Ryzen 5 motherboard advice

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Hello,

First post.

I’m planning on building a basic system for Haiku. I’m GenX and raised with Apple, always wanted a BeBox when I was young—it seemed so elegant—but I never had one.

Moved towards GNU/Linux, was a sysadmin and web developer for awhile, but last ten years or so I’ve pretty much just been a user. On GNU/Linux I use MATE because when GNOME 3 came out I didn’t like it, still don’t, but at this point the only geek stuff I do is LFS for hobby and LaTeX for typesetting, I’ve mostly become an end user and BeOS (like classic Mac OS and perhaps even moreso) was always an known to be an exceptional end user platform, so I decided it would be fun to give Haiku a shot even if GNU/Linux remains my “main rig” for TeXLive use.

I already have a decent metal case and a quality never used power supply to put in it and a quality never used SATA DVD reader to put in it.

CPU and MoBo combo I’m looking at is:

  • Ryzen 5 7000 Series Zen 4 6-Core 3.7 GHz - Socket AM5 65W
  • ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 Socket AM5 Ryzen 7000 Micro ATX Motherboard

Reason for the CPU: Inexpensive for Ryzen, low wattage meaning CPU fan doesn’t have to work as hard, no integrated graphics.

Downsides of course are low wattage usually means less powerful, and no built-in GPU means I have to use a separate GPU.

Reason for MoBo: Supports Socket AM5 7000 series, inexpensive, only has two memory slots but that’s all I need (I’m guessing 2x8GiB is plenty), doesn’t have built-in WiFi (does support a M.2 WiFi card if I ever needed it) which I see as a positive as built-in WiFi is usually a crap chipset that in GNU/Linux requires properierary drivers, I have wired network anyway.

I saw no mention of Bluetooth on newegg but I think that is usually done by WiFi cards and I do not need it. I do not have or use Bluetooth (or WiFi) on my GNU/Linux daily driver either.

From the perspective of Haiku users, is there a reason to avoid the AMD B650 chipset or the ASRock manufacturer?

Onboard audio is Realtek ALC897 via “Nahimic Audio” (whatever the bleep that is). Will standard two-channel stereo audio work in Haiku with that, and if not, can inexpensive USB speakers be used with Haiku?

Onboard LAN is “Dragon RTL8125BG” which allegedly offers 2.5 Gigabit but my LAN equipment (switches, routers) is all Gigabit, so I only need gigabit to work. Does that LAN chipset work with Haiku or am I better off buying a quality LAN card from the start and ignoring the onboard LAN?

Video: I have a “new in box” nVidia (msi) GP108 [GeForce GT 1030] that is fanless and with recent kernels, it works just fine in GNU/Linux with the open source nouveau drivers, at least in MATE and Xfce. It’s the same card I use in my GNU/Linux build, I bought a spare when I built my GNU/Linux system many years ago and the spare has just been sitting on my shelf. Will that card work decently with Haiku or should I look for another? I am not a gamer.

The only downside to that card in GNU/Linux is that because it is fanless, the heat sink is so large it is not recommended to use the expansion slot next to it but other than possibly a LAN card, I do not believe I need additional expanaion cards.

Even though the motherboard supports a M.2 SSD, I’ll probably just use a SATA3 SSD for /boot and a SATA3 platter drive for /boot/home. SATA3 is slower than M.2 but so what? Easier to stick them in an external USB3 case for emergency data recovery.

If I use the M.2 slot at all, it would just be for cache and swap file, not for something I might need to recover if my motherboard fries between backups. Maybe I’ll put the grub partition on an M.2 SSD if that works.

Thank you for any advice!

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Ref: Haiku Hardware Database

  • Haiku compatible hardware guide:
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The drop down menu from that page doesn’t seem to give any information on motherboard chipset.

The network card does list some RTL adapters but not the “RTL8125BG” (with or without the BG).

Several Realtek audio cards are listed but not the ALC897.

The video card is listed as working in VESA but no indication as to whether or not it works well, what resolutions work, or if dual-display works.

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Ryzen processors and motherboards work generally, so you should be OK there. RTL8125 should be supported by the driver of the same name (rge from OpenBSD.) Audio should theoretically work as that’s a HDA codec (though HDA sometimes doesn’t work for random reasons…)

Haiku unfortunately does not support multihead at all though, for any graphics card at present.

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If you want to try it, we do have a port of TeX Live to Haiku as well. There are some issues with it, but for LaTeX, it should work in general.

One of the problems it has is, that you currently need to install all language packages, due to how it is packaged, see texlive: running a tex engine requires all language packages · Issue #7828 · haikuports/haikuports · GitHub. Also, ConTeXt (or rather the luametatex engine) does not work.

Patches for improvements are welcome. :wink:

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With the great work from @jmairboeck (and prior @Anarchos and Jessica) we still have the updates for TeX Live, for the bacis installed packages required you could also install TeXstudio which contains a script to install all the basic TeX Live packages required to be able to use it. (the list was also provided in a port that @jmairboeck did).

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I have the ASRock B650M PG Lightning, it’s running, but I have loads of problems.

Motherboard is unstable, especially with NVMes, SSDs and USB3.

My current setup is:

Enclosure: Antec VSK 4000B

PSU: Seasonic Core-GX 850

Motherboard: B650M PG Lightning (for best PCIe support)

CPU: Ryzen 5 9600X

CPU-Cooler: Arctic Alpine 23 (this is sufficient; note: the Dark Rock Elite will not fit in my enclosure)

RAM: 8GB Patriot Signature Line 5600MT/s, CL40 (cheapo; only runs at 4800MT/s)

Storage: 1TB Corsair T500 without heatsink (You really must get one with a heatsink)

Storage: 1TB CS900 (unused)

Storage: 2 x 300GB Seagate Pipeline (they’re dead slow, but better than both of the SSDs)

Apple alu button-board, cheapest Logitec Mouse (M90)

The only change I’m going to make, is to switch the motherboard to the ASUS B650E-E ROG Strix Gaming WiFi; this is for stability and best possible PCIe support.

Now, if you really want to go with the ASRock, I had no problems with B550 boards and Ryzen 5600G/5700G (they work fine), but the B650M needs you to update the BIOS before you even start, if you use the 9600X. -But just update it anyway.

When you install Haiku, do not attempt to install multiple versions. If you want to re-install, you’ll likely get in trouble if you have Haiku installed on a drive already, so I’d recommend erasing both the EFI and the system partitions (making sure you don’t have valuable data stored only on the system partition).

I have two EFI partitions on a single drive; I use the BIOS to switch between them. One is for Haiku, the other is for Linux (using Debian).

Avoid using USB3 if you can. The sticks get hot and then they switch off, causing you to end up with a bad installation. I solved my problem by purchasing a Philips 16GB USB 2.0-stick. It’s slow but doesn’t corrupt the data.

Kingston makes good SD/MicroSD cards, but their card reader causes them to heat up. Kingston makes terrible USB3 sticks; I have 3 Exodia, all of them get hot and turn off.

If you do not have the ability to find a USB2 stick, you can probably successfully use the USB3-stick in a USB2 port (or use a USB2 extension cable to downgrade to USB2.0)

My focus is on: SIlence, lots of PCIe slots, BlueTooth support (I have none right now) and low price.