Tell us about your custom built Linux PC's

[Macfunky]

I want to build a computer in the near future. I have a load of frankenputers but i have built one from scratch. I am trying to figure out what hardware is most likely to work out of the box so i thought maybe hearing about your custom built computers and the components you used that worked would be a good starting point. Also, if you had any hardware that you had problems with and would recommend i avoid, that would be great too :)

[krapp]

I've been thinking about the feasibility of building a super low power consumption nettop-like box. Anybody have success with Atoms beyond the netbooks?

[Gs Dewd]

Well My main Ubuntu box is as follows, Has a EpoX 8krai-pro mb with a via kt880 chipset, Athlon XP-M 2500+ @ 2.2ghz (xp 3200+ speed) 2 gb Crucial pc3200, Visiontek Radeon x1550 XGE, 320 gb Maxtor Hdd, Lite-on dvd/rw drive, Smilodon Dirktooth case, Enermax 431 watt ps, as of Sat. it is running Ubuntu 11.10 (Has ran Ubuntu since 9.04, all upgraded except I did a fresh install of 11.10)

[drawkcab]

I've been thinking about the feasibility of building a super low power consumption nettop-like box. Anybody have success with Atoms beyond the netbooks?

I have an atom ion htpc running 11.10 + gnome 3 really well. With ffmpeg and flash improvements I really can't complain. 720p video looks great and all the naggy video problems from 11.04 are gone.

If I had to do it over again, I'd probably go with one of those AMD 350 or 450 platforms and pair it with a nicer audio card capable of supporting surround sound.

I guess it all depends upon what you want to do with it.

[wolfen69]

My custom desktop has an AMD quad @3.4, gigabyte mobo, 8gb ddr3, 3-320gb drives, nvidia gt430, tv tuner card, hp printer. Runs awesome with 11.10 gnome shell. Couldn't be happier.

[3Miro]

Currently, AMD Phenom II X6 3.2Ghz, 16GB RAM, Nvidia GTX260, 1TB HDD for storage, 1TB HDD for backup, one 500GB HDD for /home and multi-boot, one 64GB SSD for fast boot and application loading.

In the future, I hope to upgrade to the new Bulldozer 8-cores and GTX580. I may not have enough money for 580.

[Macfunky]

So what is a safe bet for a motherboard? Which companies have good support, which should i avoid?

[pbpersson]

I have always had good luck with ASUS motherboards. There are hardware compatibility lists on the web for components. I used to be able to review a motherboard I was considering and there were reports from people who had installed Ubuntu on it. I can't find the web site now.

[P-I H]

My build has the following configuration
Motherboard Gigabyte 990fxa-ud3
Graphics AMD Radeon HD6850, with Catalyst 11.8
Memory 8GB DDR3 Kingstone HyperX
HDD OCZ Agility 3 120GB
CPU AMD Athlon II X4 620
Printer Canon MG6150 as network printer, installed with Canon's script

Runs fine with the Ubuntu login. With Gnome login Catalyst 11.9 or the open driver is needed.
I use an Ubuntu server as data storage.

[Flymo]

For a low power x86 desktop the AND K325 with nVidia 9200M works well with Ubuntu Lucid and very well Bodhi Linux. It's not a homebrew, it's an Acer eMachines ER1401, I couldn't build one for the £120 it cost!

Bodhi compositing works well with or without the nVidia drivers, but 3D games do need them.

[feedmebits]

-ASUS P8P67-M
-i7-2600K
-G.Skill 8 GB DDR3-1866 Kit
-GeForce GTX 570
-2x500GB(Samsung) + 1x320GB(Hitachi)

[Hoaggie]

-ASUS P8P67-LE REV 3.0
-i5-2500K 3.3GHz
-Corsair Vengeance 8 GB (4 x 2GB0) DDR3
-Galaxy Geforce GTX 465
-1x Seagate 1TB hdd, 2x Seagate 120GB hdd (they came out of a couple old laptops)
-Lite-on 24x DVD Writer
-Raidmax 630W power supply
-Corsair CWCH60 Liquid cooling.
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181015)
I built it for windows, but I've not had compatibility issues so far with Ubuntu 11.x or with Mint 11, both seem to be working strait out of the box. In fact Windows 7 has given me more issues than either.

Also, I used a Raidmax Helios ATX-89WB case, it cools really well, lots of air circulation. However, the front audio port gets a lot of interference from the front USB ports.

[jjex22]

So what is a safe bet for a motherboard? Which companies have good support, which should i avoid?

I've only used Gigabyte and Asus, and to be fair to Gigabyte the board never let me down - was the first pc I built and did 3 years before being sold, and no ebay user has tried to hunt me down!

But I'm actually going to recommend Asus along with everyone else it seems - for one we have a whole section of the forums set aside for Asus mobo's, and second because I got a dud - turned up and literally nothing happened when power was connected - deceased! I called Asus support and they sent me a new board free of charge - I didn't have to pay postage. Unfortunately this board had an older bios version , and as I couldn't find the current on their site I called them up again - they did send me the updated bios free via email, but they also offered to once again change the board - I thought this was a bit excessive for a bios update, so took the email, but still, excellent customer service.

I know the gigabyte didn't go wrong, but the level of support i got from asus makes me always recommend them - I figure parts will always go wrong, it's just nice to know they don't just take your money and loose interest!

[suprman2020]

Just built mine about two weeks ago

MSI 880g micro atx motherboard (will upgrade to something else later)
AMD Phenom II 830 OEM (same as 925 but doesn't come with a heat sink)
Cooler Master Hyper 212+
Corsair Vengeance 8 gb memory
1 terabyte Western Digital Caviar Black (ripped out of HP hard drive)
Nvidia 8500 GT (will be upgrading to Radeon 6770 or 6850)
SilverStone Strider 500 watt power supply
Case is a Bitfenix Merc Alpha

Quick note about the Phenom II: it cost me 50 bucks at Microcenter without the heat sink. I bought the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ for 30 bucks. That is probably the cheapest price you're gonna find a quad core with L3 cache.