Useless PC's?

[m4tic]

This is something that's been keepin me thinkin since being on these forums. And most Ubuntu users who attach their hardware specs use pretty cool pc's, ''4gbram, geForce'ultimate', all those things you'd never expect from an ubuntu user as ubuntu is supposed to not require such powerfull hardware. So wat i'm saying is what is it with the machines?

[wojox]

I think they need all that power to keep Windows running semi-smooth. Then they make the switch either totally or dual booting.

[ArtF10]

This is something that's been keepin me thinkin since being on these forums. And most Ubuntu users who attach their hardware specs use pretty cool pc's, ''4gbram, geForce'ultimate', all those things you'd never expect from an ubuntu user as ubuntu is supposed to not require such powerfull hardware. So wat i'm saying is what is it with the machines?

So basically, you're saying that you are jealous. Hey pal, welcome to the club!):P):P;);)

[LowSky]

Most Linux users are also power users, we learn on many pieces of software, and need the extra oomph. Do I use Windows, yes. but only for tasks in which it is in my opinion better, like as a media center, and gaming. Ubuntu is my primary OS for daily tasks. So my Phenom and 4 GB of RAM are used.

[Bart_D]

... media center, and gaming. .... my Phenom and 4 GB of RAM are used.

So P4 3.0 Ghz and 2GB RAM would have been insufficient for those power tasks?

[boon4376]

I think they need all that power to keep Windows running semi-smooth. Then they make the switch either totally or dual booting.

Thats pretty much true LOL, I use windows on my new computer (quad core, 4GB ram, etc etc...) And put ubuntu on my old AMD Athlon 64 3200+ system... both run at the same speed except for video compression, batch image processing type stuff. For day to day things they are equal.

[starcannon]

This is something that's been keepin me thinkin since being on these forums. And most Ubuntu users who attach their hardware specs use pretty cool pc's, ''4gbram, geForce'ultimate', all those things you'd never expect from an ubuntu user as ubuntu is supposed to not require such powerfull hardware. So wat i'm saying is what is it with the machines?

I can answer in one word:
Gaming

Anytime one wants to play intensive 3d games, or use Wine to play intensive 3d games from the Windows platform, your going to see some pretty sweet gear. Perhaps even when one wants every option in Compiz enabled, Emerald skinning the windows, Avant Window Navigator with all options turned on, and Cairo Clock and perhaps a few other Cairo goodies up on the desktop, one will want more power. Sure the vanilla install is fine, and it runs on fairly low spec configurations, but when I start customizing/bloating my UI I start wanting more power.

Edit:
Okay, okay, maybe I should have answered in 2 words, Customization is also a reason.

[Stan_1936]

The majority of new Ubuntu users install it to revive their OLD(and hence SLOW) systems. They find that it helps improve performance of an older system(by today's standards ofcourse) when compared to Windows. It may not run smoothly but it is(for the most part) able to deliver a better experience than Windows. THAT is why it is surprising/aggravating/infuriating/frustrating when they see a person with a Core 2 Duo and 4GB of RAM using Ubuntu SMOOTHLY!

[gletob]

Powerful hardware is preparing for the futcha!!

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

This is something that's been keepin me thinkin since being on these forums. And most Ubuntu users who attach their hardware specs use pretty cool pc's, ''4gbram, geForce'ultimate', all those things you'd never expect from an ubuntu user as ubuntu is supposed to not require such powerfull hardware. So wat i'm saying is what is it with the machines?

I can think of a few reasons like:

1) Powerful hardware is a status symbol.

2) They use virtualization to test multiple operating systems. I've had Ubuntu, Cent OS, Fedora, and Puppy running simultaneously using a hypervisor. That pushed all my cores and memory to the limits of what I had.

3) They dual boot for whatever reason. Such as, they play games designed for Microsoft Windows.

4) Old hardware is only supported by vendors for a limited amount of time. You may still need proprietary drivers to get some hardware to work even if you use a Linux distro.

5) They write, fix, modify programs, and compile them. They don't what to wait all day for them to compile. You may be using some of them.

If I took more than a minute, I could probably think of some more.

[isileth]

Ubuntu makes a computer work better, but it does LIKE ram and processing power like any other modern operating system.
Even if you don't game, having a snappy system is not that bad.

[Dimitriid]

This is something that's been keepin me thinkin since being on these forums. And most Ubuntu users who attach their hardware specs use pretty cool pc's, ''4gbram, geForce'ultimate', all those things you'd never expect from an ubuntu user as ubuntu is supposed to not require such powerfull hardware. So wat i'm saying is what is it with the machines?

Dual boot gamers: I will do exactly this. My specs for the machine I am planning to built are as follows:


Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400
EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
4 x Kingston 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model KVR800D2N6/2G ( 8GB total )


*Still not sure about whenever to go for DDR2 or DDR3 since it involves a pricetag impact on mobo and processor as well.

I will dual boot only because virtualization is not quite capable of playing modern games, and the windows install will be only for games that just flat out refuse to work at all under wine.

But considering you can run resource monsters on wine like Crysis, you can use all those specs.

[juancarlospaco]

Mathematic:
hardware/5or10VMs

[Gizenshya]

I dual-boot with Vista for gaming.

[lisati]

I dual-boot with Vista on my laptop for video editing. The extra RAM and extra CPU core on my laptop make a difference that suits the editing well.

Laptop: dual core 1.66GHz Intel CPU, 2Gb RAM, Vista & Ubuntu
Desktop: single-core 1.7GHz AMD64, 1Gb RAM, xp & Ubuntu Studio

[FuturePilot]

If you have the money and get a good deal on hardware, why not? There's nothing that says people can't have as much hardware power as they want.

[LowSky]

So P4 3.0 Ghz and 2GB RAM would have been insufficient for those power tasks?

I don't like Intel so, no. And the RAM is great for video editing/ripping.

Besides I can do those tasks quicker with my hardware.

Don't be jealous that I can afford newer decent equipment and you cant or don't want to. It's my decision to use what I want.


And people who use older equipment impede change. Look how long it is taking for 64bit Operating systems to become the standard. If it wasn't for them I would have a full Flash support....LOL

[cariboo]

I like the ability to multi-task, I can upload dv from my camcorder, download a torrent, play music, surf the internet and more, while running another os in a vm and not notice any slow down

[scottuss]

I have a highly specced pc for the same reason any Windows users do, because although Ubuntu will run on slow machines, a faster PC gets things done quicker. It's simple really!

[jonian_g]

My old PC, P3 3GHz, 1GB Ram, GeForce4 died and I got a new one. I don't think you can buy a new PC that it is a low end machine.

My new machine is a custom built AMD Athlon 5200+, 4GB Ram, GeForce 7600GS, ASRock MB, 320GB hdd and I got it for 400 Euros. It is a high end machine but it was cheap.

I don't dualboot with windows, I use WMs only to try different distros but I don't use them. I play games on my PS3 console and it is cheaper for me that having a gaming pc.

A gaming Pc costs 1000 Euros at least. My PC + PS3 = 800 Euros, when I bought them. Now they cost less.

[Dimitriid]

My old PC, P3 3GHz, 1GB Ram, GeForce4 died and I got a new one. I don't think you can buy a new PC that it is a low end machine.

My new machine is a custom built AMD Athlon 5200+, 4GB Ram, GeForce 7600GS, ASRock MB, 320GB hdd and I got it for 400 Euros. It is a high end machine but it was cheap.

I don't dualboot with windows, I use WMs only to try different distros but I don't use them. I play games on my PS3 console and it is cheaper for me that having a gaming pc.

A gaming Pc costs 1000 Euros at least. My PC + PS3 = 800 Euros, when I bought them. Now they cost less.


You could still get some use of your old pc:

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/gigabyte_gv-r465d2-1gi_radeon_4650_review/page7.asp

Thats a high performance new AGP based card. Its ATI so in Linux its currently almost as useful as a paperweight but I think it has a good chance of running you modern games on that old system. You could sell the system to someone who wants to try Sims 3 or something.

[jonian_g]

You could still get some use of your old pc:

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/gigabyte_gv-r465d2-1gi_radeon_4650_review/page7.asp

Thats a high performance new AGP based card. Its ATI so in Linux its currently almost as useful as a paperweight but I think it has a good chance of running you modern games on that old system. You could sell the system to someone who wants to try Sims 3 or something.

When I say my old PC died, I really mean it. It was due to an electricity problem.

[Dimitriid]

When I say my old PC died, I really mean it. It was due to an electricity problem.

I thought just the GPU, carry on then.

[m4tic]

im not a hardcore pc user but im a victim to SiS video.
whats the cheapest video card out there that can enable desktop effects?

[K.Mandla]

im not a hardcore pc user but im a victim to SiS video.
whats the cheapest video card out there that can enable desktop effects?
I can run Compiz at 1600x1200 with a 64Mb Nvidia Geforce 440 Go. The desktop card works just as well, and that might run you $19 off eBay.

[m4tic]

iyho mandla, i havent used eBay yet, its not that popular in South Africa yet, but i'll look around for that card you mentioned, thanx

[.Maleficus.]

My rig is in my sig. Reasons for the specs:

1. On occasion I still game.
2. I can transcode audio with dbPoweramp using all 4 cores simultaniously.
3. I can do video encoding/decoding much smoother with my CUDA enabled graphics card.
4. Some of the hardware I got for free from reviewing for a website, the processor I got at an $800 discount from work (I bought it for $240 about a year ago).
5. I want to :).