Computer for a wife

Public Forum otwarte
1

My wife currently is using a pretty old PC with 2 cores AMD A4-5300, 8 GB DDR3 and SATA SSD. Web browsing is the main purpose of the PC, but for modern web-sites this hardware works too slow, not comfortable.

So I’m thinking about some nice tiny PC based on more modern CPU, like Core i3-10100. RAM minimum 16GB. 32GB would be nice.

I found some models in Wrocław:

Also I found Lenovo ThinkCentre M715q Tiny with Ryzen 5 2400GE, which cost much cheaper, 539 PLN. Is it just because of AMD CPU? Benchmarks are pretty close to Core i3-10100. But HDMI output is optional, so I have to find an adapter 04X2752.

Or, maybe to buy a laptop? They cost pretty similar to the mini PC, or even cheaper. But probably harder to maintenance (dust cleanup, thermal interface replacement).

Or, maybe, to buy a new device like system76 Meerkat, which costs 629 USD (~2400 PLN) in configuration with Core i3-1315U, 32GB DDR4 and 500GB NVME. I’m afraid there can be some tax for importing the device from USA.

Other important info for a choice:

  • Good Linux compatibility (she is using Xubuntu, I’m planning to install Debian + XFCE).
  • Dedicated GPU is not needed.
  • Not too noisy.
  • Low power consumption can be a plus.
  • Wi-Fi is mandatory, and I can put my PCIe card Intel AX200.
  • HDMI output required for a current display (probably I have to buy a display with DisplayPort in nearest future). I had a couple of DP→HDMI adapters in past, all died, so I prefer just HDMI output.

Guys, what do you think? Maybe you have some experience with these mini PC. Or maybe you can recommend a CPU.

2

I’ve recommended a chromebook to an elderly pair I know recently - they mainly use a PC for web browsing and photo viewing, and the fact that it shouldn’t need too much tech support was a great plus. I will get a review from them in a week or two and let you know the outcome, if you’re interested. Don’t know how Linux compatibility is with this particular model, though.

There’s also always a true and tested “thinkpad that was previously owned by a serious businesspeople” route, like my fiancee is now using. I don’t have any particular recommendations at the moment, though.

1 polubienie
3

Of the aforementioned, the best performance-to-price ratio is this Lenovo ThinkCentre M715q Tiny. I use one (only with a slower cpu) as my home server and am very satisfied. It is very quiet, you can put 32GB RAM and two drives (nvme and 2.5’ sata) in it.

1 polubienie
4

ServeTheHome has a series of articles TinyMiniMicro with geek porn :wink:

I found a review with internals: Lenovo ThinkCentre M715q Tiny CE Review AMD Ryzen.

Hmmm, just to not forget: Lenovo vendor locking Ryzen-based systems with AMD PSB. Not applied to M715q, but applied to a newer Lenovo ThinkCentre M75q Tiny Gen2.

5

So I’ve bought the Lenovo M715q tiny in AMSO. 1 year warranty. A custom configuration with 32GB RAM and 512 GB SSD cost me 746 PLN.

Machine type model is 10VHS2DL00, so this is 2nd generation.

Accessories included:

  • Power adapter
  • D-SUB (VGA) adapter
  • 2.5’’ SATA bay (should be OK even for big drives with height 9.5 mm)

The fan is not very quiet, it is always on (BIOS setting is in some “acoustic” position).

Both Wi-Fi card Intel 8265 / 8275 and Intel AX200 recognized without problem (wasn’t blocked, so there is probably no device allowlisting in BIOS).

 % fastfetch
   ..,,;;;::;,..                    alexey@devuan-home-nvme256
           `':ddd;:,.               --------------------------
                 `'dPPd:,.          OS: Devuan GNU/Linux excalibur ceres 6 x86_64
                     `:b$$b`.       Host: 10VHS2DL00 (ThinkCentre M715q)
                        'P$$$d`     Kernel: Linux 6.11.2-amd64
                         .$$$$$`    Uptime: 49 mins
                         ;$$$$$P    Packages: 2245 (dpkg)
                      .:P$$$$$$`    Shell: zsh 5.9
                  .,:b$$$$$$$;'     Display (DELL U2415): 1920x1200 @ 60 Hz in 24" [External]
             .,:dP$$$$$$$$b:'       DE: Xfce4 4.18
      .,:;db$$$$$$$$$$Pd'`          WM: Xfwm4 (X11)
 ,db$$$$$$$$$$$$$$b:'`              WM Theme: Greybird
:$$$$$$$$$$$$b:'`                   Theme: Greybird [GTK2/3/4]
 `$$$$$bd:''`                       Icons: elementary-xfce-dark [GTK2/3/4]
   `'''`                            Font: Sans (10pt) [GTK2/3/4]
                                    Cursor: DMZ-White
                                    Terminal: xfce4-terminal 1.1.3
                                    Terminal Font: DejaVu Sans Mono (10.5pt)
                                    CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 2400GE w/ Radeon Vega Graphics (8) @ 3.20 GHz
                                    GPU: AMD Radeon Vega 11 Graphics [Integrated]
                                    Memory: 2.75 GiB / 30.30 GiB (9%)
                                    Swap: Disabled
                                    Disk (/): 33.84 GiB / 57.90 GiB (58%) - ext4
                                    Local IP (wlan0): 192.168.x.104/24
                                    Locale: C.UTF-8
1 polubienie
6

Power consumption

Power consumption is moderate. Measured with power adapter Lenovo ADLX90NLC3A 20V 4.5A by Voltcraft 4000FR:

  • OS idle: 9 W / 23 VA (low power factor, not very good).
  • CPU stress: 7z b: 37-42 W / 41-46 VA.
  • Youtube 1080p in LibreWolf v131: 25-30-41 W (similar to CPU stress, probably I have to configure hardware acceleration).
  • Disk: dd if=/dev/nvme0n1 of=/dev/null bs=10M: 28 W / 33 VA.
  • 3D: gamemoderun glmark2: 50 W / 55 VA.

hw-probe

Probe #3f2770b9fe.

Benchmarks

Some benchmark results.

OS = Devuan 6 Excalibur (testing), XFCE, X11.

 # inxi
CPU: quad core AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 2400GE w/ Radeon Vega Graphics (-MT MCP-)
speed/min/max: 1600/1600/3200 MHz Kernel: 6.11.2-amd64 x86_64 Up: 2m
Mem: 1.17/30.3 GiB (3.8%) Storage: 238.47 GiB (14.2% used) Procs: 265
Shell: Zsh inxi: 3.3.36

 # inxi -SG
System:
  Host: devuan-home-nvme256 Kernel: 6.11.2-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 Distro: Devuan GNU/Linux 6 (excalibur/ceres)
Graphics:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Raven Ridge [Radeon Vega Series
    / Radeon Mobile Series] driver: amdgpu v: kernel
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.13 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu
    resolution: 1920x1200~60Hz
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: radeonsi,swrast
    platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 24.2.4-1 renderer: AMD
    Radeon Vega 11 Graphics (radeonsi raven LLVM 19.1.1 DRM 3.59
    6.11.2-amd64)
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.290 drivers: N/A surfaces: xcb,xlib

 % gamemoderun glmark2
=======================================================
    glmark2 2023.01
=======================================================
    OpenGL Information
    GL_VENDOR:      AMD
    GL_RENDERER:    AMD Radeon Vega 11 Graphics (radeonsi, raven, LLVM 19.1.1, DRM 3.59, 6.11.2-amd64)
    GL_VERSION:     4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 24.2.4-1
    Surface Config: buf=32 r=8 g=8 b=8 a=8 depth=24 stencil=0 samples=0
    Surface Size:   800x600 windowed
=======================================================
[build] use-vbo=false: FPS: 6462 FrameTime: 0.155 ms
[build] use-vbo=true: FPS: 7396 FrameTime: 0.135 ms
[texture] texture-filter=nearest: FPS: 7213 FrameTime: 0.139 ms
[texture] texture-filter=linear: FPS: 7076 FrameTime: 0.141 ms
[texture] texture-filter=mipmap: FPS: 6894 FrameTime: 0.145 ms
[shading] shading=gouraud: FPS: 6559 FrameTime: 0.152 ms
[shading] shading=blinn-phong-inf: FPS: 6549 FrameTime: 0.153 ms
[shading] shading=phong: FPS: 6433 FrameTime: 0.155 ms
[shading] shading=cel: FPS: 6237 FrameTime: 0.160 ms
[bump] bump-render=high-poly: FPS: 4661 FrameTime: 0.215 ms
[bump] bump-render=normals: FPS: 7041 FrameTime: 0.142 ms
[bump] bump-render=height: FPS: 6800 FrameTime: 0.147 ms
[effect2d] kernel=0,1,0;1,-4,1;0,1,0;: FPS: 5754 FrameTime: 0.174 ms
[effect2d] kernel=1,1,1,1,1;1,1,1,1,1;1,1,1,1,1;: FPS: 3723 FrameTime: 0.269 ms
[pulsar] light=false:quads=5:texture=false: FPS: 6420 FrameTime: 0.156 ms
[desktop] blur-radius=5:effect=blur:passes=1:separable=true:windows=4: FPS: 3036 FrameTime: 0.329 ms
[desktop] effect=shadow:windows=4: FPS: 4660 FrameTime: 0.215 ms
[buffer] columns=200:interleave=false:update-dispersion=0.9:update-fraction=0.5:update-method=map: FPS: 1206 FrameTime: 0.830 ms
[buffer] columns=200:interleave=false:update-dispersion=0.9:update-fraction=0.5:update-method=subdata: FPS: 1671 FrameTime: 0.599 ms
[buffer] columns=200:interleave=true:update-dispersion=0.9:update-fraction=0.5:update-method=map: FPS: 1368 FrameTime: 0.731 ms
[ideas] speed=duration: FPS: 3147 FrameTime: 0.318 ms
[jellyfish] <default>: FPS: 4691 FrameTime: 0.213 ms
[terrain] <default>: FPS: 465 FrameTime: 2.151 ms
[shadow] <default>: FPS: 5973 FrameTime: 0.167 ms
[refract] <default>: FPS: 639 FrameTime: 1.567 ms
[conditionals] fragment-steps=0:vertex-steps=0: FPS: 7140 FrameTime: 0.140 ms
[conditionals] fragment-steps=5:vertex-steps=0: FPS: 6918 FrameTime: 0.145 ms
[conditionals] fragment-steps=0:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 7090 FrameTime: 0.141 ms
[function] fragment-complexity=low:fragment-steps=5: FPS: 6884 FrameTime: 0.145 ms
[function] fragment-complexity=medium:fragment-steps=5: FPS: 6835 FrameTime: 0.146 ms
[loop] fragment-loop=false:fragment-steps=5:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 6903 FrameTime: 0.145 ms
[loop] fragment-steps=5:fragment-uniform=false:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 6757 FrameTime: 0.148 ms
[loop] fragment-steps=5:fragment-uniform=true:vertex-steps=5: FPS: 6808 FrameTime: 0.147 ms
=======================================================
                                  glmark2 Score: 5375
=======================================================

 % 7z b

7-Zip 24.08 (x64) : Copyright (c) 1999-2024 Igor Pavlov : 2024-08-11
 64-bit locale=C.UTF-8 Threads:8 OPEN_MAX:1024

Compiler:  ver:14.2.0 GCC 14.2.0 : SSE2
Linux : 6.11.2-amd64 : #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.11.2-1 (2024-10-05) : x86_64
PageSize:4KB THP:always hwcap:2 hwcap2:2
AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 2400GE w/ Radeon Vega Graphics
(810F10)

1T CPU Freq (MHz):  3545  3708  3743  3750  3745  3743  3747
4T CPU Freq (MHz): 389% 3293   396% 3404
8T CPU Freq (MHz): 730% 2709   762% 2894

RAM size:   31026 MB,  # CPU hardware threads:   8
RAM usage:   1779 MB,  # Benchmark threads:      8

                       Compressing  |                  Decompressing
Dict     Speed Usage    R/U Rating  |      Speed Usage    R/U Rating
         KiB/s     %   MIPS   MIPS  |      KiB/s     %   MIPS   MIPS

22:      22663   663   3324  22047  |     243376   793   2619  20753
23:      22070   680   3309  22487  |     237989   789   2610  20587
24:      21495   681   3394  23112  |     234581   793   2594  20582
25:      21525   683   3597  24577  |     224661   778   2570  19990
----------------------------------  | ------------------------------
Avr:     21938   677   3406  23056  |     235152   788   2598  20478
Tot:             732   3002  21767

 # cryptsetup benchmark
# Tests are approximate using memory only (no storage IO).
PBKDF2-sha1      1264868 iterations per second for 256-bit key
PBKDF2-sha256    2427259 iterations per second for 256-bit key
PBKDF2-sha512    1171593 iterations per second for 256-bit key
PBKDF2-ripemd160  633198 iterations per second for 256-bit key
PBKDF2-whirlpool  537731 iterations per second for 256-bit key
argon2i       4 iterations, 1048576 memory, 4 parallel threads (CPUs) for 256-bit key (requested 2000 ms time)
argon2id      4 iterations, 1048576 memory, 4 parallel threads (CPUs) for 256-bit key (requested 2000 ms time)
#     Algorithm |       Key |      Encryption |      Decryption
        aes-cbc        128b       857.5 MiB/s      1732.1 MiB/s
    serpent-cbc        128b        82.4 MiB/s       349.6 MiB/s
    twofish-cbc        128b       171.9 MiB/s       348.0 MiB/s
        aes-cbc        256b       758.5 MiB/s      1770.7 MiB/s
    serpent-cbc        256b       100.7 MiB/s       350.8 MiB/s
    twofish-cbc        256b       196.5 MiB/s       348.5 MiB/s
        aes-xts        256b      2193.8 MiB/s      2199.3 MiB/s
    serpent-xts        256b       295.8 MiB/s       323.3 MiB/s
    twofish-xts        256b       316.6 MiB/s       323.3 MiB/s
        aes-xts        512b      2028.7 MiB/s      2023.8 MiB/s
    serpent-xts        512b       325.5 MiB/s       323.7 MiB/s
    twofish-xts        512b       323.3 MiB/s       321.6 MiB/s

 # hdparm -tT /dev/nvme0n1
/dev/nvme0n1:
 Timing cached reads:   17152 MB in  1.98 seconds = 8669.59 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads: 3034 MB in  3.00 seconds = 1011.11 MB/sec