upgrade old FreeBSD home server

The FM-platform were a disaster for AMD in general, most cases Intel's counterparts (price-wise) were noticably faster :-/
 
(I have an Athlon now!)

So maybe it's foolish to be insisting on graphics from the CPU when I can just get an inexpensive PCIe graphics card to do web browsing?
Ummm.. this is exactly where you'd be better off with integrated graphics... those are on the cheaper CPU's. PCIe card (i.e., GPU) prices are through the roof right now, and the cards themselves are scarce. Save your dough for next year.
 
And my issue with integrated graphics is in getting a CPU/mb that is supported by FreeBSD and does ECC. Adding the graphics to that equation is starting to seem like a complication.

Edit: I guess I can get a 3000 G series & use a PRO motherboard. Or I can get a non-G and get a cheap external graphic card. Per the ASUS ECC chart posted above anyway.
 
Don't worry too much about LAN speed on a motherboard - that's only really relevant if you run active enterprise-grade databases that crowds of people have to use. For home use (even if you run a server), realistically speaking, what matters is the speed of the Internet connection from your ISP.

I like the idea of ECC, but it's usually only available on server-grade hardware that costs thousands of dollars (Think AMD EPYC 7003) and may not even be readily available on Amazon.

For Integrated Graphics, FreeBSD generally does better with Intel chips, but recent low-end AMD Athlon chips (like this Athlon Gold with Radeon Vega Graphics) should play fine with FreeBSD.
 
So what's the deal with the X570 PRO mbs that have both Intel & Realtek ethernet?
Since they're usually older they come with the older I211-AT which is well supported, avoid Realtek like the plague and those are usually found only on value/el-cheapo models. In many causes getting a separate NIC will drive the price up to the same level as one with Intel nic built in but they X570 boards are however usually more pricey. I would advice you to carefully evaluate going below Zen 2 hardware as performance will suffer. If you can get hold of a fairly new (like 5-7y old video card) that's a better option than getting a CPU with integrated graphics.

If you don't need all the performance perhaps a prebuilt system with an Intel H or T-CPU would be a good tradeoff in terms of price / performance and compatibility? I still think a Dell T40 or such might be a viable option tbh.
 
I guess I was thinking a pre-built system would only cost more....

I don't need a ton of performance, it's true. I'm mostly just concerned with reliability (e.g. per NICs).

Was thinking an older graphics card wouldn't even be desirable for crypto & such, so no reason for a high price....
 
going below Zen 2 hardware as performance will suffer. If you can get hold of a fairly new (like 5-7y old video card) that's a better option than getting a CPU with integrated graphics.
Mine is Ryzen 5 1400, which I think is a Zen 1... I was an eager early adopter, but even this has served me surprisingly well.

Todd McComb : Don't go too old on cards, either - NVidia recently dropped support for Kepler GPU's, and that was on Phoronix... Older cards may or may not have PCIe 3 or 4 compatibility. Even if you have software drivers, hardware compatibility is plenty important. And even there, GPU's with just 512 or even 256 MB (NOT GB) of RAM are going for ~$100
 
So just to clarify, any Ryzen 3000 series processor with included Radeon Vega graphics should work on any of the B450/X470, B550/X570 motherboards? I.e. if it's graphics included in an AM4 slot, it'll work?
 
That
Well there's an interesting chart on

It says yes to X570 for 3000 graphics APUs, but no for B550.
I wonder if that's wrong or recently changed, since it's directly contradicted by the tech spec for the ROG STRIX B550-E GAMING motherboard, which explicitly claims support for an "integrated graphics processor". The tech spec also indicates the presence of physical HDMI and Display Port adapters on the "Back I/O Ports" which could only be used by a graphics processor integrated with the CPU.
 
That

I wonder if that's wrong or recently changed, since it's directly contradicted by the tech spec for the ROG STRIX B550-E GAMING motherboard, which explicitly claims support for an "integrated graphics processor". The tech spec also indicates the presence of physical HDMI and Display Port adapters on the "Back I/O Ports" which could only be used by a graphics processor integrated with the CPU.
Thanks for pointing that out - Looks like I can make a couple conclusions:
  • For OP right now, it makes more sense to get an x470 motherboard (widest compatibility).
  • For me - My board is a b350, so I can go up to Ryzen 3000 (both with and without integrated graphics), but if I want a Ryzen 5000 series, I should be prepared to shell out for an x570 or b550 motherboard.
 
Just read what that CPU support actually is on the manufactorers website for said mainboard and it makes no sense getting x470 today unless it's dirt cheap.
 
For a home server that runs 24/7, I recommend something that is small, quiet and doesn’t consume much power. For example, one of the mini PCs from MinisForum that is based on a mobile CPU. They have models with 2 network ports, and even space for up to three storage devices (one NVMe SSD + two 2.5” SATA), and if you need more, you can always attach disks via USB3. I particularly like their HM50 model; it has a good 6-core mobile Ryzen with a large 10cm fan that is very quiet. It’s probably also suitable as a desktop PC – it supports up to three (!) UHD/4k screens, and the box is small enough (15cm × 15cm) that you can attach it on the VESA mounts on the back of your screen.
 
For a home server that runs 24/7, I recommend something that is small, quiet and doesn’t consume much power. For example, one of the mini PCs from MinisForum that is based on a mobile CPU. They have models with 2 network ports, and even space for up to three storage devices (one NVMe SSD + two 2.5” SATA), and if you need more, you can always attach disks via USB3. I particularly like their HM50 model; it has a good 6-core mobile Ryzen with a large 10cm fan that is very quiet. It’s probably also suitable as a desktop PC – it supports up to three (!) UHD/4k screens, and the box is small enough (15cm × 15cm) that you can attach it on the VESA mounts on the back of your screen.
Except that USB is unreliable as f for storage especially with enforced spin-downs randomly and you can most likely pretty much forget any kind of aftermarket service. Since they don't list chipset used I'm going assume that they're using Realtek NICs have not that great track record especially on FreeBSD.
 
Except that USB is unreliable as f for storage especially with enforced spin-downs randomly and you can most likely pretty much forget any kind of aftermarket service.
USB storage works very well. For example, I have several Samsung T5 that I use for data exchange between FreeBSD and other systems, and one of them is connected to my WiFi router (FritzBox) for NAS and media server. The only issue is that FreeBSD does not support the UAS protocoll (UASP), so it falls back to the old bulk-only protocoll (BOT). This means I only get about 120 MB/s from the T5 (it’s much faster on Windows). Not a big deal for me, though. Most importantly these things are rock-stable.

BTW, Samsung provides a warranty of 3 years for these products. So far, none of them has failed me (I own four T5 of varying capacities, and one T7, and I use them a lot).

Since they don't list chipset used I'm going assume that they're using Realtek NICs have not that great track record especially on FreeBSD.
That was the case with the old 8129/8139 chips (using the rl(4) driver), twenty years ago. They had a lot of issues. But recent Realtek chips work fine with FreeBSD.
 
I guess my only reason to choose x470 would be if x570 is not quite stable or supported in ways I might need. Presumably the older board will have fewer question marks....
 
On a different topic, are there any compatibility issues with optical drives? As noted I want to get a new/faster one while I'm doing this, since I still receive optical media.
 
On a different topic, are there any compatibility issues with optical drives? As noted I want to get a new/faster one while I'm doing this, since I still receive optical media.
If you do an internal DVD drive (which connects via IDE cables to the motherboard), there's no compatibility issues to worry about. Back in the day, I could even boot FreeBSD off an external USB DVD drive, but in that case, correctly configuring the drive had nothing to do with FreeBSD per se. If you want to attach an external DVD drive via USB, the handbook will be helpful in figuring out how to do that. But no special drivers are needed, just a bit of attention to the Handbook. Brand of the drive just doesn't matter.
 
Optical drives these days use SATA. I'd be quite surprised if you had any issues. But I don't have any optical drives on my FreeBSD X570 system. I do on a Debian X570 system (running MythTV with a Blu-Ray) and it works fine.
 
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