One was Mushkin, which was replaced with a different model Mushkin. Another was PNY, and could have been a superceding model. As I remember, Mushkin customer service was probably the better of the two. The third I'm not saying. Each of the three was 120GB.

I'm wondering if you may have been better off with a hdd.
If the drive is being used for a high level of read-writes then I think the hdd wins over the ssd.
The hdd may give 10 years of use.

I use the external ssd for read-only after anything has been downloaded.
Once I eventually install a distro to ssd I think there's TRIM and 'noatime' and other stuff we're supposed to do to lower the write cycles done by the OS.

I've read somewhere it's best to have several small size SSDs rather than one big one like my 1TB SSD.
This way if one fails you still have data on the remaining SSDs.
I'm hoping that if the 1TB SSD is used for read-only then it should last forever.

I have read all the messages to this point. I tried to advance, but my general knowledge is not adequate as I was unable to find any information on what devices the kernel is supposed to be able to support. HP's M452dw is not fully supported, but it seems that a generic driver allows the printer's basic functions. The mother board's USB 3.0 is not supported as it does not function as a USB device interface, but is useful to charge USB batteries (powers/charges mobile phone) and the batteries in mobile phones.

I thank you all for submitting comments to my question.

I thank you all for your comments and advice.

Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) hardware seems to be almost anything.

Technological improvements are always in the works. That is why I want the most recent and greatest hardware. I hope that my current desktop hardware will last a while longer as the next generation hardware should be presented soon.

My brother estimates that the duration of a product from first release to obsolescence is getting shorter. Currently it seems to be between four and seven years, depending upon the product. Just as an example, the fastest obsolescence is normal for cell phones which are routinely replaced every two years. My $75 LG Joy is still very useful and still works perfectly after six years of heavy use and three replacement batteries. It is totally obsolete and OEM sourced batteries are not available. When the original batter failed after about three years service, I purchased a salvaged replacements that usually last about a year, give or take a half year. As there are no updates, many of the newer Android applications do not function on devices using older versions of Android.

While comments are welcome and appreciated, my search will continue. In the mean time, I am backing-up the important data and have a cheap laptop to use when the desktop no longer functions. I still need to load LMDE 4 on the cheap laptop, but if the USB optical disk works, the task should not be a problem. The only other question is, "Will a SATA to USB 3 adapter work using USB 2?"

An abrupt failure would be a major problem. How much notice did you get before the failure?

I have been pricing Solid State Drives and the cost seems to be just above $100.00 per 1 TB (SK hynix Gold S31 500GB 3D NAND 2.5 inch SATA III Internal SSD - up to 560MB/s $56.99 and SAMSUNG 870 QVO SATA III 2.5" SSD 8TB (MZ-77Q8T0B) $859.81). I would be looking for the highest rates of read/write as I intend it to be my boot drive. Is the data transfer rate for read or write or both? For storage, 8 TB or 7.275 TiB should be more than adequate. The problem would be lifespan and warning before failure. You seem to have had good luck with Samsung.

SSD - Solid State Drive

I try to check out the reputation of the manufacturer before I look at the specifications of their SSD. Usually there are some that rate their experience and product reliability.

The prime specifications are Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF), TeraByte Writes (TBW), and Read and write speeds as close as possible to the SATA 3 standard of 6 Gb/s (715 MiB/s).

The read and write speeds are basic and are usually above five Gigabits per second. I will not consider anything slower unless it had a ten year full replacement warranty.

The TBW is a bit trickier, so only the best will brag about it. The number itself is not the true indicator, but divided by the size of the memory, you will calculate how many times the entire drive can be rewritten. For instance, a 2880 TBW divided by 8 TB is 360, which is the number I use for comparison as it is the number of times each bit can be toggled. A good algorithm is necessary to balance the load so that no segment will be written over more than any other. Balanced load means longer drive life. Consider the maximum possible load. A continuous stream of data at 6 Gb/s writing to the drive without pause or fail. The drive should last at least 1080 hours (45 days). At one percent of the maximum load, the SDD should last over twelve years. I would expect at least half that to account for the inefficiency of the load balancing program and other negative factors. Most SSD are warrantied from three to five years or to the TBW, whichever is less.

I have only seen the MTBF used in disk farms using standardized hard drives. MTBF predicts how long all the hard drives should last in continuous service. The tests for drive function are very sensitive, yet the MTBF usually holds true even as drives fail the test and are replaced. The publishing of the MTBF shows the confidence the manufacturer has in his product.

Finally, the support program that monitors the SSD should be Debian Linux compatible. So far, only Windows and Mac seem to have any support.

I thank you for your comments and suggestions about SSD, but I am more interested in which motherboard will be most compatible. The MSI model 970 GAMING (MS-7693) motherboard is a disappointment despite the good specifications. The analogue audio output failed, so I must rely upon a bluetooth speaker or a USB 2 headset. The USB 3 never worked except as a charging port. None of the CPU's core sensors were ever available except when in Bios. The CPU fan was replaced with the same make and model as original survived over six years of almost continuous use. Everything else still seem to be functioning normally. Actually, I expected the hard drives to fail before anything on the motherboard failed, yet even the drives salvaged from the previous computers are still functioning without problems. Of the hard drives from the old machines, only two would not spin. The rest that failed had other problems that prevented their continued use. Of the remainder, they are in service and are not showing any signs of failure. I have a few new drives to replace those that fail, but they may not be needed before I purchase or build a new desktop.

If hardware manufacturers got on their knees to support Linux distros then global giants like macOS and Windows will die.
This is because macOS and Windows costs money - and Linux doesn't.

This is a good example.
So on your Linux distro your printer won't work - but then again it will work... kinda.
It's crap like this that linux has to deal with from hardware manufacturers (who are practically owned by Apple and MS).
On the other hand your printer will work perfectly with Apple and MS.

What? Is that even legal?
You have a USB 3.0 port and you can't run a USB3 on it?
I think something's wrong here.

Yes but just after 6 months and especially due to Moore's Law - your machine will no longer be the 'most recent and greatest'.

Which is why we buy a new computer which is attuned to our personal needs (which is not necessarily the latest and greatest) yet will have new hardware which makes the computer 'future-proof' (i.e. hardware which people will be using for at least the next 10 years e.g usb3, SSD, NVMe, DDR4 RAM, most recent CPU).

You need to rely on sites giving expert opinion from testing.
Ok they're not your brother - but they should know a little bit more.

Your thread is about desktop computers and how they are compatible with the LMDE distro.
You cannot compare that with a cellphone. Or the longevity of a cellphone battery.
A Li-on battery and an SSD are two completely different devices.

Can you be more clear on this?
What is it you want to do?

But for GNU/Linux, matured hardware is better. You need to give FLOSS development at least a year to catch up with every new piece of hardware. Because - as pointed out already - Linux as an operating system is not in bed with hardware manufacturers.

What do you recommend?

I was thinking of unexpected total failure. A bit off topic, but I was tired when drafting the text.

What I am really after is recommendations for a high performance desktop computer that is going to be using the Linux Mint Debian Edition operating system either as a complete package or components that need to be assembled.

2019's top-of-the-shelf devices, all-intel if possible.

I am swimming in the morass again. There are literally hundreds of choices and the ones I explored do not seem to be Linux compatible. Others do not indicate the features I require, like how many SATA 3 ports, number of drive ports, etc. Most come with Windows which adds to the cost. I saw only one computer that comes with Ubuntu and it cost $14k.

I wish I had more time to explore, but real life priorities are demanding priority attention. Thank you for your suggestions.

This motherboard could be all the foundation you need, for a minimum of cost, unless your only display has DisplayPort only for input; can support up to 3 displays with on the CPU Intel Graphics; 6 SATA ports; 2 M.2 sockets; 4 RAM sockets; accepts PCIe graphics should you find you can't live with a CPU's Intel Graphics: https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813157864

Which CPU to choose is up to you, anything Celeron, Pentium, i3, i5, i7, i9 family for Socket 1151, $67 up past $400: https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=500011...y=1157&Order=1