:** 2200 **7:** 2198 
           **8:** 2198 **9:** 2194 **10:** 2193 **11:** 2196 **12:** 2199 
**Graphics:  Device-1:** AMD Lexa PRO [Radeon 540/540X/550/550X / RX 540X/550/550X] **driver:** amdgpu **v:** kernel 
           **Display:****server:** X.Org 21.1.3 **driver:****loaded:** amdgpu,ati **unloaded:** fbdev,modesetting,vesa 
           **resolution:** 3840x2160~60Hz 
           **OpenGL:****renderer:** AMD Radeon RX 550 / 550 Series (polaris12 LLVM 14.0.3 DRM 3.44 5.17.9-1-default) 
           **v:** 4.6 Mesa 22.1.0 
**Audio:     Device-1:** AMD Baffin HDMI/DP Audio [Radeon RX 550 640SP / RX 560/560X] **driver:** snd_hda_intel 
           **Device-2:** Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio **driver:** snd_hda_intel 
           **Sound Server-1:** ALSA **v:** k5.17.9-1-default **running:** yes 
           **Sound Server-2:** PipeWire **v:** 0.3.51 **running:** yes 
**Network:   Device-1:** Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet **driver:** r8169 
           **IF:** eth0 **state:** up **speed:** 1000 Mbps **duplex:** full **mac:** <filter> 
**Drives:    Local Storage:****total:** 3.64 TiB **used:** 1.72 TiB (47.4%) 
           **ID-1:** /dev/nvme0n1 **vendor:** Samsung **model:** SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB **size:** 1.82 TiB 
           **ID-2:** /dev/sdb **vendor:** Crucial **model:** CT2000BX500SSD1 **size:** 1.82 TiB 
**Partition: ID-1:** / **size:** 1.77 TiB **used:** 407.07 GiB (22.4%) **fs:** btrfs **dev:** /dev/nvme0n1p2 
           **ID-2:** /boot/efi **size:** 511 MiB **used:** 640 KiB (0.1%) **fs:** vfat **dev:** /dev/nvme0n1p1 
           **ID-3:** /home **size:** 1.77 TiB **used:** 407.07 GiB (22.4%) **fs:** btrfs **dev:** /dev/nvme0n1p2 
           **ID-4:** /opt **size:** 1.77 TiB **used:** 407.07 GiB (22.4%) **fs:** btrfs **dev:** /dev/nvme0n1p2 
           **ID-5:** /var **size:** 1.77 TiB **used:** 407.07 GiB (22.4%) **fs:** btrfs **dev:** /dev/nvme0n1p2 
**Swap:      Alert:** No swap data was found. 
**Sensors:   Message:** No sensor data found. Is lm-sensors configured? 
**Info:      Processes:** 383 **Uptime:** 1d 10h 18m **Shell:** Bash **inxi:** 3.3.07 
**erlangen:~ #**

With a desktop computer slim fit is a bad idea. The above components sit in a bequiet! Pure Base 600 - Midi-Tower, STRAIGHT POWER 11 450W Gold power supply, DARK ROCK 4 cooler. The Corsair 200R case is fine too.

5

Hi Henk.

The AMD RyzenTM CPUs with a “G” following the 4 digit number, all have an integrated GPU – usually a Vega 11 or 12.
If you take a look at the AMD specifications, you’ll note that Linux is mentioned – <https://www.amd.com/en/products/apu/amd-ryzen-5-5600g&gt;.

  • Taking this system as an example, the GPU is happliy running with the “amdgpu” Kernel Module – no need for the AMD driver …

 > inxi --admin --cpu
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G with Radeon Vega Graphics bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen+ 
           family: 17 (23) model-id: 18 (24) stepping: 1 microcode: 8108109 L2 cache: 2048 KiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 59195 
           Speed: 1262 MHz min/max: 1400/3700 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1260 2: 1261 3: 1261 4: 1342 5: 1261 
           6: 1263 7: 1261 8: 1306 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
           Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
           Type: mds status: Not affected 
           Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
           Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
 > 
 > inxi --admin --graphics
Graphics:  Device-1: AMD Picasso/Raven 2 [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: amdgpu 
           v: kernel bus ID: 08:00.0 chip ID: 1002:15d8 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.3 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: amdgpu display ID: :0 screens: 1 
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x2160 s-dpi: 140 s-size: 698x393mm (27.5x15.5") s-diag: 801mm (31.5") 
           Monitor-1: HDMI-A-0 res: 3840x2160 hz: 60 dpi: 140 size: 698x393mm (27.5x15.5") diag: 801mm (31.5") 
           OpenGL: renderer: AMD Radeon Vega 11 Graphics (RAVEN DRM 3.39.0 5.3.18-150300.59.68-default LLVM 11.0.1) 
           v: 4.6 Mesa 20.2.4 direct render: Yes 
 >

The only nasty thing about this PC that I can see is – BIOS/UEFI updates –

That’s the reason I prefer to build my Desktop boxes myself – I choose a Mainboard which can be either updated via an image on a USB stick which I’ve setup on a Linux system or, a Mainboard with direct Internet access for BIOS/UEFI updates …

6

Hi
It’s only the USB device structure required, can do it from Linux and copy the updates over. This HP workstation has linux support :wink:

7

I always used HP desktops here and never felt any urge to do a BIOS update. Do you really expect them to come and be important?

@dcurtisfra.
I bookmarked the link you provided (thanks). When I understand it correct, it explains at the end how to do it without Windows. Like @malcomlewis mentioned.

Thanks for the explanation about the G in the type. I now understand why the video card description lacks any type indication. That is because it is inherent to the CPU description.

And on the AMD Ryzen page you offered, I see indeed Ubuntu x86 64-Bit, which then is of course OK for openSUSE.

Lots of reassuring information. Thanks to you both.

8

If HP has a super stable, absolutely perfectly tested, BIOS/UEFI on their Mainboards then, correct – you will, normally, not need to update the Mainboard’s BIOS/UEFI.

  • But then, nobody’s perfect – no even HP …
9

For the case of ASUS Mainboards, you pull a compressed file from ASUS and then, extract the BIOS/UEFI capabilities file to a USB stick – reboot; F2; BIOS; Expert Mode; update …

  • The instructions for the HP case seems to indicate that, you pull an executable (Windows) installation file from HP which also contains the BIOS/UEFI update file.
10

Of course there can be “errors” in it that result in an update from HP. But as long as the system runs normally for me, why should I bother to update it? I assume that for a home system it will not be a security risk.

At the moment I have some messages at boot that I offered for comment here on the forums. The answer was that is probably a BIOS error. That settled it for me. Just those few lines on the screen, but openSUSE works like a charm.

11

I’ve build myself a new desktop earlier this year; with the AMD Ryzen™ 5 5600G and a NVMe SSD, …
The installation of openSUSE Tumbleweed worked without problems. The only thing that is not perfect is the AMDGPU driver.
I experienced the same problems as described here:
https://www.camillescott.org/2020/12/16/amdgpy-edid/

And I’m working with Xorg only (KDE), because with Wayland the at every shutdown the system hangs.
Even though I’m not sure, I would blame the AMDGPU driver for this too.

With this knowledge, I would prefer an Intel CPU today.

Hendrik

12

That link looks like a nightmare. Are there no bug report about this?

13

AFAIK: no.
I avoid the problem by using a displayport cable. That causes a few error messages in the boot process, but beside of three or four seconds more boot time everything works fine.
If this problem occurs depends on the monitor. Mine tells the computer: “I can do RGB (computer mode) and YCbCr (TV mode).” In this case the AMDGPU driver uses - hard coded - TV mode.

14

No idea what the monitor says. :frowning:

15

Here with an AMD Ryzen 5 3400G – Radeon Vega 11 Graphics – and a Iiyama ProLite XB3288UHSU Display – connected via a HDMI cable for a resolution reason – the resolution I need is only available via HDMI …


 > inxi --admin --graphics
Graphics:  Device-1: AMD Picasso/Raven 2 [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: amdgpu 
           v: kernel bus ID: 08:00.0 chip ID: 1002:15d8 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.3 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: amdgpu display ID: :0 screens: 1 
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x2160 s-dpi: 140 s-size: 698x393mm (27.5x15.5") s-diag: 801mm (31.5") 
           Monitor-1: HDMI-A-0 res: 3840x2160 hz: 60 dpi: 140 size: 698x393mm (27.5x15.5") diag: 801mm (31.5") 
           OpenGL: renderer: AMD Radeon Vega 11 Graphics (RAVEN DRM 3.39.0 5.3.18-150300.59.68-default LLVM 11.0.1) 
           v: 4.6 Mesa 20.2.4 direct render: Yes 
 >

X.Org log –


 .
 35381.535] (II) AMDGPU(0): Supported color encodings: RGB 4:4:4 YCrCb 4:4:4
 .
 35381.536] (II) AMDGPU(0): EDID for output DVI-D-0
 35381.536] (II) AMDGPU(0): Output HDMI-A-0 connected
 35381.536] (II) AMDGPU(0): Output DVI-D-0 disconnected
 35381.536] (II) AMDGPU(0): Using exact sizes for initial modes
 35381.536] (II) AMDGPU(0): Output HDMI-A-0 using initial mode 3840x2160 +0+0
 35381.536] (II) AMDGPU(0): mem size init: gart size :bf6ca000 vram size: s:7cc50000 visible:7cc50000
 35381.536] (**) AMDGPU(0): Display dimensions: (698, 393) mm
 35381.536] (**) AMDGPU(0): DPI set to (139, 139)
16

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