Need Suggestions for Linux-compatible Budget Box

init6

init6

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 26, 2002
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First, I have to admit that I'm a bit rusty on the hardware front. The last machine I built was back in '04 (a Barton-core AthlonXP). I've been an AMD guy for a long time, and still am, but if the new Core Duos are really smoking the AMD64s, at a similar price point, then I have no problems going with Intel.

I'd like to be able to play some games with this, but nothing major. I play mostly WW2 FPS games and the like, not so much the Quake or UT type games. If I can game, cool, if not, no big deal.

I need to go from the ground up here, with keyboard, mouse and monitor. And most important of all, I need the hardware to be Linux compatible (ideally I'd like to be able to have a Linux/Vista dual-boot). I would be using Linux, probably Ubuntu or maybe Debian itself, or perhaps a Fedora distro, for daily use and development work, booting into Windows solely to mess around and/or play games.

I'd like to set a budget ceiling of about $800 for this, but we can go $800 without monitor (if I can do both for $800 I'll be very happy). I'll be purchasing the parts just after Christmas, as I hope to leverage some holiday money into this, which may increase my budget a few hundred dollars. Target is $800 but if I can get a much better machine for ~$1000, feel free to recommend going that high.

I decided to ask first rather than posting a "Here's what I want to get" thread for the simple fact that I'm not sure what's widely compatible with Linux on the desktop front - I've been using nothing but laptops since March 2005 and I'm dying to get a decent desktop again. So I'm pretty rusty/ignorant on videocards, mainboard chipsets and the like right now, though I'll be educating myself on various websites over the next six weeks.

Thanks in advance! :cool:
 
Most mainstream hardware seems compatible with Linux these days. I recently built a HTPC with an AMD Opteron and the s939 GeForce 6150 motherboards. I use a wireless keyboard and mouse and the onboard sound. It took a bit for me to set up in Linux, but that is probably because I don't know much about Linux. If you are interested in the full specs, let me know and I will look it up.

One thing I have heard is that the driver support for NVIDIA is better than ATI/AMD in Linux, though I have used both without incident. If you plan to use the more 'advanced' features of the video card in Linux. (I.E. TV out, etc...) I would recommend an NVIDIA based video card.

Oh, and it seems that the Core2 is faster than the AMD chips these days, so I would recommend going with one of those.
 
Here's what I've been messing around with on Newegg so far:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Retail - $218.50
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 mainboard - $146.99
BFG Tech GeForce 7600GT 256MB - $143.99
WD Caviar SE16 250GB - $74.99
Lite-On DVD-ROM - $18.99
Lite-On DVD burner - $30.99
Hanns-G 19" Widescreen - $209.99 ($199.99 w/ $10 MIR)

This lot comes to $834.44

As you can see, I don't even have RAM yet, much less a case, good PSU or any peripherals.

Cost-cutting measures are extremely welcome, as are personal favorites. If I can get the processor price down and still go Core 2 Duo (which I'd like to do), then we may be in business. If I can't do <$1100 shipped, I'm in a bad spot, but I don't want a garbage videocard, either.
 
Do you really need two optical drives? just curious. Well, I came up with the following:

$180 - Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz
$100 - Foxconn P9657AA-8KS2H Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express (review)
$100 - Wintec AMPO 1GB (2x512MB) DDR2-800 (1.8v) 3AMD2800-1G1K-R
$115 - BFG Tech BFGR76256GTOCE Geforce 7600GT 256MB ($145 - $30MIR)
$75 - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250620AS 250GB 7200RPM SATA300 16MB Cache
$55 - COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver w/ Side Window
$50 - XClio GOODPOWER 500W ATX 500W
$30 - NEC 18X DVD±R DVD Burner 7170A-0B
$24 - LITE-ON Combo Drive SOHC-5236V BK RTL (black)
===========
$730 + tax and shipping (after rebates)

Though, if you could afford it, I'd strongly suggest getting 2GB of RAM:
$200 - CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-667 VS2GBKIT667D2
$210 - G.SKILL 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-800 F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ

If you don't like the Foxconn, the S3 is pretty much the same as the DS3. All 3 boards overclock nicely:
$116 - Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express

Dell had the E207WFP on sale for $221, but I think that deal is expired already. You could wait for another one... and it should be coming soon, since black friday is comin up. Here's some other monitor choices:
$265 - ViewSonic VG2021m Black 20" 8ms LCD
$260 - BenQ FP202W Black 20.1" 8ms Widescreen LCD
$190 - Hanns·G JC-199DPB Black 19" 8ms LCD
$190 - Acer AL1916WAbd Black 19" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD

Also, a better vidcard would be good if you game alot or game on a high resolution monitor:
$160 - eVGA 256-P2-N624-AR GeForce 7900GS 256MB
$205 - eVGA 256-P2-N584-AR Geforce 7900GT 256MB ($225 - $20)

Oh yah, and if you want better overclocking results, get an aftermarket HSF, like the Tuniq Tower, Tt Big Typhoon, Scythe Ninja Plus, etc. The E6300 can OC almost as high as the E6400, so since you're on a tight budget, I'd recommend goin that route.
$40 - Scythe SCNJ-1100P 120mm CPU HSF
$6 - Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound 3.5g

KB and mouse, you're on your own, hehe. Its really just personal preference. I use the MS Ergonomic 4000 and an intellipoint 3.0 optical mouse.
 
Enginurd, you're a wonderful human being! See, since dual core didn't even exist the last time I was in front of a desktop PC (and the one I use at work is a new Celeron) that I'd built. So it's ok, performance-wise, to have a sub-2GHz proc? I would be fine with an OEM proc, but Newegg only had two older ones.

This E6300 is a fairly decent OCer? I OC'd my last processor pretty seriously and I'd like to do the same with this one as long as stability doesn't become an issue.

Noise is going to be an issue, I should mention that. So I can't have a 120mm fan going at 12000rpm all night. ;)

Anyway, lots of food for thought, thank you! I need something to get me through the next year, at which point I should have my degree and at least be seeking decently-paid employment...then I can buy what I actually want!
 
Linux hardware support has come a long way, you can't really go wrong on most systems. For audio support, the best option is probably to pick up a cheap Audigy card that has hardware mixing support or just use the onboard audio if it works fine enough for your purposes. Everything else you are fine if you pick anything nvidia (not to say there arn't other great options out there). NVidia motherboard chipsets as well as video cards are very well supported under Linux. If you really think you are going to have a hard time finding working hardware, and just want to tinker around with Linux on the side, run VMWare or something.
 
Performance-wise, a Core2Duo will outperform any AMD counterpart right now, stock or OC'd. Here's some reading material:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2802&p=4
As you can see, though its <2Ghz, it outperforms an X2 4200+ and performs on par with a Pent. EE 965 3.7Ghz. Now, that E6300 can reach 2.59Ghz on stock cooling with 1.4v (stable)... which would outperform an FX-62 @ 2.8Ghz. So you could get $700 stock performance from overclocking a $180 CPU. :D C2D's are crazy overclockers. Just check out the Intel CPU Subforum to get an idea of how well these CPUs OC. The E6300 has an avg gain of 1.3Ghz amongst [H]ard members.

Silence is golden. The CM Centurion 5 isnt too bad:
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2187&p=10

nor is the ninja:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article251-page4.html
Though that is the older Scythe Ninja, the new one is improved. I think 1,200 RPM is rather quiet at <25dBA. (Its not 12000 RPM, hehe)

When you get that paycheck, go for an Antec P180B, SOLO, Sonata, P150, or something similar for silence. The CM Stacker is pretty quiet, too.
 
Alright, my fears have been assuaged on the Linux-compatibility front. I was planning to go Nvidia anyway, so no worries there. I won't just be tinkering with Linux, it'll be my daily OS, but I don't want to dick around with trying to get games to run under Linux if I can just reboot into XP or Vista. I'll probably end up triple-booting OS X, Linux and Vista if/when I can afford a new iMac as well.

And if the Foxconn has similar performance as the Gigabyte, I'm cool. I really don't care that much about features, since I won't be using SATA RAID, most likely, and I don't need loads of bells and whistles. Two NICs would be nice, but one is fine, although I may end up having to use Wi-Fi (I know, but what can I do?).

What's making it worse is that I don't have any spare parts of any kind anymore. I moved to Russia the middle of 2005 and just came back in July of this year, so I got rid of everything I owned, especially the mounds of PSUs I had and my computer cases. What I did save, and left at my parents' house, was given away without my knowledge while I was abroad.

Hence, I'm starting from scratch. I don't even have a mouse or a keyboard left over!

But I'll read through the links (thanks again), cruise around Anandtech again in my spare time, and "re-educate" myself. Hardware underwent some pretty radical changes in my "absence" with dual-core procs and SLI reappearing but I'm confident I can adjust! ;)

I'd just like to get a mainboard, at the very least, that I can upgrade the processor on when I do begin raking in the bucks once more (I miss the 90s). But for now, I'm skipping the processors that cost more than my entire budget! Same with the vidcard, but that should be straightforward enough if I get a PCI-X board, yes?
 
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