PC build advice

[radiotx]

I am planning to build a PC strictly for operating my Anan G2 and Flex 6600. Any advice on any (or all) of the following items is much appreciated. My past PC building experience is limited to a couple flight simulator rigs and several basic home PCs. Shooting from the hip I would go with a Core i7, 64GB ECC memory, and 500GB NVMe M.2 SSD... but I would rather get some advice from those who have gone before me.

Mobo:
Is there any particular chipset to look for?
It would be nice if it would run on a micro-atx, but I do have room for full size atx in the chassis.

Processor:
Is the Intel Core family the way to go, or would a Xeon work?
How many cores is more than enough?

Memory:
What is the most important factor for memory? ECC, speed, amount, or all of the above?

GPU:
???

Soundcard:
Is the mobo onboard audio enough? I have an external USB audio interface already.

Misc:
Any recommendations on power supplies or additional I/O to consider?

73

[w-u-2-o]

Thetis benefits from a lot of cores/threads. Get at least an 8 core (16 thread) CPU. 12 cores would be even better. At equivalent speed/price points the AMD CPUs generally offer more cores. If I was building new I'd be getting a Ryzen 9 with 12 or 16 cores.

Memory requirements are driven by Windows and not Thetis. 64GB is fine.

Thetis puts practically no demands on mass storage. Get whatever SSD floats your boat.

When choosing a motherboard it's not about what's "best", it's about what's "best for you". Thetis doesn't care and at Ryzen 9 speeds squeaking out a little more performance from the CPU or memory is not going to matter. Get the board that holds the CPU you want in the case you want with the ports you want. You do want to plan on running dual NICs with one dedicated to the ANAN but you can do that on a PCIE board rather than on the motherboard. Whatever you get there never seems to be enough USB ports, again that is easily solved with a PCIE card.

If you have an external USB audio interface then motherboard audio does not matter.

Compared to gaming or CAD work, Thetis puts very little demand on the GPU. For instance, I run a (now quite old) Nvidia GTX 1070 with triple 4K Displayport monitors at 30Hz. You can get one of those for $50 on Amazon and it will work fine. Anything over 60Hz is overkill for Thetis and generally Thetis will not run faster than 60Hz even on the fastest CPUs. FWIW today I would not get anything that could not support dual 4K at 60Hz over Displayport, and would prefer triple 4K support.

Go for the quietest case/cooling solution you can afford. Fan noise in the shack sucks.

If you have any old school RS-232 serial ports that need to be serviced consider getting a multiport RS-232 PCIE card.

[radiotx]

You do want to plan on running dual NICs with one dedicated to the ANAN but you can do that on a PCIE board rather than on the motherboard.

Thanks Scott! You answered all my questions in one fell swoop... but you created a new question. Do you have dual NICs - one connected to your LAN and the other direct to the ANAN? Is that to cut down on latency?

73

[w-u-2-o]

See this topic: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=4127

Remember that Wi-Fi counts as a NIC, i.e. you can use Wi-Fi for your normal network connection and the Ethernet port for the radio.

[radiotx]

See this topic: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=4127

Remember that Wi-Fi counts as a NIC, i.e. you can use Wi-Fi for your normal network connection and the Ethernet port for the radio.

Do I need to install HPSDRBootloader, or just HPSDRProgrammer, in order to set the ANAN static IP and NIC priority? It looks like the bootloader is only needed if you 'lose' your ANAN. I could be reading that wrong. Also, can I use the 'nopcap' version to make the configs?

One other question I meant to ask. With a new PC would you go with Windows 11? Or stick with 10 for now?

Thanks again!

[w-u-2-o]

Everything you need to know about Bootloader and the various versions of Programmer is in this topic:

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2333

I prefer to use Bootloader because it always works no matter what firmware you have loaded.

NIC priority is a Windows setting and has nothing to do with Bootloader or Programmer.

I'd go with Win11Pro for a new PC build.

[radiotx]

NIC priority is a Windows setting and has nothing to do with Bootloader or Programmer.

You suggested I read this topic viewtopic.php?f=22&t=4127
In that topic you posted the following, where I read about the Programmer being required. Are the instructions from W1AEX outdated now?

"In order to get your second port working you MUST follow the directions that Rob, W1AEX, has laboriously described for you here:

http://www.w1aex.com/anan/anan.html#network

You want to follow the directions for CONNECTION OPTION TWO.

If you are running Protocol 1 firmware those directions are OK as is.

If you are running Protocol 2 firmware then STEP 2 must be changed to use HPSDR Bootloader.

Are you running Protocol 1 or Protocol 2 firmware?

If you are running Protocol 2 firmware do you know how to use Bootloader?"

[w-u-2-o]

Do I need to install HPSDRBootloader, or just HPSDRProgrammer, in order to set the ANAN static IP and NIC priority?

To clarify: you don't use either of those utilities to set the Network Metric (what you called "NIC priority"). You do use them to set the ANAN IP. In a multi-NIC environment the Network Metric needs to be set properly to use those tools and that is done using the normal Windows settings facilities.

Are the instructions from W1AEX outdated now?

With respect to setting Network Metric: no.

With respect to using Bootloader: no.

With respect to using HPSDR Programmer: they are somewhat outdated because of the advent of Protocol 2 firmware since he authored that webpage.

Again, I recommend you use this link as your primary reference: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2333

[radiotx]

I recommend you use this link as your primary reference: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2333

Got it.