Linux AMD Ryzen PC Builds: Part 4

Back in August of 2017 I put together a Linux-Ryzen-PC. When the Ryzen 3 series finally arrived it offered competitive quad-core chips in a segment where Intel’s dual-core Core i3 processors traditionally ruled. AMD promised to support AM4 motherboards through at least 2020, so when I bought a cheap Ryzen 3 1200 processor last year, I knew I could update my system with a more powerful cpu down the line. This platform and this motherboard are built to last.

This year AMD introduces the latest Ryzen™ 2000 series processors to provide the computing power for budget need. My ASRock AB350M Pro4  AMD AM4 chipset motherboards perfectly works with the latest AMD Ryzen™ 2000 series processors computing performance. so any one can enjoy the benefits brought by AMD Ryzen™ 2000 series processors by just simply downloading and upgrading the latest BIOS.

My build used a relatively budget motherboard (ASRock AB350M Pro4). Since I am a GNU/Linux user I build with ASRock motherboards. We are able to update the BIOS via USB flash drive by locating the BIOS flash file inside of the BIOS itself. GNU/Linux users can also BIOS flash updates via the Internet on an ASRock board. No OS needed.

This mouth I spent around $700.00 to upgrade my system.

Upgraded Parts list:

CPU 2nd Gen Ryzen™ 7 2700 processor CPU Cores 8 Threads 16
RAM Team Elite Plus DDR4 2400 16GB (2 x 8GB) (PC4 19200)
GPU GeForce GTX MSI 1070 Ti AERO 8G (per-owned)

Parts retired list:

CPU AMD RYZEN 3 1200 4-Core
RAM Patriot Viper Elite 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4 2400MHz
GPU Sapphire Radeon PULSE RX 560 4GB

MY full Linux PC bulid:

CPU  Ryzen™ 7 2700 processor CPU Cores 8 Threads 16
GPU  Team Elite Plus DDR4 2400 16GB (2 x 8GB) (PC4 19200)
RAM  GeForce GTX MSI 1070 Ti AERO 8G
MOTHERBOARD ASRock AB350M Pro4  (BIOS 5.00 2018/9/18) 
STORAGE  Intel 545s Series 2.5" 256GB (SSDSC2K W256G8X1)+WB Blue 1TB 7200 RPM (WD10EZEX)
SOUND Onboard
NETWORK  Onboard (wired gigabit Ethernet)
PSU    EVGA 450 B3, 80 Plus BRONZE 450W, Fully Modular
CASE   MasterBox Lite 3 (MCW-L3S2-KN5N)
OPTICAL DRIVE  ASUS DVD-ROM(DVD-E818AAT/BLK/B/GE)
Case fan 3 120mm be quiet! BL070 SILENTWINGS 3 PWM


I knew my new system would be faster but I was surprised at just how much faster. Encoding movies editing pictures and re-encoding music cds is really fast now. With the MSI 1070 Ti AERO 8G, games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided also got quite the boost in frame-rate. I can run the games at the max quality settings. The 16 GB DDR4 memory gave my system more head room, especially for RAM-hogging applications like Gimp, VirtualBox, or Firefox 5 minutes after they were opened.

Distros that worked with my AMD Ryzen builds in no particular order:

    SteamOS Brewmaster release 2.148
    SUSE Linux Enterprise 15
    openSUSE linux leap 15
    openSUSE Tumbleweed
    Arch Linux
    Debian 9.2
    Debian sid
    Pop!_OS 18.10
    Ubuntu 18.10
    Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
    Fedora 28
    Kubuntu 18.10
    Deepin 15.7
    Manjaro Linux
    Elementary OS
    KNOPPIX 8.2
    Antergos
    Zorin OS
    KDE neon