<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Nov 5, 2017, at 1:13 PM, Jonathan Morton <<a href="mailto:chromatix99@gmail.com" class="">chromatix99@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><div class=""><p dir="ltr" class="">I'm currently using an AMD APU system on an AsRock mini-ITX board as my primary computer. That happened to come with Atheros network hardware, both wired and wireless.</p><p dir="ltr" class="">With a little effort, it could be squeezed into a very small case indeed, and the major components can probably be found on clearance since the Ryzen release. APUs' CPU cores are hardly state of the art, but quick enough for this sort of job and sometimes very cheap indeed.</p><p dir="ltr" class="">The m/board model I have is FM2A88X-ITX+. Note that the later "/ac" model goes back to a Realtek wired chipset. If you can stand a larger form factor, the FM2A88M Extreme4+ R2.0 is another option to compare on price, though it doesn't come with a wifi card.</p><p dir="ltr" class="">In the current AsRock lineup for the AM4 socket, it appears that some models in their Fatal1ty line use Intel NICs. Pair one of those with a Bristol Ridge APU for now, and you'll be able to upgrade to Zen based Raven Ridge APUs, expected to be easily twice as fast, when they become available.</p></div></blockquote></div>Thanks for that info. As for my primary computer, I’m thinking about what I’m going to do when my MBP’s mainboard finally goes. I like the hardware and CPU, but this is its third mainboard (twice for graphics faults), they’re not even selling replacements anymore and it’s probably only a matter of time. Since right now I’m mainly only using vim and the Go compiler, I don’t even need what I have, or a new MBP with a "touch bar", so I may look for a system like this.<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">As far as a test box though, I think (hope) that I can get away with less hardware than this. Although, as mentioned I’m now thinking of running the Flent client and server on the same box (usually testing through point-to-point connections and router boxes), and for that, more than 2 cores would probably help. I see your point that the hardware you mentioned can be had relatively cheaply, so I’ll compare this with what I’m already looking at.</div></body></html>