hardware evolution

Contents

• PCs
  • Lycoris
  • Wisteria
  • Original PC
• Servers
  • Altair & Vega
  • Sasanqua
  • Deneb
  • Optiplex

PCs

These are listed from newest to oldest and are only PCs used as main workstations/rigs.

Lycoris

My newest and current rig was built at another time I consider to be perfect. I was originally going to wait until I graduated in May 2025 to build, but I thought market conditions were going to go down the shitter by that time. Yeah, they did.

I obtained all but the GPU in November/December, while I waited for a good deal on any GPU in my price range ($700-$1000).

Build Timeframe: November 2024 - Feb 2025

What I’d Change:

• I would have gotten the 9070 XT instead. Would have been similar performance for a little less money. But the market wasn’t looking too good at the time, so I wanted something powerful that I could get without too much trouble.

Wisteria

My second main rig was an Asus Zephyrus G14.

Purchase Timeframe: 2021

Upgrades:

• Swapped the base 8GB RAM for a 32GB module, giving me a total of 40GB.
• Replaced thermal paste with PTM7950.

What I’d Change:

• Nothing. Great laptop.

Original PC

My first build was a gaming PC built in 2016. Golden era, I know.

Build Timeframe: Mid-Late 2016

What I’d Change:

• I didn’t know about dual channel back then, so I got 1 stick of RAM instead of a 2x8 kit. I would get nicer RAM too, instead of a literal green PCB.
• If I had more budget I would have gotten a 1080 Ti.

Servers

These are also listed newest to oldest, and contain only hardware used for server/NAS purposes.

Altair & Vega

These servers are using Framework 13 mainboards with Ryzen 7840U CPUs. They have the same specs below.

I got these through the mystery box promotion on Framework’s website. I bought three boards - all were 7840U, but one was DOA. The boards were $39 each.

When I got these, I created a Proxmox cluster (dubbed ‘Summer Triangle’) and added Deneb to the cluster.

Build Timeframe: 2025

What I’d Change:

• Nothing. Incredibly cheap compute.

Sasanqua

My third ‘server’ was purpose-built for network storage. It uses parts salvaged from my original gaming PC.

Build Timeframe: 2025

Upgrades:

• Stock fans replaced with Arctic P8’s and P8 Slims.
• Arctic P8 Slims replaced with Noctua 80mms.

What I’d Change:

• The Supermicro chassis is cool, but I’d go with a different, off the shelf case with a hotswap backplane. There were a lot of extra things I needed to get (a quiet PSU, rails, front panel adapters, replacement fans) to have all this gear work in the case and work fairly quietly.

Deneb

My second ‘server’ was a custom build with consumer PC components. This was built as a general-purpose server, mainly for Plex and other hosting needs.

This server was originally named Excidium, but was renamed to Deneb when it was moved into a Proxmox cluster.

Build Timeframe: 2023

Upgrades:

• RAM was initially (2x8) 16GB DDR4. Swapped out for 32GB and old kit repurposed for sasanqua.
• CPU Cooler was initially a Noctua NH-L12S. This was repurposed for another server.
• OS was originally Ubuntu 22.04. Switched to Proxmox 8, then Proxmox 9.

What I’d Change:

• Not much. I would have started with more RAM. The i3 served (and still serves) my needs very well.

Optiplex

My first ‘server’ was a Dell Optiplex from my university’s surplus store. I took some extra DDR3 from my work to extend the internal 8GB to 24GB.

I started with learning Linux here on Ubuntu 22.04LTS.

Build Timeframe: 2022

Upgrades:

• RAM was initially (2x4) 8GB. Added (2x8) 16GB DDR3 to make it 24.

What I’d Change:

• Nothing. Great piece of kit to learn Linux on.