Hi - I wish to move my Core from my iMac to a dedicated machine. I can pick-up the below quite cheap - what would be the best OS to run on it to get the best performance?
I’d probably upgrade to SSD for the OS
Core Machine (Operating system/System info/Roon build number)
Intel Core i5-3470 3.2Ghz CPU
4GB Ram
250GB Harddrive
DVD-RW Drive
Windows 10 pro preloaded
RJ45 Network
8x USB2.0 Sockets
1x PCI Expansion Slot
1x PCI-Express x16 Slot
Linux /10chars
For using exclusively to run Roon, then lose the Windows and use ROCK.
However, I’m not sure about having only 4GB of RAM, ROCK or not. Memory is dirt cheap right now, you may want to consider 8GB.
If you go with ROCK, just a couple of things:
Technically, the Intel NUC is the motherboard for it. The CPU is certainly good enough, but this might install just a bit differently than a typical NUC. I wouldn’t worry too much about that, but know it could be the case. A lot of people install ROCK on a lot of other motherboards (see “Tinkering” section).
You certainly need to upgrade memory to SSD for the ROCK OS.
I’m pretty sure the DVD drive will be inoperative with ROCK. But you can now plug in a USB CD drive if you need to rip CDs.
What are you calling ‘cheap’? Once you add in the cost of the SSD (~$100) and some RAM, a similar NUC might be comparable in cost.
Cheers for info - these are the costs
£60 for PC (eBay refurb)
£19 for 120gb SSD
£7 for 4gb RAM (eBay again)
£86 total
I think that’s a bit cheaper than an NUC - I want this to be headless - how do I add ripped files from my desktop Mac to the ROCK attached storage?
That’s easy. You map the ROCK internal storage disk to your network like any other disk. Then drag and drop.
So to install ROCK I follow the NUC guide as best I can?
Yes, that should work.
The only problem I can see is the possible need to update BIOS.
First, try it without BIOS update.
Also, before you spend money on an SSD, try it on your HDD, as a test of the entire ROCK concept on your particular machine.
Your machine is out of the normal NUC (and really old), so that’s why I counsel some experimenting before you make any big purchases.
https://kb.roonlabs.com/ROCK:_Getting_Started
BTW - your i5 is from 2012. In the computer world that’’s antediluvian.
I’ve run ROCK on less capable h/w without issue, several in fact, none were NUC, just don’t expect upsampling or extensive PEQ to work well. Extensions don’t run on ROCK so keep that in mind.
There’s a 2019 BIOS update that “Provides latest Intel Microcode versions 0x21 for Ivy Bridge processors and 0x2F for Sandy Bridge processors.”
I’ll update to that I suppose?
I wouldn’t bother/risk it. Just load ROCK. If you encounter issues, then consider updating BIOS and/or adjusting settings.
Setting BIOS to defaults is a good idea if you’ve ever been in there messing about…
Depending on the size of your library, 4GB may be enough, try it before spending money on very old tech, same with disk drive.
If Rock doesn’t run I’ll still use the machine to run Linux Core - I just need something to off-load my Core too
If it’s an Intel based chipset, ROCK should run fine. It used to run on my 4th gen i7 custom built pc ok before I upgraded my machine. I could upsample up to dsd128 no problems on that to. Nothing lost if it’s doesn’t mind you’ll know after a minute or so. If it all goes through at install then your all ok.
Good news so far. Unit arrived and I’ve managed to install Rock onto the HDD and I can see Core on the network and on control devices.
Next to install SSD run a test and see how best to move media from OS X Core to ROCK
Easiest way is to put all music on to a USB HDD and plug that into ROCK, restore database and edit your music folder to point to new music storage.
It looks like ROCK recognises at least one of my OSX formatted USB drives so that’s good
I’ve installed the SSD and am restoring a backup so here’s hoping
The SSD wouldn’t boot when the old HDD was also present - kernel panics or something
It’s a shame - it would be nice to have an internal drive for media
Hmm, kernel panic usually occurs when the OS can’t find a file it needs to initialize.
You should be able to have both an SSD for the OS and a HDD for the music files. Don’t give up.
Try reformatting the HDD.
So I’ll need a bootable Linux USB stick to be able to format the internal HDD?
It’s currently formatted as ROCK
OK ,so what happened is that you put ROCK on the HDD as test and when that worked you put ROCK on an SSD for real use, but the HDD also still has ROCK on it.
I would disconnect the HDD (you’ve probably already done that) and bring up ROCK with SSD (you’ve probably already done that). Drop ROCK, leave the SSD as boot drive (as it probably is now), reconnect HDD and bring ROCK backup
The kernel panic is because of a missing file. Maybe this approach will clear it out.
If ROCK does come up then reformat the HDD to get rid of any old ROCK installs.
I’ll tag @support, they’ll have more insight.
That’s pretty much it - I also swapped the SSD to SATA 0 and HDD onto SATA 1 but still got kernel shizzle so disconnected the HDD and now I’m happy with SSD but unsure how to format HDD?