i7 Computer build and friendly with ubuntu?

[darkenvy6]

Background: I'm building a new computer. My last motherboard was the EVGA 790i FTW and had a manufacture issue of overheating the southbridge. I had to get rid of that as fast as I could. My other issue was that my graphics card (GTX295coop) which I no longer have was not supported by linux drivers very well at all. Neither was my sound card. Nothing on my computer liked linux let alone ubuntu, my favorite distro and OS. My last build worked great but was a fail as bleeding edge tends to be (End of Line, issues, ect)

Mission: To build a new i7 computer that I can use for graphic design. Don't worry about the graphic design aspect, my major concern is having it conpatible with ubuntu all the way. I dont want to have to recompile kernels, use experimental drivers or anything. Plug-and-Play kind of stability is what I want. (I always had issues installing nvidia linux drivers in the past and always had it crash, no i'm not an idiot, I couldn't get others to figure it out either) Choosing a sound card is a plus but not as important for the initial build as that can be a post-build add-on but comments on which sound card are greatly appreciated. Also note i'm an audiophile so 24-bit is a must;)

What I want:
EVGA X58 FTW3 (http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=132-GT-E768-TR)
i7-930 Bloomfield (Intel Socket 1366) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115225)
Memory? - Triple Channel so multiples of 3 (6gb, 9gb, 12gb)
Sound Card? - Must be very compatible with ubuntu
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SuperClocked (http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=01G-P3-1373-AR&family=GeForce%20400%20Series%20Family&sw=) - Or Lower

I don't know if certain memory will be better than others for ubuntu so let me know. I am using this for graphic design after all. As for the Graphics card I still love games and the lowest card of this series I believe is still better than the GTX295coop power sucking beast.
But the card MUST be friendly with linux. I'll settle for a diffrent series if I must, point me in the right direction! I'm on a time limit before I head back to college so I only have a few days to decide.

Thanks for all your help,
~Darkenvy

[darkenvy6]

I just need quick simple advice. But enough to be assured I wont have major issues.

[darkenvy6]

*Daily Bump*

[cascade9]

I'm suprised that you had a "manufacturing issues" then would get another motherboard by the same company, but thats your choice ;)

i7s arent exactly new, but they arent fully supported yet either, they are still in that 'semi bleeedign edge' area. AFAIK, turboboost i7 only works on kernel 2.6.33 or 2.6.34 or later (I forget where turboboost support started from) so you might well need to at least upgrade your kernel.

As for the Graphics card I still love games and the lowest card of this series I believe is still better than the GTX295coop power sucking beast.
[/QUOTE]

I'd look at an MAudio sound card, or an Asus. The Xonar DX is good, fairly cheap, but needs keernel 2.6.34 to work. Xonar D2/DX2 cards a lot more expensive, but nicer cards, and should have support with any current distro (needs kernel 2.6.25, which is so old that even debian lenny has a newer kernel LOL).

BTW, not that it matters much now since you dotn have the card anymore, but the GTX 295 is faster than a GTX 460. In some places, a GTX 295 is faster than a GTX 480!

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce-gtx-480_5.html

[Ginsu543]

As you can see in my siggy, my current rig is based on i7 920 and it works great with Ubuntu. I've had no problems hardware related with the components I have. My mobo is X58-based as well, so I would think that your EVGA board should be fine. I've been very happy with my Mushkin Blacklines. It lets me run pretty tight timings while running overclocked (cpu at 4.2 GHz). As for sound, I'm just using the built-in one. For my purposes, it works fine. Finally, nVidia is pretty linux-friendly (it's more so than ATi, I can tell you from experience).

[darkenvy6]

I'll be coming to you Ginsu for help later if anything goes wrong.

Oh Cascade, The manufacture defect is on the creation of the board series altogether. Ive went to several forums only to find out all owners of the 790i have the overheat issue. Thus I could not return it. Yes I loved my GTX295coop and was working with my Nvidia3D (setup for a GPU per eye, great setup for 3D) but I gotta cut back and just play WoW, Trackmania, L4D and such during the year :\

I'm gonna go for it btw, I'm making the purchase today.
Oh Ive been posting on the EVGA forum too, follow here: http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?high=&m=503099&mpage=1#504382