Hi-

I'm a semi-noob looking to build my first Linux machine. I've been a Mac OS X power-user (I guess) for a while, and use Red Hat at work, so I'm pretty comfortable with Unixy command-line stuff. I've also assembled Linux machines from parts before, though only in situations where I wasn't the one selecting the components. Hence the "semi-noob" part.

So I come here seeking advice, comments, and/or recommendations (have been lurking a little and seems like good place with friendly, helpful people). And I've got a bunch of questions, so please bear with me here.

My plans for the machine in question are some light-duty serving (NFS, probably httpd, maybe FTP), general dinking around with Linux, and possibly becoming my day-to-day computer (my G4 Powerbook's getting a little old). I've downloaded and burned install discs for four distributions (Ubuntu Feisty, Fedora 7, CentOS 5, and openSUSE 10.2) that I plan on trying out and hopefully settling on one I prefer. (And after reading some posts here I'm in the process of adding Knoppix to that list.)

Currently (tentatively) planned hardware is as follows:
Antec Sonata III case (with Antec Earthwatts 500W PSU)
Intel E6750 Core 2 Duo
Asus P5KC motherboard (P35 chipset)
2 x 1GB OCZ PC2-6400 DDR2-800 RAM
EVGA E-Geforce 8500GT 450MHz 256MB
2 x 320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA drives
1 x 80GB Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 SATA drive
Pioneer DVR-212D SATA DVD burner

Any obvious compatibility problems with any of that? I think I've read online the P35 chipset is OK with Linux, but further
confirmation would be nice.

As might be easily guessable, my graphics requirements for this thing aren't real high. A motherboard with built-in graphics would
probably do fine for me, aside from one concern. I've got a 1680x1050 22" widescreen monitor - would built-in graphics be able to
drive that kind of resolution? Unsureness of this made me think it might be a good idea to get a dedicated (but cheap) graphics card.
As for that particular EVGA, it's just one a friend recommended as a good cheap one. Might there be driver problems with it?

I plan to use the 80GB drive a system drive, and RAID 1 the two 320GB together drives for general storage. The P5KC motherboard says it supports SATA RAID 1, I assume this would be via a hardware RAID controller? Would this be configurable OS-independently in the BIOS, and easily recognized under Linux?

And as for trying out the different distros, any problems with partitioning the system drive five ways (one for each) so I can
select any one of them to boot from? And then once I've decided on one, will it be easy to merge the other four partitions back onto
the one I choose to keep?

Okay, guess that's all. Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any and all help.

Antec Sonata III case (with Antec Earthwatts 500W PSU)
Intel E6750 Core 2 Duo
Asus P5KC motherboard (P35 chipset)
2 x 1GB OCZ PC2-6400 DDR2-800 RAM
EVGA E-Geforce 8500GT 450MHz 256MB I would recommend a 8600GT or better
2 x 320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA drives
1 x 80GB Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 SATA drive
Pioneer DVR-212D SATA DVD burner


Check out phoronix

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=home



Ubuntu Feisty, Fedora 7, CentOS 5, and openSUSE 10.2 and Knoppix are all fine distributions.


CentOS is mostly for servers.

On the desktop I usually recommend Ubuntu and Fedora 7

GL and keep the questions coming

Knoppix is excellent as a Live CD and DVD but not so much when you install it.

Count on it (heh)...and thanks for the response.

Could you elaborate a bit more on the components you thought weren't so good? Alternatives perhaps?

And about the graphics card - do you think the 8500GT wouldn't handle 1680x1050 very well? I looked at some 8600GT cards, and they seem significantly more expensive (and I am trying to keep costs down on this if I can).

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?p [...] =695&num=6 seems to indicate that the NVidia 8500GT is a reasonably decent card, and they're talking about running some real games on it, even at 1680x1050 (something I don't plan on doing - not really a gamer). Why wouldn't something like this be sufficient?

(And re: the distros - yeah, I figured it would probably come down to Ubuntu and Fedora, and possibly openSUSE.)

Thanks.

Well the P5KC has some bad reviews on newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131188

and you should avoid boards with the JMicron controller at all cost.


The 8500GT shouldn't be bad for light Beryl / Compiz and maybe some very light gaming, but if you can afford an 8600GT by all means go for it!

There should be a price drop when the AMD Desktop Quad Cores are released, so if you can wait a bit you should be able to get a less expensive Dual Core fairly soon

I would also encourage you to compare AMD and Intel and pick whatever you think is better for your needs after you consult some Linux benchmarks.

If an $80 or $100 motherboard if going to work for you there is no need to spend $150 or more on a board.

Also the E6750 is rather expensive you can always get something less expensive or closer to the sweet spot in price performance or an AMD and save yourself $100 or more

You can always upgrade the CPU later on when prices drop.

For example the 4200+ AM2 is only $74.99 vs. $220

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103741

you could save quite a bit by getting one or a comparable Intel near the $75 price point.

So you get a $75-$100 CPU now and you upgrade later to a better dual core or even Quad as they get cheaper.

Keep in mind the AMD Socket F ( 1207 ) Opteron 2344 HE Quad Core sells for about $209 and the 2346 HE for $255 so it will eventually put pressure on Dual Core prices from both AMD and Intel.

This is a server CPU or course but when the desktop version is released we should see some more healthy competition hopefully

GL

Ah, thanks for that newegg link - hadn't seen those, and those RAID problems especially seem like something I'd want to avoid. Being in Canada, I don't check newegg that often, as they don't ship here.

I imagine some light Beryl/Compiz is probably the most graphics intensive thing this machine will ever run, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it goes its entire life without running a game any more demanding than Pac-man...so I think I'll stay with the 8500GT (seems NVidia has good Linux driver support). Is there much/any difference between different brands with the same (8500GT) chipset? I guess I'd prefer a passively-cooled one to keep the noise down...

As for the CPU - I read around on some forums and hardware review sites, and I think I'll probably stick with the E6750. Why? All the comparisons I saw showed it significantly outpacing AMDs at comparable price points (and often higher ones). I considered the "wait for Penryn" (or other next-gen procs) approach, but I think a desktop Penryn (Wolfdale, I think?) is further off than I want to wait, and I don't really feel like buying a cheap CPU now only to spend another $x00 to upgrade it in six months. So I figure I'll buy a pretty good current one and stick with it.

I am definitely going to look around for a different motherboard though, glad I saw those reviews before buying one. On that topic, I hunted around newegg for some other boards with similar specs (LGA775, 1333 FSB, DDR2-800, SATA RAID 1), and found quite a few. Though it was kinda tough to tell what exact SATA RAID controller each one had, in my somewhat cursory hunting around I didn't see any mention of the dreaded JMicron on any the ones I filtered it down to, though I may well have missed something. Any opinions on these?

EVGA 122-CK-NF66-T1
XFX MB-N650-IUL9
Intel BOXDQ35JOE
Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R
MSI P6N SLI Platinum

Amongst those, the cheaper EVGA and XFX are pretty tempting - the biggest disadvantage I can see to them is that their 4 SATA ports would all be occupied by my planned configuration...getting a little SATA "headroom" with the 6 or 8 ports on the more expensive boards might be nice, but I'm not sure how likely it is I'll ever actually need it. I'm pretty sure the N650i and P35 chipsets are OK, though it seems the G33 may still be in the process of getting compatibilified with the Linux kernel...the Q35 I'm unsure of.

Thoughts?

Update...

Bought the case (Sonata III), video card (Gigabyte GeForce 8500GT), DVD burner (Pioneer DVR-212D), and a couple hard drives (Seagate 7200.10 SATA, decided to upgrade to 500GB each) today, leaving RAM, a system drive, motherboard and CPU yet to be purchased.

Anyone have any opinions on the motherboards in my last post?

nvidia is pretty good.

Intel chipsets tend to be expensive and usually underperform.

If the phoronix and newegg reviews are good then get the board

You DO know that G4s can run linux too, Right?

Of course it does!

I don't bother with newegg much either except to read reviews by customers of what they bought. They don't ship to Canada so the reviews are the only part of the site that is useful for Canadians.

Anyway, phoronix reviewed the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P and it was an acceptable board for Linux so I assume all the P35 boards should work. I think the Abit IP35 series could work, too, but the eSATA (JMicron 363) might be an issue. I doubt I'd use that so for me, I'm debating the IP35 Pro v.s. the DS3R/DS3P or DS4. The D3P and DS4 only have 2 PCI expansion slots, though, which is a low point. The DS3R is still stuck at the 1.1* version in Canada, unforunately. (*1.1 or 1.0?).

Hi you guys.

I'm actually on Intel's side. Geforce 8 series does not have good driver support yet, I would recommend an integrated Intel X3100 or a Geforce 7900gtx.

For the chipset, it's ok, but you need a recent kernel to be able to use it fully. I doubt Ubuntu Feisty and OpenSuse 10.2 are up to it, Ubuntu Gutsy might be.

Integrated graphics can usually manage 1680x1050 - especially the newer ones.

For

I strongly disagree. They have the best driver support, Intel's the only company properly supporting Linux.

Yeah, you do know Linux has excellent software RAID?

There's absolutely no need for the mobo to have a raid controller

If it was between Geforce 8600GT/S and 7900GS, which would you get? Is Nvidia progressing towards better drivers with the G84 series?
The 7900GS isn't HDCP capable and I think they are expensive considering that. I know they are better for gaming but that is probably another issue for Linux (using WINE or?) anyway?