Preparing new build, SSD and motherboard questions

[jack21]

Hello all.

Later this month I will be building a new machine to retire my old (and failing) 2011 machine. This time around I'm going AMD, with the Ryzen 2700 paired up with the Asus Crosshair VII x470. This machine will be doing a lot: Want Linux Mint as my primary OS hopefully being able to boot off a 1TB, Samsung NVMe SSD. I will also have another SATA SSD in the machine to hold Windows 10 for the few times it will be necessary, and then a third 1TB SATA SSD to hold various Linux distros I would like to experiment with.

1st question: Does Linux provide chipset drivers for the mobo? I see on the Asus site they only provide for Windows, but after a lot of Googling I see folks are using mobo's from various manufacturers with more or less success.

2nd question: Will Linux support booting the OS from an NVMe SSD? Must I do this under UEFI or can it be done under legacy BIOS?

3rd question: I've seen posts that current users of AMD Ryzen CPU's have had to move up to kernel 4.20 for better functionality, although Linux Mint 19.1 currently only supports 4.15. Is that a correct statement?

Thanks to all.

[ClixTrix]

The system in my sig has been in production over a year, first with Mint 18.2 Cinnamon, then 18.3, and finally Mint 19. I have Mint 19 installed to the NVMe drive with a second (really 3rd given the ESP) partition on that drive for storage of Virtual Machines including Windows 10 using VirtualBox.

1) I would expect the standard chipset drivers are there. The only point to check is whether any integrated hardware, like wifi or bluetooth, needs a driver that's is not bundled. You might search that motherboard here and Ubuntu for any known problems.

2) I'm installed to the NVMe using EFI System and boot it every day for work. I did not try legacy Bios method, so can't advise.

3) Kernel 4.15 is very stable and have been using that Kernel since last spring with Mint 18.3 and now Mint 19 on my Ryzen 1600. Prior to that, I did use the Mainline 4.14 kernel. The problems I've seen requiring newer kernel are tied to Ryzens with integrated GPU, like the 2200G. That appears to require kernel 4.17 or better, according to some postings I've followed. FYI....the Ubuntu 4.18 kernel was recently added as available in Update Manager under View - Linux Kernels. That's not an LTS kernel, like 4.15. HWE updates for 4.15 should be coming. I would honestly stick with 4.15 unless you discover a problem requiring a newer kernel.

[jack21]

The system in my sig has been in production over a year, first with Mint 18.2 Cinnamon, then 18.3, and finally Mint 19. I have Mint 19 installed to the NVMe drive with a second partition on that drive for storage of Virtual Machines including Windows 10 using VirtualBox.
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Well that's very good information. Thanks for responding and replying with all that detail!

[ClixTrix]

You're welcome. Just be carefully on which GPU you select. Look for posts and problems.

[jack21]

You're welcome. Just be carefully on which GPU you select. Look for posts and problems.

I've been giving that a lot of consideration. I'm a light gamer (don't have the time to game with work and kids anymore). Mostly with DCS flight/WWII sims. For cost reasons I was thinking of the Radeon RX580 or something along those lines. Also saw a YouTube video the other day suggesting that Linux (at least the Ubuntu fork) may integrate full AMD drivers into the kernel this year, which pushes me towards AMD even more. Guess time will tell.