31-40k Linux Mini-ITX Build for HTPC / Zoom (kiddo's classes) / General Purpose

Psycho_McCrazy

Psycho_McCrazy

Level F
So, I am looking to build a mini-ITX machine for HTPC / Zoom Online classes / General Purpose usage for the bedroom.\
The laptop we're currently using is now 9 years old (Sandy Bridge Mobile FTW), and starting to show its age.

This is not an urgent buy, but I want it to be mini-ITX, and powerful enough to last me another 5-7 years.
I am willing to stake out the Classifieds on the market place for a good while for deals. (love the new fancy name for the Buy/Sell/Trade forum).
Am also willing to buy fresh hardware if that fits the bill and I can get good VFM deals.

Please suggest suitable hardware configs, and Case...

Questionnaire as per the standard template
  1. What is your budget?
    • 30K ~ 40K
  2. What is your existing hardware configuration (component name - component brand and model)
    • Not Applicable as this is a fresh build. Main workstation / gaming rig remains as-is
  3. Which hardware will you be keeping (component name - component brand and model)
    • Monitor - AOC i2769vm (fullHD)
    • PSU - Cooler Master MWE-450W
    • May re-use use a 15 year old Cooler Master Centurion 591 ATX case till I find a mini-ITX case of my liking.
  4. Which hardware component are you looking to buy (component name). If you have already decided on a configuration then please mention the (component brand and model) as well, this will help us in fine tuning your requirement.
    • CPU - Any DDR4 generation CPU, at-least Quad-Core with HT, preferably Hexa-Core.
    • Motherboard - DDR4 based compatible motherboard to said CPU. Mini-ITX form factor a must.
    • SSD - M.2 / 128 Gig shall do as there will be no data storage on this machine - this shall be a NEW purchase.
    • RAM - Dual Channel DDR4 kit of 4GiB x2, 8 GiB x2 if budget permits, 3000 MT/s and above.
    • Case: Compact Mini ITX with standard ATX PSU support.
  5. Is this going to be your final configuration or you would be adding/upgrading a component in near future. If yes then please mention when and which component
    • No - Basically intend it to be a shut it and forget it box
  6. Where will you buy this hardware? (Online/City/TE Dealer)
    • NCR
    • Open to online purchase - prefer it due to the current 400k a day pandemic
  7. Would you consider buying a second hand hardware from the TE market
    • Yes
  8. What is your intended use for this PC/hardware
    • Browsing
    • HTPC
    • Watching HD movies
    • Zoom for Kiddo's online classes
  9. Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them and the reason for your preference/dislike.
    • AMD just because they brought back competition to the PC space after almost a decade of quad core stagnation. However, I am open to buying Intel as well if that fits the bill better.
  10. If you will be playing games then which type of games will you be playing?
    • No gaming on this one.
  11. What is your preferred monitor resolution for gaming and normal usage
    1. Desktop - 1920 x 1080
  12. Are you looking to overclock?
    • No
  13. Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?
    • Linux - Fedora
 
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check out and plan around the ryzen 4650g(a 6 core zen 2 APU with integrated vega iGPU)(ik you don't want gaming but it can be a decent esports machine too,my 3400G(4 zen+ cores) can do gtx 1030 level performance although it has a better integrated vega 11 than the 4650g iirc). this is an OEM part but indian sellers are selling it by itself for a good price. there is supposed to be a zen 3 APU launch but it has only been done in US for now and not available to regular customers but only OEMs so might take some time to come to india if you can wait a bit.
 
Considering the dearth of intel platform mini-ITX motherboards, the 4650G based system seems to be the way to go.
There are many good 9th and 10th gen hexa-core intel processor deals, heck even the 11th gen 11500 is priced somewhat reasonably - but there bloody are no supporting mini-ITX motherboards for a decent value.

PrimeABGB has an ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Mobo that should be suitable for the HTPC purpose. The price also seems nice and should fit well in my planned budget. Can pair it up with the 4650G.
www.primeabgb.com

Buy Online ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard - in India

AMD AM4 Socket Supports DDR4 3466+ (OC) 1 PCIe 3.0 x16 Graphics Output: DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 2.0 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec), Supports Creative Sound Blaster™ Cinema 5
www.primeabgb.com www.primeabgb.com

Alternatively, I am also looking at the ASRock B550M-ITX/ac at mdcomputers.

Buy Online - Asrock B550M-ITX/AC | AM4 Mini-ITX Motherboard

Asrock B550M-ITX/AC | AM4 | M-iTX Motherboard - Realtek GIgabit LAN - DDR4 4733 MHz - Intel AC WiFI - Realtek ALC 887 Audio Codec - PCIe Gen 4.0
mdcomputers.in mdcomputers.in
This can be an option if I get a 4350G now and later go to the upcoming 5000G series chippos. Wouldn't really be any meaningful upgrade over the 4650G for the purpose of the machine though I think.

Suggestions / comments.

Also, please suggest good mini-ITX cases.
 
This is a personal opinion so take it accordingly - I don't think that b550 is worth the 5k price increase(you don't need a pcie 4 ssd and neither will you have a GPU) but i hope AMD doesn't pull of something along the lines that ryzen 5000 APU will only work on 500 series chipsets. Only the last uncertainty would favour buying a b550 over the much more sane b450 option.

For a case - there's the beloved cooler master NR200(5000 inr afaik) or the eternal nzxt h200/210 with shit airflow but it looks really beautiful to some people
 
idkmuch01 said:
This is a personal opinion so take it accordingly - I don't think that b550 is worth the 5k price increase(you don't need a pcie 4 ssd and neither will you have a GPU) but i hope AMD doesn't pull of something along the lines that ryzen 5000 APU will only work on 500 series chipsets. Only the last uncertainty would favour buying a b550 over the much more sane b450 option.
Click to expand...
The opinion is a very valid one, but officially it seems that the 5000G series is supported on 500 series chipsets (reference AT article: https://www.anandtech.com/show/1661...oem-only-for-now-full-release-later-this-year)
Anandtech Article said:
Chipset Support
AMD has confirmed that X570, B550, and A520 motherboards will support the new 5000G processors. X470 and B450 motherboards might also be supported, but that depends on the motherboard manufacturer. At this time, for anyone lucky enough to get one on the open market, special Beta BIOSes will be needed to enable full performance.
Click to expand...
HOWEVER, given that for the intended primary HTPC purpose, the 5000G series APUs don't bring too much to the table, because of the same Vega based GPU that has the same media engine features, still missing AV1 decode, keeping that upgrade path open may not be that important.

Which brings us to Rocket Lake - the Xe iGPU of the Rocket Lake has AV1 hardware decode, but I am not so sure how much of a difference would that make towards the end of the life-cycle of this HTPC machine. And it is something that can be technically fixed with a low end modern dGPU with the latest media engine features.
Rocket lake still seems too hot for a tiny HTPC box.

idkmuch01 said:
For a case - there's the beloved cooler master NR200(5000 inr afaik) or the eternal nzxt h200/210 with shit airflow but it looks really beautiful to some people
Click to expand...
Seems to be out of stock everywhere, but I also have another idea. I started getting a wooden case fabricated for a small HTPC a few years ago, but dropped the plan when that hardware went into my main rig. Time to bring it out of the storage and see what I can do with it!
 
I wud suggest you get r5 3400g or r5 2400g(if u tryna save some bucks) these don't require gpu and are relatively easy to cool .. I am advicing against 4650g because of its price to performance , due ro it being an OEM parts its price is always inflated . For any apu build use dual channel ram for sure for better cpu and gpu peeformance
 
Docsaab said:
I wud suggest you get r5 3400g or r5 2400g(if u tryna save some bucks) these don't require gpu and are relatively easy to cool .. I am advicing against 4650g because of its price to performance , due ro it being an OEM parts its price is always inflated . For any apu build use dual channel ram for sure for better cpu and gpu peeformance
Click to expand...
Since I want this to be a long term machine, I intend to have more than 4 cores preferably, and with high IPC cores.
Also, since the 4650G has price parity with the 3600 (both 6 core 12 thread Zen-2 parts), I think that the 4650G is actually better value than 3600 due to a GOOD iGPU. Their performance is quite close to each other.
 
Hi, yes, I love SFF builds too, but in our part of the world, it is difficult to get certain components. You can go with the Asrock B450 ITX, I have the B350 version and used for about a few months on and off and it has been great, should be plenty for your usage. B450 with a Ryzen APU, for the case NR200 is best VFM. Where you would struggle with your budget is an SFX PSU, which are extremely expensive, unless you can a good deal.
 
Stay away from gigabyte motherboards as their Linux support is shit and make sure that the MB you're going to buy has lan/wlan driver support, at least as a kernel module.

Stay away from Intel GPU, so basically AMD APU or dedicated GPU.

Stick with AMD GPU if you don't want to deal with breakages during kernel upgrades. Although nvidia proprietary drivers work well, they break with kernel upgrades.

Source: am "GNU Linux" user since 2009
 
Jasku said:
Hi, yes, I love SFF builds too, but in our part of the world, it is difficult to get certain components.
Click to expand...
satya vachan, satya vachan....
Jasku said:
for the case NR200 is best VFM. Where you would struggle with your budget is an SFX PSU, which are extremely expensive, unless you can a good deal.
Click to expand...
I have something else in mind. A fair bit of time ago, I started fabricating a wooden SFF case (300 x 300 x 150 mm), that can accommodate upto a μATX board. Quit that idea when I suddenly needed my previous HTPC setup to become my main rig. I also have an el-cheapo μATX case to be a donor of metal shell for IO-Shield holding area and mobo mount.

I am now trying to make mock-ups to fit a standard ATX power supply that I have lying around into this structure. It will be a unique DIY SSF if I can pull it off. Might need an 120 AIO with ultra-low-profile CPU block to make this work, because in the currently feasible layout, the Power Supply gets a corner above the CPU socket.
This might also allow me to look into μATX boards, which are way more plentiful and better priced for equivalent features.

Panda said:
Stay away from gigabyte motherboards as their Linux support is shit
Click to expand...
Roger that, have heard multiple negative reports about Gigabyte boards, especially their AM4 platform (something about BIOS issues as well). This is a bit surprising to me since before my current rig, I had two consecutive Gigabyte boards (from Core-2-Duo and Sandy Bridge era) that both gave me years of flawless service.
Panda said:
and make sure that the MB you're going to buy has lan/wlan driver support, at least as a kernel module.
Click to expand...
Many boards have Intel Gigabit Ethernet (wired LAN) and Intel ac WiFi. I think getting drivers for these may not be that big of an issue. Will run my choice by you.
Panda said:
Stay away from Intel GPU, so basically AMD APU or dedicated GPU.
Stick with AMD GPU if you don't want to deal with breakages during kernel upgrades. Although nvidia proprietary drivers work well, they break with kernel upgrades.
Click to expand...
Current plan is Renoir APU, so that should keep things clean and simple.
Panda said:
Source: am "GNU Linux" user since 2009
Click to expand...
Senpai, I'll run my final choices by you for approval before finalizing the configuration.
 
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Psycho_McCrazy said:
Since I want this to be a long term machine, I intend to have more than 4 cores preferably, and with high IPC cores.
Also, since the 4650G has price parity with the 3600 (both 6 core 12 thread Zen-2 parts), I think that the 4650G is actually better value than 3600 due to a GOOD iGPU. Their performance is quite close to each other.
Click to expand...
Correct on all account but r5 3600 is noticeably faster than 4560g but in your case igpu makes sense
Honestly it's a shame that 4560g has only vega 7 , I'd it had vega 11 it wud have been so much better cuz it's clocked higher and has faster ram support , it could have easily approached gtx1050 performance
 
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vyral_143 said:
Have you checked Asrock DeskMini ? I think it goes for like 15K. Put proccy RAM SSD and forget it.
Click to expand...
Is it available in India? Let me search...

EDIT: renoir supporting model X300 series exists but unable to search source / availability in India.
Will look again...
 
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Psycho_McCrazy said:
Is it available in India? Let me search...

EDIT: renoir supporting model X300 series exists but unable to search source / availability in India.
Will look again...
Click to expand...

You may try asking Devraj Computers. As suggested by several users, I contacted them a couple of months ago to procure the DeskMini. In my case, the deal wasn't possible due to transporting related issues, but guess you can now give it a go.
 
Psycho_McCrazy said:
Roger that, have heard multiple negative reports about Gigabyte boards, especially their AM4 platform (something about BIOS issues as well). This is a bit surprising to me since before my current rig, I had two consecutive Gigabyte boards (from Core-2-Duo and Sandy Bridge era) that both gave me years of flawless service.

Many boards have Intel Gigabit Ethernet (wired LAN) and Intel ac WiFi. I think getting drivers for these may not be that big of an issue. Will run my choice by you.
Click to expand...
Not just AM4, AM3+ boards also have issues. I guess its AMD specific issue and Gigabyte doesn't care about fixing them.

One of my friend complained that the LAN doesn't work (Gigabyte low end AM4) with Linux distros, although it worked fine with windows and he tried almost all distros and finally figured it out after a month. Although LAN never had issues with Linux kernel's.
 
@Panda I have a Gigabyte B450i Aorus Pro, and I haven't had any issues running linux on it. I use Pop OS as the primary, but have used Ubuntu and Fedora too in the past.

@Psycho_McCrazy I have a Deskmini A300 (older model) that I sourced from Devraj Computers. They shipped it to my place, Nagpur, without any hassle. The newer X300 is essentially the same system, just out of the box support for newer APUs.

I have a 4650G that I use with the B450i Aorus, but I have tried the 4650G with the Deskmini running a beta BIOS, and it runs just fine, no issues at all.
 
ruiner21 said:
@Panda I have a Gigabyte B450i Aorus Pro, and I haven't had any issues running linux on it. I use Pop OS as the primary, but have used Ubuntu and Fedora too in the past.
Click to expand...
Not every board has issues. But Gigabyte motherboards have more issues with Linux than other brands.

For example, I had a GA-970A-DS3P board and its IOMMU/USB issues aren't fixed yet and the fix is to change the settings using kernel command line option in grub. And B550 boards also have similar issues. Just do a google search. Their BIOS team don't care.
 
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