First posted: 2024-07-20; last update: 2024-07-20
I thought I'd "document" yet another new development computer build. This new computer will be used to develop the upcoming new releases of CSS HTML Validator.
Some people might be interested in what hardware CSS HTML Validator is developed on, or just interested in the experiences of putting together your own computer. Therefore I thought I'd share my experiences and some photos.
I plan to update this post as new things come to mine or corrections are made.
Previous Machine
I posted about my previous computer build in 2019, and that computer lasted about 5 years thanks to the AM4 platform and being able to easily upgrade from a 3900X to 5900X processor. With the new AMD 9000 series Zen 5 processors, I felt it was time to upgrade again. The AM5 platform should give this new build a lot of life a processor upgrade here and there.
Before the 2019 build was the 2017 build. You can read more about my previous 2017 i7-7820X development machine here. And if you want to go furthest back, you can read about my 2010 build with an Intel Core i7-920.
Overclocking the AMD Ryzen 9 7600X/9900X
I currently have no plans to overclock the CPU. The reports are that current processors already run near their fastest speed(s) and overclocking is not worth it (at least for me). In the past I have had success with overclock but have also has issues (this was years ago when I used Intel systems).
I am using the EXPO profile on the RAM.
Why a New Build?
I've had my current AM4 build for about 5 years now and have been very happy with it overall. It hasn't been perfect but it has been one of the better development computers I've used. After 5 years on AM4, and with the new AMD 9000 series processors coming out, I decided that an upgrade would be worth it. Doing a full build of CSS HTML Validator can take some time and the upgrade should significantly reduce it. The new upgrade will also have some technological firsts for me, including: first AM5 build, first with 2.5 gigabit Ethernet, first with DDR5, first with PCIe 4.0 and 5.0, and first with a platinum rated power supply.
Why Build Your Own Machine?
I like to build my own machines because I find it enjoyable. I like doing the research, picking out the individual components, and putting it together. I don't do it to save money. It's definitely more expensive for me to build a computer with the components that I want than to simply buy a computer off the shelf.
Building my own machine lets me research the parts that I want, choosing high quality and high performance components. My philosophy when building a new development computer is to get a "higher end" computer but not the "highest end" where you pay a lot more for a little gain in performance.
Note that building your own machine can also be very time consuming. It takes a lot of time to research to pick out the parts and put the system hardware together. If you're fortunate, it works without any major problems, but I've put together systems before that have had serious issues that took days to figure out. Sometimes you may have to get new parts (after you figure out which part is bad!). After the hardware is put together and working, it can take a long time to get the software right too, depending on what you use. If you're upgrading the OS at the same time, then some applications might not work or you might want to switch to other applications or new versions. When you build your own machine, you'd be extremely lucky if you didn't even run into any 'minor' issues. Just hope you don't run into any 'major' issues that could take days to figure out.
The Computer Parts
CPU
I purchased the ASRock Taichi Lite motherboard and CPU with a combo discount from Newegg (the total for both was less than $425 including sales tax). The CPU is an AMD Ryzen 5 7600X - 6-Core 4.7 GHz - Socket AM5 - 105W Desktop Processor (100-100000593WOF). My plan is to use this relatively inexpensive processor (bought for about $175) until I can obtain a good deal on an in-stock AMD Ryzen 9 9900X Zen 5 CPU. Currently (as of late July) the 9900X processors are not yet released but should be before the end of the month (update: looks like they have been delayed a couple weeks). I'll also use the 7600X to update the motherboard BIOS to one that will work with the new AMD 9000 series processors (although it turned out that this isn't actually needed as the motherboard BIOS can be updated without a CPU).
I briefly considered going back to Intel, but quickly decided to stay with AMD because: 1. AM4 platform support was legendary, and AMD will support the AM5 platform until at least 2027, releasing major new CPU updates that shouldn't require a motherboard change (just a motherboard BIOS update while Intel's new 'Arrow Lake' processors will require yet another socket change), 2. I expect the upcoming AMD 9000 series processors should meet or beat Intel in performance and efficiency, 3. there are some serious questions with some 13th and 14th gen Intel processors right now, possibly failing over time from a manufacturing defect and/or buggy microcode (with a real fix still to be released).
So far the 7600X system feels faster than my previous 5900X system in just about every way (as it should). The only exception is doing full builds that put all the 12 cores on the 5900X to use. In that case, the 6 cores of the 7600X simply can't keep up, but upgrading to a Ryzen 9900X should significantly outclass the 5900X in every possible way.
Early Zen 5 Reviews
The first AMD Ryzen 9000 Series Zen 5 reviews started coming out today (August 7th, 2024) and I find the reviews rather disappointing and lackluster. There are some things to like, like single core performance and power efficiency, but overall it does not seem like a "big" upgrade that's worth the money over the previous generation, and there are mentions of stability issues. This makes me think the 7600X CPU I got for about $175 was a better deal than I thought because I am still impressed by its performance and stability.
I may still get a 9900X in the future (9900X reviews have still not come out yet), but I am more willing to wait until they get more of the kinks out and the price drops so that the improvements I would be paying for are more easily justified.
CPU Cooler
I bought a Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120SE CPU Air Cooler. I expect it to be slightly better than the highly recommended Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 CPU Air Cooler. It was a little more expensive and I believe it is like a newer and updated version of the Peerless Assassin.
I thought about buying another high-end and expensive Noctua cooler but given the reviews, the Thermalright Phantom Spirit made more sense to me from a performance and cost standpoint.
For thermal paste, I decided to use ARCTIC MX-6 instead of the included thermal paste. I doubt it will make much of a difference but I hope it is at least a little better.
Also, because I had earlier bought a bunch of ASUS ROG Strix XF120 Whisper-Quiet, 4-pin PWM Fan for PC Cases, Radiators or CPU Cooling fans when they dropped to a great price, I decided to use two of them instead of the included stock fans.
On an interesting note, the cooler had a lot more mounting hardware for Intel processors than AMD. This is because Intel has so many sockets, but AMD only really has AM4 and AM5 now, and the cooler mounting system is actually the same for both AM4 and AM5. Nice job AMD!
Motherboard
I decided to buy an ASRock B650E Taichi Lite AM5 DDR5 AMD B650E SATA 6Gb/s Extended ATX Motherboard because the reviews were really good and it was discounted at Newegg. It's a higher end board. The 'Lite' here just means that they took away a lot of the fancy cosmetic and RGB stuff but most/all of the functionality and important stuff is still there. I really like the digital debug code on the motherboard too (another first for me) but fortunately I have not had to make use of it (knock on wood).
This motherboard should easily be able to handle current and future AMD AM5 CPUs. It's too bad Intel doesn't have backward motherboard compatibility like AMD does!
DDR5 RAM
So I could get started building this system and for testing and backup, I started with Crucial RAM 8GB DDR5 4800MHz CL40 Desktop Memory CT8G48C40U5 which Amazon could ship me overnight and which was only about $25.
As soon as my new RAM came in, I upgraded it to G.SKILL Flare X5 Series (AMD EXPO) DDR5 RAM 32GB (2x16GB) 6000MT/s CL30-38-38-96 1.35V Desktop Computer Memory UDIMM - Matte Black (F5-6000J3038F16GX2-FX5). The speed and latency of this RAM is an affordable 'sweet spot' that I hope will work well with a 9900X and future AM5 processors. I also had good luck with G.SKILL Flare X Series on my previous AM4 build. I bought this RAM from Amazon as well. In fact, I pretty much bought everything from Amazon except the CPU and motherboard (which I bought from Newegg).
The RAM also passed a multi-hour test with PassMark MemTest86 at its EXPO speed.
Power Supply
I went with a EVGA SuperNOVA 650 P5, 80 Plus Platinum 650W, Fully Modular, Eco Mode with FDB Fan, 10 Year Warranty, Power Supply. This should be plenty of power for my development computer because I have no need for a high-end gaming graphics video card, and getting a more powerful power supply than you really need is wasteful and can cause the power supply to run at lower efficiency. I "love" that it is a platinum rated power supply and has a 10 year warranty.
Computer Case
I considered several cases especially the Corsair 4000D AIRFLOW Tempered Glass Mid-Tower ATX Case, LIAN LI LANCOOL 216 E-ATX PC Case, and Fractal Design North Charcoal Black Tempered Glass Dark - Genuine Walnut Wood front - Glass side panel - ATX Airflow Mid Tower PC Gaming Case.
I decided on the Fractal North due to good reviews, build quality, price (on sale), good air flow, and low noise level. As another first for me, I think this is the first computer case I've had that uses real wood. So far I'm happy with the case and think it looks good and is also well designed for functionality except for lacking a reset button and HDD LED. I was rather surprised that it lacked those. We'll see how much I actually miss them though.
On an interesting note I was concerned that the motherboard (E-ATX) would not fit in the Fractal North non-XL case (which is not E-ATX), but apparently there is no standard size for E-ATX and I found a post that said the ASRock Taichi would fit in it, and it did.
Video Card
I bought a GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4060 Gaming OC 8G Graphics Card, 3X WINDFORCE Fans, 8GB 128-bit GDDR6, GV-N4060GAMING OC-8GD Video Card from Amazon. This should run 4 of my 5 monitors (via DisplayPort) and should be plenty fast for my development needs which does not require much 3D. It should be quiet and efficient too. I hope to daisy chain 2 monitors on one DisplayPort port, and another 2 monitors on another DisplayPort port, which is the same as with my last development computer with GTX 3050 card.
My 5th monitor runs on the integrated GPU in the AMD CPU. I wasn't sure if that would work but it does (just make sure the BIOS keeps the iGPU enabled when there's a graphics card installed)! My previous 5900X build did not have an iGPU so I used a USB video adapter (using DisplayLink chips and drivers). Why not just run all 5 monitors on the 4060? Well, as far as I know that is not possible (or easily possible) as the 4060 only supports a maximum of 4 monitors (as did previous generations of the card).
Monitors
I'm going to use the same monitors as I did with my previous system which include 2x Dell U3014's, 2x Dell U2415's and 1 Dell U2412M (for a total of 5 monitors). I use DisplayCAL and an X-Rite i1Display Pro so that monitor brightness and color are consistent because it would be too distracting if the monitors had inconsistent brightness or colors.
Primary OS & Application SSD Drive
I chose a WD_BLACK 2TB SN850X NVMe Internal Gaming SSD Solid State Drive - Gen4 PCIe, M.2 2280, Up to 7,300 MB/s - WDS200T2X0E (purchased from Amazon) due to its performance, reliability, price, and support. This will be 4 times the size of the main SSD in my previous build. I considered a Samsung 990 Pro but decided against it because it was more expensive and Samsung recently botched the firmware on a lot of their high-end SSDs (hopefully that's all in the past now but it's still a mark against Samsung). The endurance on the WD_BLACK drive should not be problem at 1200TB TBW.
My previous 5900X build (built in 2019) used a 500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD Drive. That drive's endurance is 300 TBW and according to Hard Disk Sentinel, the drive in my previous build has lifetime writes of 37.13 TB after about 5 years of heavy computer use. Not bad. That said, I did have other drives in the system that did share the write load.
Storage Drives
I will be using a Western Digital 2TB WD Blue 3D NAND Internal PC SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s, 2.5"/7mm, Up to 560 MB/s - WDS200T2B0A, Solid State Hard Drive that I previously bought at a great price last year in 2023 (too bad I didn't pick up some some other SSDs when prices were crashing in 2023). This drive will be used to store miscellaneous files and a backup of the source code stored on the main SSD.
It's nice not to have any mechanical drives in my development machine. I didn't have any in my last system either, and I sure didn't miss them.
NAS
For network storage I have a QNAP TS-453mini which I like a lot. With rare exception it's the only place you will find mechanical storage (3x 3TB WD Red drives) in any of my computers. I upgraded the RAM in it to 8GB recently as well as added an SSD drive for a read cache.
DVD/Blu-ray Reader/Writer
This is the third development computer that I've built without a DVD/Blu-ray drive because I (almost) never use them anymore. If I ever need a DVD/Blu-ray drive then I'll just hook up my USB one.
Other Components
Some other components I'm using include a Logitech Illuminated Ultrathin Keyboard K740, a Logitech G502 mouse, and a Logitech C922 Pro Stream Webcam 1080P Camera. I also use (rarely though) a USB drive dock. I highly recommend drive docks for techies.
Software
Moving to a new computer can be very time consuming, and most of that time (assuming there are no hardware problems that you need to solve first) is the installation and configuration of software and drivers (and fixing problems). Here is some software that I am using or will likely use on my new build:
* Windows 10 Pro (x64) (Windows 11 has too many issues for my liking and does not natively support a vertical taskbar which I use all the time)
* Microsoft Office 365 (especially Outlook, Excel, and Word)
* Chrome (my main browser)
* Firefox, and other browsers for testing (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc.)
* Embarcadero RAD Studio 12.1 Athens (as of July 2024)
* Lots of programming & software components
* Directory Opus 13 (x64) by GP Software for file management
* PhraseExpander v5 by Nagarsoft to cut down on typing - very handy
* FinePrint and pdfFactory - great printing utilities
* ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2022 for image browsing and some editing
* Snagit 2022 for Window and screen captures
* PuTTY for secure access to servers
* EmEditor (x64) (my favorite text editor)
* DisplayCAL monitor calibration software - I consider this a "necessity" when using multiple monitors when they are different models. This makes the whites look the same and the colors better. If you don't use color profiles, then the whites on the monitors can be very noticeably different. It also helps you set each monitor's brightness at the same level.
* CPU-Z & HWMonitor to monitor system stats like CPU speed, fan speed, temperatures, and more
* AMD Ryzen Master for great CPU stats and monitoring
* Hard Disk Sentinel PRO (a utility to monitor drives)
* WordWeb Pro
* 7-Zip File Manager
* & more
Outlook was one of the worst programs to migrate without clear instructions. Also, while I was able to move and use the Outlook pst file to the new computer, things like my favorite folders were lost, as well as some settings, and the list of 'safe senders' and 'blocked senders', thus I had to start from scratch. Of course the benefit of that is that those lists finally get cleaned out. I also had to re-do my customizations to the 'Quick Access Toolbars' in Outlook and Excel.
Ready to Work
The new build was installed for work and final software setup/tweaking on July 29th, 2024. It looks great and matches my wood desk well.
In the (Near?) Future
I am planning to upgrade the 7600X (Zen 4) processor to an AMD Ryzen 9 9900X (Zen 5). I expect this build to last me at least another 5 years thanks to the AM5 platform and being able to just upgrade the processor (with a motherboard firmware/BIOS update) when major new processor upgrades are released.
Photos
Photos taken with a Google Pixel 7 Pro.