I recently tried running Qubes on my laptop with 8GB of RAM, and while it was okay, I found myself pretty limited in what I could do. I’m looking to buy a new PC that can run Qubes smoothly, but I’m quite new to this and not sure what to look for or what to avoid. One thing’s for sure, I don’t want another laptop.
I consider myself a bit of a techie, but with Qubes, I feel a bit out of my depth. I’m definitely open to learning, but I realized there were a lot of things I didn’t know when I first installed it and started reading the forum, like Intel’s Management Engine or the fact that I wouldn’t be able to use a GPU. I’m really unsure about what configuration to choose for the new PC to avoid ending up in a situation where I might have already bought it, only to find it doesn’t support some of the features I want. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I don’t want to get into too many details, but it’s a bit tricky for me geographically when it comes to where to buy from and what to choose. I want to be realistic. I was thinking about the following configuration:
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
MSI PRO Z890-P WI-FI 7
DDR5 6400MHz 2x32GB
M.2 PCIe 2TB SSD
850 Power Supply (EU)
Be Quiet! case
GPU ?
Cooling ?
You can use a GPU, it’s just a lot more complicated than on Windows or Linux.
I have used multiple MSI motherboards, two Intel (Z690, Z790) and one AMD (X670e), they have all worked with Qubes OS without any issues. That said, I don’t know if the Z890 will work.
For cooling, I’m using a 420mm AIO water cooler. I have tried high-end air coolers like the Noctau D15, but they can be difficult to install, and they seem more noisy to me.
I’m not really impressed with what Nitro PC has to offer when it comes to their PCs. They have older specs, very strict configurations that are quite limited, and the pricing is higher than what I can find for the same configuration elsewhere.
I’m feeling quite uncertain about this. I’ve read a lot on the forum about how many people haven’t succeeded with it, and the hardware configurations appear to be one of the key factors.
These boards are designed for older CPUs, and they’re hard to find now.
Yes, the noise and having a proper cooling system are really important issues for me as well. I’ve actually never had one of these cooling systems with a display. From what I understand, I would need a proper driver for them. Does that mean I would have to install it in the dom0, potentially compromising security?
You might think I’m being picky, and that’s because I am! I’m looking for specific details, but I also need a general idea of how to choose what I need. As I mentioned earlier, I don’t have much knowledge on many related topics, and I want to avoid making any hardware mistakes. At the same time, I really don’t want to overpay for something that won’t meet my needs or that feels questionable.
Be specific and forthcoming about exactly what features you want and need so we can provide better suggestions and save time. Otherwise, here is another generic recommendation:
It has become a lot easier to get GPU pass-through working, but it is still complicated. You are right about it depends on the hardware, I have been using my systems with integrated graphics for dom0 and 1 or 2 GPUs for pass-through, so I can say for sure it’s not impossible to get it working.
You are right about the Intel boards only support last gen Intel CPUs, but I’m using the x670e with a current gen AMD 9950X.
I’m using a Liquid Freezer III from Arctic, it doesn’t have a display, doesn’t need any drivers, and it’s fairly cheap.
It comes in different sizes, 420mm being that largest radiator you can get. It gives very good thermal dissipation and low fan speed, but it also requires a much larger chassis than 280mm or 360mm radiator.
Well, that’s part of the issue, isn’t it? If it weren’t specific to Qubes, I would just go with the specs I mentioned earlier and choose one of NVIDIA’s GPUs that suits my needs, along with some cooling. But from what I understand, Qubes doesn’t work on a lot of hardware, and even when it does, there are many hardware-related issues due to various software and hardware factors.
Also, how am I supposed to know what features I need if I’m not quite sure yet? I gave examples above, like the Intel Management System, and if I were to go with AMD, I wouldn’t be able to do anything with AMD’s equivalent.
It’s really about making sure it will work. After all, spending money on a GPU just to see if it might work doesn’t seem very practical to me.
I want to stick with Intel for various reasons, but if AMD would be an easier or more suitable option (is it?), I would definitely consider it. From what I understand, Dasharo is the only one that guarantees the outcome (or something like that), but it doesn’t work with AMD.
Oh, I looked into the other options. Got it, thanks! I’ll add that to my list.
So, just picking the latest CPU (Core Ultra 7) and a suitable motherboard (Z890-P) could cause issues with Qubes? What are the guidelines for choosing these, if not to rely on older practical examples from others? The only thing that comes to mind is Fedora’s support for those hardware components (like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.)
I’ve tried both Intel and AMD, I personally like AMD more because of the symmetric cores. That said, Intel wasn’t a worse user experience in terms of running Qubes OS.
It’s mostly the motherboard you need to worry about, until someone has confirmed Qubes OS is working there is no way to know for sure. I don’t think there are any guidelines, you can use the HCL to get and idea about what vendors has worked with prior chipsets.
If you want to know for sure it’s going to work, buy hardware that is confirmed to be working.
What are these needs you continue to refer to without explicitly defining at least one use case?
Documentation:
You are not being clear about whether you want/need Intel ME or not.
Depends on your use case, including security needs:
If AMD is still under consideration, read the documentation as suggested above, then carefully weigh your options.
What outcome (or something like that)?
Yes, but only if the configuration has been untested:
In this case, currently there are no HCL reports about any Z890-P motherboard or similar, so you would be taking a risk even if you were already an existing Qubes OS user with installation experience.
Hey!
I am thinking about building a pc for qubes with this cpu/mobo as well and im also troubled about weather such a configuration would work or not.
So i would be very glad if you shared any info about how your setup did with qubes if you decide to go through with it, or generally any info about what you decided to do with this matter.
Any help would be very useful
Thanks