There doesn’t seem to be a category for custom desktop builds. Is it because Roon doesn’t want competition for the Nucleus? There has to be plenty of users who prefer to run the server off their desktop. My FLAC collection needs over 8TB now, so I’m getting ready to start ordering parts for my second build (first was in 2018, which has worked perfectly until recently).
I still have time to make tweaks if anyone has suggestions. But please don’t bug me about doing a Raid 10 setup. I had a nightmare experience with that, and have had no problems simply keeping a couple external drives for daily backups. I’ll be upgrading to M2 PCIe SSDs for faster performance and indexing, as 300,000 files tend to choke my older rig.
If I was building a desktop strictly as a Roon server I would use something like this SilentPC. Their price is not bad though you could probably just use their specifications to build your own. I’ve got the same unit that’s about five years old and it works flawlessly as a daily PC. I can imagine it would work great with a largish collection as a Roon server.
I’m not so sure about that. Roon Server running on Windows, MacOS, Linux or on a NAS can be discusssed in the Roon Software Discussion category. Conventional installations on all of these platforms are supported and support requests can be sent to the Nucleus Support
In addition, there is a complete category for Linux for talking about Roon on Linux installs.
Between them, I would have though that Roon installs on Desktop PC builds are covered without having to resort to Tinkering
This. Building your own computer, running Windows or Linux and Roonserver are all supported environments. What is NOT supported is building your own PC and running ROCK; that is Tinkering.
Why? Because Roon built ROCK to work on the specified hardware and only includes drivers for that hardware and there is no way for a user to update those or add new drivers. ROCK is meant to streamline support, so that support knows and has experience with the specified hardware and doesn’t have to go through hoops with a ton of different computer configurations.
Can you try to run ROCK on a self built PC, sure. Will it work, maybe. Can you ask for official support if something goes wrong, no you would ask in Tinkering.
Why does everyone seem vaguely snippy here? Yes I did find that thread, looked to me just photos showing off people’s audio systems.
What I’m looking for is some friendly geeks who might have opinions on the right balance of speed/power for a CPU and matching motherboard, but not overkill (e.g. not one that is excessively expensive and runs hot). I’m not a gamer, just 100% music geek with a website about music. And I live in central TX, where in the peak of summer, our AC struggles to keep it under 82 in afternoons when it’s well over 100 outside.
I THINK I probably have a good combo, but there didn’t seem to be any ROON users at the PCPartspickers forum.
Full specs that were linked in original post:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 4.5 GHz 8-Core Processor ($244.49 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($38.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock X670E Pro RS ATX AM5 Motherboard ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($88.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: TEAMGROUP EX2 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($50.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44L 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($56.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Silicon Power UD90 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($203.99 @ Newegg Sellers)
Storage: Silicon Power UD90 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($203.99 @ Newegg Sellers)
Storage: Silicon Power UD90 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($203.99 @ Newegg Sellers)
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda Pro Compute 12 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($197.15 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: MSI MAG A750GL PCIE5 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($91.12 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($29.71 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Home Retail - USB 64-bit ($134.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua P14s redux-1200 PWM 64.92 CFM 140 mm Fan ($16.95 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua P14s redux-1200 PWM 64.92 CFM 140 mm Fan ($16.95 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua P14s redux-1200 PWM 64.92 CFM 140 mm Fan ($16.95 @ Amazon)
Total: $1881.13
The OS would run on the 1TB M2 drive, backed up daily to the 2.5" SSD, and the music on the 3x4TB M2s would back up daily both to the internal 12TB HDD and an external drive.
That looks like a nice option for someone where desktop/floor space is limited. It only has 2 M2 slots though, and I need more. I think my config offers a lot more for similar $, but thanks for sharing!
If Roon didn’t want competition for the Nucleus, why would they spend time and money on releasing ROCK as direct competition to the Nucleus, as well as the Roon server for Windows, Mac, and Linux?
There’s probably no category because this isn’t a general PC building forum, but plenty of such discussions exist in Roon Software Discussion. Ask away.
I used to build PCs as a kid. A fanless PC is very easy to build nowadays. You have a lot of options from Noctua, Cooler Master, Streacom, HDPlex. My next fanless build will be with a Noctua fanless cooler and a LianLi A3 case.
I suggest that instead of sitting around and complaining, you should go out and build a solution for yourself. Roon has nothing to do with your decision.
