How much too build a Ubuntu Desktop

[HomoGleek]

How much would you thing roughly it would be too build a desktop suitable for running Ubuntu comfortably?

[SuperSonic4]

No more than £400, this should also help keep it going for a few years

£100 for the processor (dual core's fine)
£70 for the RAM (4x1gb sticks)
£50 for the GPU (nvidia - not the latest but works)
£40 for a hdd (500gb- £80 for 1.5tb)
£20 for a cd writer
£20 for a case
£50 for a PSU

Although this will be more expensive in January

[snowpine]

Here are the Ubuntu minimum requirements:


Recommended minimum requirements

Ubuntu should run reasonably well on a computer with the following minimum hardware specification. However, features such as visual effects may not run smoothly.

* 700 MHz x86 processor
* 384 MB of system memory (RAM)
* 8 GB of disk space
* Graphics card capable of 1024x768 resolution
* Sound card
* A network or Internet connection

I have installed Ubuntu on old, "obsolete" computers I got for free. :)

[SuperSonic4]

Here are the Ubuntu minimum requirements:



I have installed Ubuntu on old, "obsolete" computers I got for free. :)

As long as you don't run anything remotely testing that'd work...


Also if you do build your own be aware as costs can spiral quickly, I spent about £1200 on mine instead of the £700 I'd planned

[HomoGleek]

I should have been abit more clear, I basically just looking for a couple of mainly web stations, just an extra desktop for another room in the house

I never seem too be lucky enough too find any of these free ones

[NoaHall]

About £300, if you can get stuff like a case, fans etc from another machine.

[t0p]

Most current hardware will work. You'd be better off asking what you should avoid.

As for cost: £199.99. <---somewhere in between ---> £5000.

[fatcrab]

Why do pc parts cost so much in england? Just wondering.

[murderslastcrow]

My friend has a PC with 256 MB of RAM, running compiz well, and even using OpenOffice just fine. Also maybe 100 MB more RAM would make it seamless.

Honestly, if you have a good video card and don't plan on doing a lot of intense gaming, 384 MB of RAM with an nVidia card is perfect.

On that note, I found 5 refurbished HP desktops with 512 MB of RAM and nVidia cards going for 100 dollars on eBay the other day, Buy it Now. That's 20 dollars for a more than suitable desktop.

If you plan on running lightweight applications anyway, you can use something like e17 and run fantastic with as little as 128 MB of RAM. But I doubt you can even buy a computer that old these days.

[Elfy]

Why do pc parts cost so much in england? Just wondering.

I wish I knew ...

[Skripka]

I wish I knew ...

Yep something I don't get. If it was just Intel, but it seems to be the case with AMD etc. Folks from England and elsewhere pay 2X what folks in the US do for the same hardware. Bizzarro.

[The Real Dave]

Well, put it this way, Ubuntu runs great (22second boot) on this;

Acer Aspire T650
Intel Pentium IV @ 2993Mhz (SingleCore)
1.5Gb DDRII RAM
320+80Gb SATA HDDs (Samsung Spinpoint F1 and Hitachi Deskstar)
Integrated ATi Radeon Xpress 200 chip (300Mhz Clock, 128Mb Shared)

The only thing I could ask for is a better GFX card, in which case I'd go for Nvidia. This PC is now 4 years old, and considered obsolete by most. It runs Ubuntu flawlessly, the PIV chip is stronger than you would expect, and Compiz works smooth on such a useless chip. You could probably find someone whos "upgrading" to W7, who would be throwing away a similar machine. This was middle of the range when it was bought, now sits near the bottom, yet Ubuntu works great :)

You could probably get a dual core mobo bundle for around €150 and 2Gb of RAM for very little. I run alot of stuff at once, including other OSs in Virtual Box, and yet rarely fills it. So, something around that will run comfortably, a little more power if you want it :)

Don't forget cooling in your budget, my PIV is a hot chip, but with a good (stock :)) CPU cooler, and a few fans, it stays at 35C when running flatout.

[markp1989]

for £140 you can get acer aspire revo, 1.6 atom cpu, 1gb ram and a 160gb hdd , is silent, and uses 25w of power at load + can be mounted on the back of a montor

if your just using it for internet or office tasks its enough, if your video editing etc not enough power

my sister has one running ubuntu, its her only computer and she loves it (she had never used liunx till the revo)


if you specificaly want to build:

MB: asus p5kpl-am-ig31 (not an over clocker, but its cheap and works fine for my server) £30
CPU: e5200 £50 or an E3200 (has less cache then the e5200)for £30 (both come with hsf which is ok asuming you have good airflow in the case)
RAM: 2*2gb ddr2-800 £40
case+psu: can be ffound as cheap as £20 for a set
HDD: £70 will get you 1.5tb samsunung F2 (you can get away with alot less then this)
GPU: can get a nvidia 8400 for about £20 which runs compiz fine.
DVD: £17 for a dvdrw drive (if you need it i dont have a optical drive in my desktop)

these prices are from when i built my server/htpc about 9-10 months ago.

[Skripka]

ut with a good (stock :)) CPU cooler, and a few fans, it stays at 35C when running flatout.

Stock coolers, by-and-large stink. I'd say either your temp was measured with your machine in the refridgerator, or your thermostat is sending false data-especially given the fact that you're running a P IV

[K.Mandla]

Here are the Ubuntu minimum requirements:



I have installed Ubuntu on old, "obsolete" computers I got for free. :)
Big +1. I had a 1Ghz machine with a 64Mb Nvidia card that ran Compiz at 1600x1200 without breaking a sweat.

Don't buy a bunch of new machines. Find some giveaways, clean them up and start using them.

[speedwell68]

You can buy a decent off the peg machine with a decent monitor for well under £400.

[MooPi]

I've mentioned this computer all over the forum, and this is a perfect fit. 265$ dollars for a single core Athlon 2.7GHz, 1gig ram, Micro ATX board, use integrated graphics(Nvidia).
http://s559.photobucket.com/albums/ss36/MooPii/COMPIZ/?albumview=slideshow
Nice smooth graphics , full compositing, Cairo dock, eye candy for just a little. Got mine overclocked to 3.0GHz
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=16762087

[The Real Dave]

Stock coolers, by-and-large stink. I'd say either your temp was measured with your machine in the refridgerator, or your thermostat is sending false data-especially given the fact that you're running a P IV

Don't believe me? Recent screenshot (http://omploader.org/vMzFkag), look at the Conky, the fact that the CPU is running maxed out (the bar is 5 minutes) and the temp. 37C

Yes, its a stock cooler, but its huge, big 80mm fan running at 3K Rpm (changed the default PWM values). It helps that the computer also has a 120mm fan blowing down onto the motherboard. You can see a pic of the computer here (http://linuxexpresso.wordpress.com/hardware/), its the first one, Two-Face. The heatsink is coolish to the touch. This thing runs cold, because I've made it do so. And this is while the CPU is maxed. Its around 25C without load. And alot quieter :)

[Skripka]

Yes, its a stock cooler, but its huge, big 80mm fan running at 3K Rpm (changed the default PWM values). It helps that the computer also has a 120mm fan blowing down onto the motherboard. You can see a pic of the computer here (http://linuxexpresso.wordpress.com/hardware/), its the first one, Two-Face. The heatsink is coolish to the touch. This thing runs cold, because I've made it do so. And this is while the CPU is maxed. Its around 25C without load. And alot quieter :)

Well then by tweaking as you have, you're hardly running a stock cooler then are you? :)

PS: 80mm fans are as tiny as they usually go in computer fans.

[The Real Dave]

Well then by tweaking as you have, you're hardly running a stock cooler then are you? :)

PS: 80mm fans are as tiny as they usually go in computer fans.

Lol I suppose you can look at it that way :) But I deal alot the old hardware, PIIIs cooled by chipset fans, 80mm feels big for me :) ;)

[Linux_junkie]

Why do pc parts cost so much in england? Just wondering.

I think its because its also known as "rip off Britain". Most businesses seem to care more about profits than customer services.

Linux_junkie

[NoaHall]

Why do pc parts cost so much in england? Just wondering.

Because they are converted straight from $100 to £100.

[gnomeuser]

My desktop machine is an Acer Aspire Revo r3610. The dual core Intel Atom 330 definitely isn't a powerful CPU but Ubuntu runs really well on this setup.

Pretty much any machine will run a fine Ubuntu desktop.

[cascade9]

Well then by tweaking as you have, you're hardly running a stock cooler then are you? :)

PS: 80mm fans are as tiny as they usually go in computer fans.

LOL, you are young. I remember when 60mm fans were huge for CPUs. BTW, stock p4 fan sizes change a bit, but in the 2.4-2.53 range they tended to be 70mm and 2000 Rpm. max. So an 80mm/3000Rpm fan fair bit of an upgrade ;) The 120mm fan would really help as well, from my experience.


Yep something I don't get. If it was just Intel, but it seems to be the case with AMD etc. Folks from England and elsewhere pay 2X what folks in the US do for the same hardware. Bizzarro.

Really? Funny enough, I can find AMD CPUs for far less than x2 the cost from newegg in the US-

AMD Phenom II 965-
$185
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103692

121 quid/$195 US without VAT, 139/$224 US with VAT.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Shop/Computer-Hardware/All/CPUs-AMD/AMD-Phenom-II-%28S-AM3%29-Quad-Core

The prices seems to be about the same % apart with the few things I looked at. I'm sure that there will be places cheaper around, that one was chosen at random from a search engine. If it wasnt for VAT, the prices would be about %5 difference as well (and I'm not sure, but shouldn't newegg add state taxes anyway? that could close the gap with the VAT UK prices)

Maybe people in the UK need to look harder and ignore 'high street shopping' for computer parts.

Guessing by those prices, you should be able to build a decent desktop from less than 400 quid. But I would probably take the advice of snowpine/K.Mandl, and find some older giveaway box to start out on. You can run ubuntu on throwaway boxes, easy.

[The Real Dave]

LOL, you are young. I remember when 60mm fans were huge for CPUs. BTW, stock p4 fan sizes change a bit, but in the 2.4-2.53 range they tended to be 70mm and 2000 Rpm. max. So an 80mm/3000Rpm fan fair bit of an upgrade ;) The 120mm fan would really help as well, from my experience.


Yup, thats me, 80mm @ 3000 Rpm :) Though, when the heatsink was very clogged with dust, it was at 65C at 5000Rpm :o

Its good to look back at old hardware every now and then :) I've P IIIs that will run happily not without any fan, but without any heatsinks. 100C doesn't phase them :) Then again, I've a tiny little GFx chip that cooks unless its been cooled by a damn loud chip fan :) little 15mm thing :)

[fatcrab]

"Really? Funny enough, I can find AMD CPUs for far less than x2 the cost from newegg in the US-

AMD Phenom II 965-
$185
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103692

121 quid/$195 US without VAT, 139/$224 US with VAT.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Shop/Computer-Hardware/All/CPUs-AMD/AMD-Phenom-II-%28S-AM3%29-Quad-Core

The prices seems to be about the same % apart with the few things I looked at. I'm sure that there will be places cheaper around, that one was chosen at random from a search engine. If it wasnt for VAT, the prices would be about %5 difference as well (and I'm not sure, but shouldn't newegg add state taxes anyway? that could close the gap with the VAT UK prices)

Maybe people in the UK need to look harder and ignore 'high street shopping' for computer parts.

Guessing by those prices, you should be able to build a decent desktop from less than 400 quid. But I would probably take the advice of snowpine/K.Mandl, and find some older giveaway box to start out on. You can run ubuntu on throwaway boxes, easy."[/quote]

My state sales tax is $15.26 but the dems. are talking about adding a vat,cap and trade and a war tax so parts may soon cost more here:sad:.

[lukeiamyourfather]

A few hundred bucks should be plenty if you just want to browse the web and do basic tasks. You might consider a Mini-ITX system with an Atom processor, using that you could build a system for less than $200. Cheers!

[alakazam]

Why do pc parts cost so much in england? Just wondering.


Import duties, VAT, currency market rates.

Most computer components come from foreign places outside the UK/

[starcannon]

Heres a "build" that should work great. I priced at newegg, you'd have to shop for the parts in your corner of the world. I did the whole build (just the tower) for $355.45 U.S.

GL


Rosewill MicroATX 300wt Case/PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147098 $49.99

Western Digital 320gb HDD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136161 $47.99

Intel E5200 CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072&cm_re=e5200-_-19-116-072-_-Product $64.50

Zotac Motherboard MicroATX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500019 $109.99

Kingston Ram 2gb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134635 $51.99

Pioneer Optical Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129045 $30.99
_______________

Total: $355.45

I'd also consider upgrading to this Athena PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817338037 $125.00
____
New Total: $480.45

Now that its all priced out; yeah, I'd just buy something from Dell. I can never seem to build something as nice or nicer than what Dell has for >= to Dell's prices. Ah well, what-d-ya-do?

Have fun.

[cascade9]

Import duties, VAT, currency market rates.

Most computer components come from foreign places outside the UK/

Same here (substitute 'VAT' for 'GST'). Not like any common computer parts are made in the western world these days, its all china/south east asia.

*wonders if he still has his 'made in Scotland' IDE card*

I wouldn't forget land costs as well, I'm pretty sure that UK rents are very high.

@ starcannon- why oh why do people buy dell? cheap and nasty is all I've ever seen from dell desktops. I will admit that from what I've heard, US dell boxes are better than the junk we buy here. But even if I have to spend a few extra $$$ to get a white box/custom system, I'd rather do that than get dell. But from what I've seen, I can build systems cheaper than dell sells them for (qualifer- I have only really looked at dell australia and what stuff I know I can get here)