The gaming PC I'm assembling in my mind¹ is slowly coming together parts-wise, but although it looks like I can get all the core components by September, the case I want won't be around until October. (My second choice launched in 2013 and is now unobtainium.)
So I think I might get an openbench / Streacom BC1 for the interim...
(This is a terrible idea)
That gaming desktop I've been planning for a couple of years now is now close enough that I have the motherboard on order. (ASRock X870E Taichi Lite.) The CPU and GPU I want aren't out yet (Zen5 X3D and either an RDNA4 model or a Battlemage card, depending on Debian support at launch) but I know I'll definitely be using an AM5 CPU so I can at least get that ball rolling.
It begins!
Yay, motherboard is ready for pickup!
Dear AMD: RELEASE THE 9950X3D ALREADY PLZ
My current plan is still to build this new gaming rig around a 9950X3D processor when they're eventually released in Q1 2025, buuuut that 9800X3D is out now (stock availability gaps notwithstanding) and it's really very good...
👀
No, no. Stick to the plan.
All right, I'm snagging the RAM and power supply for that gaming rig today. After this the only major components left will be the case, CPU cooler, CPU itself, and the primary storage drive.
(Well, plus the GPU, but I'll be waiting until Q1 2025 (CES + delay for reviews) before making a decision about that piece. Everything else I've more or less settled already.)
One of the other reasons I'm not rushing this gaming PC build is that I want at least the option of picking an Intel Battlemage GPU - not because I expect it to offer anything but middle-of-the-pack performance, but because I expect the Linux drivers to be solid for the expected lifespan of the device. The xe2 driver should ship in the 6.13 kernel which I expect will appear in the Debian backports sometime around the end of January 2025.
Plenty of time, no need to speed ahead.
This weekend I picked up an interim GPU¹! Tracked down an Intel Arc B580². It's no performance king but it is great for its price; it will play a large chunk of the games in my Steam backlog more than well enough, and if the AMD RDNA4 cards in March or Intel's B7xx cards later this year outclass it I can retire the B580 to transcoding/Frigate duty on the household server.
¹: just in case tariffs make getting a GPU in a few months prohibitively expensive.
²: at MSRP, no scalper markup.
Now I'm just waiting on the 9950X3D to launch: that's the only missing component on my critical path. I still need to pick up a case and an all-in-one CPU water cooler/radiator, but the rad is not expensive or in limited supply and the case could be any of several easy options.
The last time I put together a gaming machine, it had an HD 7950 in it. This is going to be quite the jump in performance. Hopefully this one will last as long as the previous one did!
Picked up the all-in-one CPU cooler / coolant loop / radiator block / fan assembly for that gaming PC. Ended up choosing an Arctic Liquid Freezer III AIO - the staid black version with no LEDs. (Honestly a Noctua NH-D15g2 air cooler would have been more than fine, but I've never tried a liquid loop cooler before; I let my curiosity get the best of me.)
Just waiting on the CPU now, and a case.
I will not choose a silly SuYan A open air test frame, I will pick a sensible enclosure.
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🤔
(it has a cute little HANDLE on top, just look at it, COME ON)
Ben Zanin
wirehead
