Category Archives: Barebones/Desktops

Barebones/Desktops, IT stuff

New work horse with Xubuntu 14.04

It was time (well, at least I thought it was) to make a new build that will act as my work horse.

This build will run linux (at the moment, I am using Xubuntu 14.04) as I am mostly working with this operating system. The usage varies from normal things such as mail, browsing, documents, etc. to running several virtual machines to test new software. Additionally I wanted to make sure that this build is going to last a little while. On top of that, the computer will run several days in a row at times, therefore silent was key as well.

This is why I decided to add the following components to this build:

  • Corsair Obsidian 550D
  • Intel Core i7 4771 BOX (LGA 1150, 3.50GHz)
  • Noctua NH-U14S (140mm)
  • Intel DH87RL (LGA 1150, Intel H87, µATX)
  • Corsair Vengeance 32GB 4-Kit XMP DDR3 1600MHz CL9
  • ASUS Nvidia GeForce GT640 DC SL
  • Samsung 840 Evo Basic (120GB, 2.5″) -> operating system
  • Samsung 840 Evo Basic (120GB, 2.5″) -> virtual machine
  • Samsung 840 Evo Basic (250GB, 2.5″) -> home directory
  • Seasonic P-460 Platinum Modular Fanless – 460 Watt (460W)

While my last build was about 35 to 40 dezibel, this one is actually around 25 to 30 tops. I was using my Nexus 5 with an app to determine that, so I am sure these numbers may be not as accurate as they could be.
Nevertheless, the new build is very very quiet (and is even missing one of the noise dampening sides when I was measuring the noise).

Only thing is, that one of the fans is not running yet as I am missing a power supply connector. That will be done within the next couple of days to ensure optimal air flow.

 

Barebones/Desktops, IT stuff

New gaming PC (June 2012)

A new game rig arrived today. I guess there is not much to say except what it consists:

  • Intel Core 5i 3570K (3400) Quad Core Ivy Bridge with 6 MB Cache
  • The CPU is cooled by a Cooler Master V8 (a damn huge thing)
  • I am using two Barracuca 7200.12 SATA-3 750 GByte for my games and data
  • I am using a Samsung SSD 830 128GByte for my OS
  • The PSU is a Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 620 watt
  • The CPU is on a Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H ATX motherboard
  • The little baby gets 16 GByte of RAM (4×4) from Corsair (XMS3, CL9-9-9-24, 1600 MHz, 1.5V)
  • The graphic card is a Gainward Nvidia GeForce GTX670 Phantom II with 2 GByte RAM
  • All that is in a Cooler Master CM 620 II Advanced chassis
  • At first I wanted to leave out the DVD drive, but then got a Samsung SH-222BB/RSMS anyway.

As this is my gaming rig, I am using Windows 7 SP1 64bit Professional.
To make sure I do see all the games in good quality I added a 24” Asus ML248H LED monitor.

The building itself went remarkably easy so far. I surely hope I didn’t push my luck too much 😉

Barebones/Desktops

Ubuntu 9.04 on my new Barebones

The installation with Ubuntu 9.04 (used beta first and then updated nearly on a daily base) went smooth so far. Frankly I did not expect otherwise. I had no issues during the installations.

However, there is one backdraw when actually using it. While most or actually Hardware is working the sound chip seems to be too new for Alsa 1.0.18 which ships with Ubuntu 9.04.

I had to install Alsa 1.0.19 which I did using a script mentioned in the ubuntuforums.org. After that most of the time the sound works. After an unregular period of time the sounds starts to stutter and even refuses to work. However, this is easily solved by a force-reload of alsa.

It is not nice and I am unable to determine if it is a faulty implementation of 1.0.19 or if I will need to wait for newer releases to fix this issue. But so far I can cope with that.

Barebones/Desktops

The “new” Hardware (2009)

Well, it was time for new hardware and I thought of buying some new barebones and stuff them with components that will last a little while.
I actually bought two identical barebones and stuffed them with identical parts…

Let me tell you whats “under the hood” and then I will go on telling you (in later posts) how the installation of Denian 5.0 (“lenny”) and Ubuntu 9.04 went.

My List I received from the shop says (that is for EACH barebone):

  • Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 (3.16 GHz with 6 MB cache)
  • Kingston memory 8 GB (4x2GB, DDR2, 800 MHz, PC2-6400, CL5)
  • Asus Nvidia GeForce EN9400GTS SIL DI (512MB, silent, DVI)
  • Asus DVD writer 221LT (Light scripe and dual layer, SATA)
  • HDD Western Digital Caviar 750 GB SATA-II (7200 rpm and 32 MB cache)
  • The harddisks are in Icy Boxes so I can change them easily
  • Chassis Fans (Zalman ZM-F2 Plus, 92mm)

To actually use all three barebones (the older one and the two new ones) I bought a Level One KVM Switch (KVM-0306, with DVI, Audio, USB) which so far is working perfectly fine with the Acer AL2223W screen (1680×1050) and with the mouse/keyboard I already had.

A word of warning:
I first had 4x2GB of RAM (each barebone) from OCZ (Plantinum, PC2-6400) which did not work when used ALL at once.
If I put all four in the barebone they overheated and caused errors (memtest showed them several times very clear). When I used only 2 (read: 4 GB RAM) it worked perfectly.
They were to close together and they used 2.1 volt. The Kingston RAM is smaller and uses only 1.8 volt and does clearly less heat up.

My lspic says (debian lenny with kernel 2.6.26):

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5
00:1a.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Port 1
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Port 5
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Port 6
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 90)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JIR (ICH10R) LPC Interface Controller
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) 4 port SATA IDE Controller
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) SMBus Controller
00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) 2 port SATA IDE Controller
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Device 0641 (rev a1)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 02)
03:00.0 IDE interface: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88SE6101 single-port PATA133 interface (rev b2)
05:03.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Agere Systems FW323 (rev 70)

The lspci -v says:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset DRAM Controller (rev 03)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82d3
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel modules: intel-agp

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000c000-0000cfff
Memory behind bridge: fa000000-fe8fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d0000000-00000000dfffffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82d4
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
I/O ports at b800 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82d4
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
I/O ports at b880 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1a.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82d4
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
I/O ports at bc00 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82d4
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
Memory at f9ffe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
Kernel modules: ehci-hcd

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82fe
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
Memory at f9ff8000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=0
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000f8f00000-00000000f8ffffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000e000-0000efff
Memory behind bridge: fea00000-feafffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff
Memory behind bridge: fe900000-fe9fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000f8e00000-00000000f8efffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82d4
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
I/O ports at b080 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82d4
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
I/O ports at b400 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82d4
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
I/O ports at b480 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82d4
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
Memory at f9ffc000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
Kernel modules: ehci-hcd

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 90) (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=05, subordinate=05, sec-latency=32
Memory behind bridge: feb00000-febfffff
Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JIR (ICH10R) LPC Interface Controller
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82d4
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) 4 port SATA IDE Controller (prog-if 8f [Master SecP SecO PriP PriO])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82d4
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
I/O ports at a000 [size=8]
I/O ports at 9c00 [size=4]
I/O ports at 9880 [size=8]
I/O ports at 9800 [size=4]
I/O ports at 9480 [size=16]
I/O ports at 9400 [size=16]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
Kernel modules: ide-pci-generic, ata_piix, ata_generic

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) SMBus Controller
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82d4
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 18
Memory at f9ff6000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
I/O ports at 0400 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus
Kernel modules: i2c-i801

00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) 2 port SATA IDE Controller (prog-if 85 [Master SecO PriO])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82d4
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
I/O ports at b000 [size=8]
I/O ports at ac00 [size=4]
I/O ports at a880 [size=8]
I/O ports at a800 [size=4]
I/O ports at a480 [size=16]
I/O ports at a400 [size=16]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
Kernel modules: ide-pci-generic, ata_piix, ata_generic

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Device 0641 (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82d4
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
Memory at fd000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
Memory at fa000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32M]
I/O ports at cc00 [size=128]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at fe880000 [disabled] [size=512K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: nvidia
Kernel modules: nvidia, nvidiafb

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82c6
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 1275
I/O ports at d800 [size=256]
Memory at fe9ff000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Memory at f8ef0000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=64K]
Expansion ROM at fe9c0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: r8169
Kernel modules: r8169

03:00.0 IDE interface: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88SE6101 single-port PATA133 interface (rev b2) (prog-if 8f [Master SecP SecO PriP PriO])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 82e0
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
I/O ports at ec00 [size=8]
I/O ports at e880 [size=4]
I/O ports at e800 [size=8]
I/O ports at e480 [size=4]
I/O ports at e400 [size=16]
Memory at feaffc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pata_marvell
Kernel modules: ide-pci-generic, pata_marvell, ata_generic

05:03.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Agere Systems FW323 (rev 70) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 8294
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 19
Memory at febff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ohci1394
Kernel modules: ohci1394

My /proc/meminfo says:

MemTotal:      8200312 kB
MemFree:       6756088 kB

My /proc/cpuinfo says (as cpu 0 and cpu 1):

processor    : 0
vendor_id    : GenuineIntel
cpu family    : 6
model        : 23
model name    : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     E8500  @ 3.16GHz
stepping    : 10
cpu MHz        : 3166.303
cache size    : 6144 KB

Pretty neat, eh? 😉