Need to Build a Super Ubuntu Box...please help

[rubix64]

Hello all,

Ive recently seen the light and tossed my xp out the window and after playing w/ ubuntu on an old box I had Im satisfied that linux is the only way for me.

Now, to the chase...

I want to build 1 pimped out desktop system specifically for ubuntu.

any ideas? Im thinking dual core, top of the line video, tons of RAM, sound card, 500GB drive DVD-RW drive and CD-RW drive (I do lots of backups and burning) and lots of video editing and will probably have to run some windows apps via vmware or wine like rosetta stone,cs2,premierePro, a few games and some chess engines etc...

Im going to buy this piece by piece at frys so how about it...whats your dream parts list for a linux box?

Thanks in advance for all the help!

Rube

[Gannin]

I would get an Intel Core Duo, and be sure to get an nVidia graphics card. They work much better under Linux than ATI.

Welcome to Ubuntu :).

[Spr0k3t]

You should check the availability of sound card drivers before jumping into a sound card. While there may be drivers for the Creative Audigy card, there are some cards without drivers at all.

nVidia++;

If you want a strong graphics card, go with a 7950GT or an 8800XT. If you have money you just want to throw away, go with a BFG 8800GXT. Just make sure you have room in your case for it. I've heard some of the GTX cards are 10" long.

[PatrickMay16]

For your sound card, go on ebay and get a Sound Blaster Live!. Linux can be annoying with sound if you have a sound card which can not play multiple audio streams. The Sound Blaster Live! can play multiple audio streams, and it will cost you around $15 from ebay.

[Gannin]

I have a Sound Blaster Live! Value and I've never had any problems with it in Linux.

A good place to go to check on the compatibility of various sound cards is http://www.alsa-project.org/.

[rubix64]

Great! Thanks for all the ideas!

-Any thoughts on processor type (what kind of dual core)?

- and dvd&cd RWdrives?

- Any thoughts on Drive config... i.e. should I get 1 big 500GB drive and partition or 2 smaller ones and make 'em master/slave.....

- Motherboard, RAM etc...

I know that this is a pretty newbie-ish question but I wanted input from those who have already tried and tested what they like.


Thanks again!

[raymac46]

I use really old hardware, so the only contribution I can make is choose any wireless card carefully. There are more Linux headaches with wireless than just about anything else. Despite dire warnings from the Restricted Devices Manager I've found that Atheros based chipsets work pretty well.

[diskotek]

i love that computer! woow!

[Omnios]

Asus and Gigabyte motherboards are mainstream and highly rated as far as motherboards go. Be careful as some as all MB are not up to par and may cause problems with upgrading etc.

My personal experience with front side bus is the higher the speed the better. When I had my old P2 with the then new 100mhz bus it totally blew away similar PC's with the old 66hz. This was based on a game I played with two other people that had game load into for all three of us. One computer was older but the other was similar but with the older bus. I was done loading the in half the time he was.

High hard drive speeds can speed things up a bit but think the old gamer hard drive access is not as important as before.

Ram is a big buffer. You can take an old PC throw a lot of ram in it and it will perform much better so the same may prove true for a top of the line PC. Also ram is pretty cheap now so adding more is not that bad an issue but you may want to get big single sticks so you can add a twins.

My experience with video cards going from a gforce2 64 to a Gforce4000 128 made a bit of a diff in that I am running compez pretty well and its pretty heavy on the frame rates. So if planning on compez you might want to look into this aspect.

[Gannin]

As far as a processor goes, I'd get at least an Intel Core Duo E6300.

[%hMa@?b<C]

if you go with Intel get a C2D
if you go with AMD get an dual core opteron (like me!)

[Yaffle]

With me I like to stick to one make for certain things,

processor - AMD
ram - Kingston
accessories - logitech
graphics - nvidia

etc...