The Ryzen Project

[coffee]

I want to start off with a new thread. Kinda clean things up a bit. I will be posting pics and some info on my new system built from the Ryzen +1800 with 32 gigs of ram and 2 SSD drives.

Booting Linux Mint (LM) and getting it installed was a bit of a head scratcher. Kept getting an error in the install process with installing grub2. A bit of searching on the LM forum provided the answer. What you do is unconnect your internet connection from the computer, Go into bios and turn on CMS. Reboot to the install media - in my case a usb with LM 18.1 . The install will then run correctly and not crash. I have no idea what or why the network connection does.

Now comes the kernel update to the 4.10.3 stable version. This will add the latest updates for the processor drivers and other hardware. This is actually painless. Just make sure you have all your updates for your current setup. There is a great program for making the kernel update pretty darn painless. The program mint-ukuu will take care of everything and the download install link is here:

https://fossbytes.com/install-upgrade-linux-kernel-ubuntu-mint-ukuu/

Next came the RX480 driver install. You can download the driver direct from AMD at this link:

http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-art...-GPU-PRO-Linux-Beta-Driver–Release-Notes.aspx

After downloading, Uncompress the file and edit the installer file amdgpu-pro-install . Open the file and do a search for 'ubuntu' and replace it with 'linuxmint' . There is only one instance in the file of 'ubuntu'.

Now run the installer with : sudo ./amdgpu-pro-install

Now reboot and your using the new driver

Now the fun part. (??) Moving all my data and reinstalling and migrating Virtualbox to the new system

 

[coffee]

Today I packed up the four drives Iam returning as they were all bad and used. Luckly I got them from Amazon and Amazon is going to stand behind me on this one and force the seller to take them back. Got an email today from seller to ship them (free ship) to them and they would credit me back. So... I purchased four new Seagate Baracudas, 2tb for the hot swap bays. I had a used one in the shop that tested fine and installed that for my /home drive. Whats really cool about this is that I got free one day ship and a 66.00 discount on the price - using my amazon credits.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IEKG402/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I will be setting up a raid1 with two of them and migrate the /home drive over to it.

I have all my data migrated over to the new computer and offically shutdown my aging six core box. A sad occation as this six core has been running for probably about 7 years. I upgraded the video card in it once and swapped one drive in all that time.

The data migration went very well. Since I run windows in a VM, I exported the OS to an appliance and then moved it to the new computer and imported it. Everything went like clockwork. For teamviewer, Warzone2100 I just did a reinstall and then moved the personal folders with my configs over to it and - again - like clockwork. Firefox, Thunderbird - the same.

I have everything installed that I can think of. I have the printer installed and all I have to do really is clean up the cabling on the inside and pop the cover on.

Incidently, The sound driver that comes with the x370 boards was picked up and configured nicely. I was afraid that it did not have a driver available for it at this time - being a new board. But it works great. I have a fibre optic cable to my Yamaha HTR and just a few adjustments and all is working fine.

I still have to mirror my OS drives (SSDS) and add in the new drives tomorrow. Otherwise, As far as performance goes, This really is very nice. The temps do not seem to high. The fan is at a constant low speed as far as I can tell and I have been running linux/windows (in vm) all day with no glitches.

The case is nice for 185.00 . I was spot on getting the 5 drive bay server case. I was affraid that it might be too long for where I want to put it. However, Its fine and I plan to build a rack for it. Nothing great just a bare open side rack. Then I will most likely pick up another case just like it and put the older six core in it. Depends on how much money I have left over from what I aloted to the build.

Seriously, I cannot be more impressed with the build. AMD sure has a winner on their hands. Most of all, The linux community and devs for all their hard work getting the kernel and drivers ready for this.

Now, For anyone doing the same you will run into one glitch installing linux. During the install it will fail installing grub2 to the boot drive. Then the installer crashes. The fix for this is to install with no internet connection. As wierd as it sounds this works.

I want to do a video but I have to find the time. I have more service calls coming in again and had to hurry and migrate over to the new computer. I will do my best to do a video (hopefully this weekend) covering as much as possible. If anyone has ideas on what I should cover please reply and I will incorporate them in to it.

coffee
"I have Ryzen"

 

[MDD1963]

I had a major grub fiasco myself with MInt18.1 on a new Z270/7700K build, but only when using a Samsung 960 EVO; countless aborted Grub2 install near the very end, no matter if installfrom USB, DVD...(an earlier install to conventional SATA spinning drive worked without issue, so, not really sure what the final issue truly was, truthfully!)

Only way I ever got it working was to create a little 1 GB FAT32 parition ahead of time, even though it seemed to be doing exactly that just fine based on examination of partitions created via Gparted after aborted attempts. Only took about 6 hours of tinkering to finally get it working, but, at least it is darn fast!

 

[coffee]

Slowly finishing up on my Ryzen Project. This last weekend I finished raiding the boot drives together! I have some minor glitches to clear up but those glitches are mostly to incomplete driver issues I think. I am getting a AMD-GPU driver error on the firmware. It doesnt interfere with anything its just a warning. Things are running fine!

Here is my working disk layout:

/dev/md0 = The home directory
/dev/md1 = root (/)
/dev/md2 = Swap partition.

I will be shutting down and installing a eSATA card and hooking up my external 4 drive test box I think. I was going to run a separate computer for this but with all the power I have I might just consolidate

Decided to name my "Server" MAX. I remember a Disney movie that had a robot in it that was all black and fearsome looking. Good name. "Robbie the Robot" just didnt get it - lol.

I have to clean up the cables and install the eSATA card and I am going to be pretty much done.

coffee

 

[NJW]

There is quite a bit of benchmarking of the Ryzen line on Phoronix, in case you hadn't seen it.

 

[coffee]

There is quite a bit of benchmarking of the Ryzen line on Phoronix, in case you hadn't seen it.

Yep. Been following that since the engineering samples were released

What sold me on the chip was the bench speed in compiling a kernel. It whipped Intel pretty good.

 

[coffee]

So, Its a beautiful day. Here in Indiana its 72 F and I just got back from about 3 hours of driving (there and back) from a long distance service call. What a wonderful ride. So, Its time to build my MAX Rack. MAX is the name of my new Ryzen workstation . I am using some wood I have to build just a basic rack to put him in and possibly later all my three computers to consolidate.

Ill post pics if anyone is interested. Its not going to be an enclosed rack. It will be an open sturdy kinda rack.

Tomorrow they are calling for rain and Sunday too. So, Today is the day to do this.

coffee

 

[Altster]

post pics

Of course we are. But you already knew that.

 

[coffee]

So, I built my own rack. I didnt want to spend any money and keep it very basic. My cost was 0 on this but its functional for now. Its not the best but no one but me is going to really see it.

This was made from just wood I had left over from the garage. Its pretty rustic to say the least.

I made it with 3 spots to put server cases and then just cut some scrap wood to size for a shelf to put my HTR on.

I know I could have trolled around craigslist or somewhere to buy an inexpensive rack but I spent my funds on "Max" my Ryzen project. So, I really didnt want to spend a thing on it. The rails where ripped from 2x4s - half width.

It will do for now.

If I had more time and money I would have bought some nice wood and planned out a nice looking rack. But, I had just yesterday to get something together as Saturday and Sunday its suppose to rain. I had also finished a very long drive for a service call up in Michigan. So, I was kinda tired when I started this.

 

[Altster]

So, I was kinda tired when I started this.

Looks purty good to me. What ever works for you is all that matters, you know.

 

[phaZed]

Better hide that copper clad aluminum! Last time I mentioned I had some I was eviscerated!

 

[coffee]

Looks purty good to me. What ever works for you is all that matters, you know.

Thanks,
I just felt that I could have done better but funds are low and didnt have all the right wood to do it right. Perhaps in the future I will make a really nice rack. But, As you say - It works and thats what matters.

Now I have to get my older six core in the rack and start migrating my firewall/fileserver/router to it. I want to incorporate everything around the rack. Equipment like the internet modem, My switch ect.. Then I want to remove a shelf that the old computer was on and put up a new shelf for my workbench to put the Oscilloscope, P/S, Hot air station. Kinda get everything off the workbench top for more room to work.

Thanks for the kind words

 

[coffee]

Better hide that copper clad aluminum! Last time I mentioned I had some I was eviscerated!

Yes, Its not the best quality spool. I have it for residential stuff - mostly very short runs or just making 6 ft cables.