First attempt at building, help and advice please?

Teutorix

Ok, so I'm considering building a new PC but I dont really know where to start.

All i know so far is that i want;
Not to exceed 900-1000 euro
Decent processing power
Good RAM, 2GB at least
A good graphics card 512MB at least
And i need all parts to have drivers for Linux

Solitaire

Why the graphics card? Are you gaming?! But you said the "Linux" word...

Give us a better description of your requirements, especially if you're not using a Microsoft OS (as it lets you cut a fair bit of the fat from the build )

Teutorix

Well I want a dual install, but you just leave the software issues to me. Lets just say I know my way around software especially the bits the programmers dont expect the end users to find know about I have what we will call, a "shady" trick for avoiding registration of a certain OS.

Basically i want a fairly up to date gaming rig. I use linux for everything else. But the linux drivers come in handy for running games through WINE, i currently have the full dawn of war collection running in WINE, took a little fiddleing but i got there.
Oh i also need it to have a wireless network card.
And a spacious HDD

requiem1

Okay I'd normally put one together and post it up but I'll just give you some guidelines,

For large storage, Samsung F1 drives are great throw two in Raid 0 and you're set. Those'll cost you around 140 euro

Ram: you can pick up 4gigs for next to nothing, I got 4gigs of OCZ Reaper 8500 for 48 euro last week.

Processor wise, the i7 probably isn't worth the price tag associated with it right now and for gaming it offers no considerable improvement over current core2duo's and quads. If you can get your hands on a Q6600 Slacr that was a great overclocker and other wise pick up an intel core 2 quad. This can set you back anywhere from 150 to 200.

I'm a bit of a fan of asus boards so I'd strongly advise getting one. as for the model number i don't know off the top of my head but i think the P5Q Deluxe is a great board. ~170 euro

Graphics all depends on your needs, alot of reviews recently are pointing towards the 4770 as a good mid range card that performs excellently when you pair it in crossfire. one of these will set you back 80 - 100

PSU stick with corsair or seasonic.

Case wise is at your discretion, but cases by antec such as the 300 and 1200 have amazing airflow

Best of luck

Teutorix

Thanks, but one question.

Cheap RAM v. DDR3 SDRAM
Is it worth it?

Solitaire

Not an issue as only certain platforms support DDR3. And yes, DDR3 is nice, and no longer that much more expensive than DDR2, but the increased platform cost is a major issue - the only Core2 mobos that support DDR3 are horribly overpriced X48s, i7s X58 supports only low-voltage triple-channel kits and the CPU+mobo price is horrific. The only platform that enables affordable DDR3 builds is AM3. So if you go AM2 or any Core2 chipset except X48 then you're stuck with DDR2 anyway.

Crossfired HD4770s is sweet (and completely evil when overclocked - can't wait for someone to seize control of the GDDR5 VRegs ), but bear in mind there's no open-source drivers yet and current Linux Catalyst drivers don't like it much - official support will only come with Linux Catalyst 9.5

Teutorix

the one thing i will say for the ati graphics cards is, they are probably my no.1 choice, AMD has ordered ATI to get linux friendly to widen the market. So in the comming year or next Radeon technology should be linux compatible out of the box.

Nevidia cards have numerous problems in linux. Well alot of them do, but most ati cards run fine. I will definitly run all parts by the ubuntu forum experts first. A very helpful bunch of people.

requiem1

Solitaire wrote: »

Not an issue as only certain platforms support DDR3. And yes, DDR3 is nice, and no longer that much more expensive than DDR2, but the increased platform cost is a major issue - the only Core2 mobos that support DDR3 are horribly overpriced X48s, i7s X58 supports only low-voltage triple-channel kits and the CPU+mobo price is horrific. The only platform that enables affordable DDR3 builds is AM3. So if you go AM2 or any Core2 chipset except X48 then you're stuck with DDR2 anyway.

Crossfired HD4770s is sweet (and completely evil when overclocked - can't wait for someone to seize control of the GDDR5 VRegs ), but bear in mind there's no open-source drivers yet and current Linux Catalyst drivers don't like it much - official support will only come with Linux Catalyst 9.5

+1

Avoid x48 based motherboards and ddr3, theres no need for it on socket 775. A P45 based board is all you need with some good overclockers ram and you'll have a lightning fast system

godskitchen

requiem1 wrote: »

Okay I'd normally put one together and post it up but I'll just give you some guidelines,

For large storage, Samsung F1 drives are great throw two in Raid 0 and you're set. Those'll cost you around 140 euro



Best of luck

I could not disagree more with that, well I could but anyway.......Do not Raid 0 two platter based hard drives, one of them will go wrong at some stage, it could be 5 years, it could be 2 weeks down the line.....take it from experience.

requiem1

godskitchen wrote: »

I could not disagree more with that, well I could but anyway.......Do not Raid 0 two platter based hard drives, one of them will go wrong at some stage, it could be 5 years, it could be 2 weeks down the line.....take it from experience.

Well i've given up on data integrity and backing up your data in RAID 1 configurations as based on your theory that the hard drive will eventually fail it could be the mirror drive in a RAID 1 that fails.

RAID 0 gives the performance and speed people are looking for and if they feel protective of their data they should back up on a regular basis to an external hard drive or NAS and not just rely on RAID 1.

Also what do you mean by platter based hard drives? are you highlighting the point that most large capacity drives use multiple platters because realistically the majority of hard drives have more than one platter. Also he's looking for large capacity so there really isn't much other options

Teutorix

i dont think i would need to use RAID, linux can access multiple drives and partitions quite easily from what i know. And Ive seen many computers RAID 0 configurations go down the toilet after collapsing.

Solitaire

Just keep regular backups of documents, saved games etc. Everything you don't have a hardcopy for. Yes, its annoying having to reinstall and/or rerip everything when things go tits-up but its better than watching a wee RAID meltdown. If you're both lazy and paranoid get a second identical HDD and only use it to maintain a clone of the first for those rainy days...

On another note I wonder what's causing all these high-capacity HDD failures lately...

Teutorix

Probably manufacturers cutting corners, explains the price drop in recent times too.

HD discs can be recovered anyways cant they?

requiem1

Solitaire wrote: »

Just keep regular backups of documents, saved games etc. Everything you don't have a hardcopy for. Yes, its annoying having to reinstall and/or rerip everything when things go tits-up but its better than watching a wee RAID meltdown. If you're both lazy and paranoid get a second identical HDD and only use it to maintain a clone of the first for those rainy days...

On another note I wonder what's causing all these high-capacity HDD failures lately...

Some high capacity hard drives are a combination of multiple smaller capacity platter so 1TB can be 4x250GB platters or even more than that. When you have multiple platters it can be like having 4x250GB hard drives running in raid and that means a higher probability of failure