Re: Debian hardware compatibility

[Ben Caradoc-Davies <ben@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 19/04/17 19:52, John Elliot V wrote:
> I'm getting a new workstation. Proposed specs are here:
>  https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/7MCfjc
> I tried to find out if my new hardware would run Debian stable, but
> couldn't confirm.
> CPU is Intel Core i7-7700K on an Asus STRIX Z270F mobo. I'm planning to
> drive two monitors from the onboard graphics controller, one via DVI the
> other via HDMI.
> Will Debian (w/ KDE Plasma) run on my new kit, does anybody know?
> Cheers,
> John.

Both your 7th generation Kaby Lake and the previous 6th generation 
Skylake have serious problems with older kernels such as the 3.16.39 in 
jessie, especially with integrated graphics. Older kernels also likely 
lack support for the i219v ethernet adapter on this board (but it is on 
the e1000e module support list for later kernels). You can get 4.9.18 
from backports, but why not just install stretch from RC3? stretch is 
close to release.

HD 630 iGPU is working fine for me with XFCE on an i7 7700 with one HDMI 
output on 4.9.18-1 amd64. I am on sid, but stretch has the same kernel. 
I purged xserver-xorg-video-intel because the modesetting driver is 
preferred for modern hardware.

Asus UEFI BIOS (H110I-PLUS BIOS 3202) defaults to incorrect turbo boost 
multipliers but I was able to manually set the correct "Per CPU" values 
in the BIOS. For a 7700K, these should be 45/44/44/44 if you are not 
overclocking (base clock 100MHz):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaby_Lake

Kind regards,

--
Ben Caradoc-Davies <ben@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Director
Transient Software Limited <http://transient.nz/>
New Zealand