Migrating My CNC Machine Controller to a Dedicated Linux PC and Hardware Selecti

I have been running my small hobby CNC router on a older Windows based controller setup for about three years and the decision to finally move to LinuxCNC has been sitting on my to do list for longer than I care to admit. Last month I committed to making the switch and what I assumed would be a straightforward hardware selection process has turned into a surprisingly deep rabbit hole.The core challenge is that LinuxCNC is uniquely sensitive to hardware in ways that most Linux installations simply are not. Latency performance from the hardware directly affects how cleanly the software can generate step pulses and a machine that runs Linux perfectly for general use can produce completely unacceptable latency numbers for CNC control work. I learned this the hard way after pulling an old Core i5 desktop from storage that I assumed would be more than adequate and running the latency test only to get numbers that would cause real issues at the feed rates I want to run.Motherboard and CPU combination selection seems to matter enormously with certain chipsets producing dramatically better latency results than others and the documentation around which specific hardware combinations are known good versus problematic is scattered across forum threads spanning years with no single consolidated reference that feels current.I have also been going back and forth on whether a parallel port based setup or a Mesa FPGA card approach makes more sense for my specific machine. The Mesa route offloads the timing critical work to dedicated hardware which should make the host PC hardware selection less critical but adds cost and complexity I was hoping to avoid initially.Been sourcing and comparing compatible hardware options through www.amazon.com/ and found some information about the performace of different components and found these components on reasonable price at Link removed alongside a few other places and the pricing on suitable older Intel platforms that the LinuxCNC community tends to recommend has been reasonable enough to make dedicated controller hardware financially sensible rather than repurposing whatever is available.Has anyone recently gone through hardware selection for a LinuxCNC build and found specific motherboard and CPU combinations that consistently pass the latency test without extensive tuning?

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