New computer, suggestions needed for setup

LKo · #1 September 21st, 2012, 09:14

Hello!

I'm fairly new to FreeBSD but I have tried it a couple of times before but there has always been some problems. Now I'm buying a new computer and want to give FreeBSD another try.

This is the hardware I thought I would get:

Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K 3.5 GHz
Motherboard: Intel Z77 chipset based motherboard, perhaps Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H
RAM: 2x8GB DDR3 1600MHz
SSDs: 2x 240GB OCZ Vertex III Max IOPS 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s MLC Toggle
HDDs: 4x2TB WD Caviar Green, later on more.
Graphics: Well I'd like to use integrated Ivy Bridge graphics (HD Graphics 4000) but if that doesn't work, I have NVidia GT220.
Monitor: Dell UltraSharp U2412M
OS: FreeBSD 9.1 (RC if it's not released when I get the computer)

OK, here's my questions:

1. What is the current state of Ivy Bridge intergrated graphics? If that won't work, I would use NVidia GT220 and Nvidia proprietary drivers.

2. How about GPU accelerated HD decoding? Nvidia provides the support with it's proprietary drivers and Intel has VA-API but do they work with FreeBSD?

3. I need at least S/PDIF digital audio output to AV receiver from motherboard. Even better would be HDMI audio output to AV receiver.

4. I would create a RAID1 array from the two SSDs. But I also want snapshot option for those devices. Is my only option ZFS which doesn't support TRIM?

5. I would create a RAID5 array from HHDs. I also need to encrypt them. What would be the way to go with this?

Any suggestions and ideas are very welcome!

UNIXgod · #2 September 22nd, 2012, 07:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by LKo

1. What is the current state of Ivy Bridge intergrated graphics? If that won't work, I would use NVidia GT220 and Nvidia proprietary drivers.

You'll need the nvidia card. Support for intel won't be until 9.1

Quote:

Originally Posted by LKo

2. How about GPU accelerated HD decoding? Nvidia provides the support with it's proprietary drivers and Intel has VA-API but do they work with FreeBSD?

Decoding works fine. There may be issues with compiling your video ports with clang. You'll need to double check. It's called vdpau for nvidia.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LKo

3. I need at least S/PDIF digital audio output to AV receiver from motherboard. Even better would be HDMI audio output to AV receiver.

It's hit or miss. Some of the drivers for HDMI where updated. SPDIF is supported and should be mirrored against the analog line. Check the handbook to confirm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LKo

4. I would create a RAID1 array from the two SSDs. But I also want snapshot option for those devices. Is my only option ZFS which doesn't support TRIM?

If you use the motherboard raid you can use UFS. ZFS may support trim. You need to understand that ZFS takes alot of memory. If snapshots are important consider another way of dealing with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LKo

5. I would create a RAID5 array from HHDs. I also need to encrypt them. What would be the way to go with this?

One way is to use geli(8)

**wblock@** · #3 September 22nd, 2012, 14:27

Support for Intel video is in 9-stable already. However, there was a recent post about problems with some of the newer Ivy Bridge video on one of the mailing lists. I don't recall the details or even the list.

freemason · #4 September 22nd, 2012, 17:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by wblock@

Support for Intel video is in 9-stable already. However, there was a recent post about problems with some of the newer Ivy Bridge video on one of the mailing lists. I don't recall the details or even the list.

but no backlight support or any powersaving features however.

LKo · #5 September 23rd, 2012, 10:10

Thank you for your answers.

After the first answer I was thinking I'm better off sticking with Slackware. But I guess it's worth a while to test when I get all the components.

The idea behind snapshotting is that I could take a snapshot from root (/) filesystem before making changes to my system for example updating or upgrading. If update breaks things I could just revert to snapshot.

**wblock@** · #6 September 23rd, 2012, 16:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by freemason

but no backlight support or any powersaving features however.

I'm not sure whether backlight control is part of xorg drivers. And you may be wrong about power saving. Please cite your references.

LKo asked about a desktop, where driver backlight control is not needed anyway.

freemason · #7 September 23rd, 2012, 19:18

I'm not wrong about Intel video powersaving because my laptop system consumes about 8-9 W in text console, and when I fire up Xorg it rises to 12-14 W even when idle (cx_lowest is C3, atrtc.X.clock=0 and apic.X.clock=0 in loader.rc)

Backlight is part of driver, because in OpenBSD`s Xorg I'm able to change backlight level, while in FreeBSD`s I can't (but on OpenBSD there is no HW-accel and my wlan doesn't work, so I'm on FreeBSD)

**wblock@** · #8 September 23rd, 2012, 23:22

OpenBSD forked xorg a while back, so their drivers do not necessarily compare with what is in FreeBSD or even the stock xorg driver.

Intel without power save features probably still takes less power than an add-on video card. Regardless, 3W of power usage on a desktop may not be significant for the original poster.

kpedersen · #9 September 24th, 2012, 17:50

It is my understanding that if you don't run Xorg, then your graphics card will be running without powersaving (No driver is loaded).

So if the Xorg driver does not support powersaving, then it should be still quite a similar power consumption as when not running X11.

It is only when your Xorg driver does support powersaving and you run X11 will the power requirements decrease.

freemason · #10 September 24th, 2012, 17:57

or Xorg driver does not support power saving but supports only power losing

strange that with loaded Xorg and idling power consumption is ~3 W more

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