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guitarmaniac
May 6th, 2007, 06:33 AM
OK I've had this (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2100159,00.asp) website bookmarked for some time now.

EDIT:

CPU: Core 2 Duo E6320
Memory: Twin2X1024-5400C4
Graphics: XFX GeForce 7600 GT?
Hard drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
Optical drive: Pioneer DVR-111D
Case: HLC 9632SB with 500W power supply

I don't NEED the HDD, Keyboard, Mouse, and Optical Drive but if I end up below the budget I will get them.
I want to build it or an equivalent computer using hardware that is known to work well with Linux and, if possible brands that encourage open source.
What are some recommendations keeping in mind I want it to be under $800 Australian (I know the website is in American dollars but lets see what we can come up with).
guitarmaniac.

jackmc
May 6th, 2007, 06:42 AM
I was thinking about making one too, my thread didnt get much response - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=424772

On ebay, the config I posted was less than $600 AUD. I might do something with it in uni holidays :)

jackmc
May 6th, 2007, 06:43 AM
and its weird that we have matching avatars.

rbalfour
May 6th, 2007, 08:07 AM
ASUS is good. There are Linux drivers for LAN/Audio

Not to sure about GFX/Sound card.


OK I've had this (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2100159,00.asp) website bookmarked for some time now.
CPU Core 2 Duo E6300
Motherboard ASUS P5N SLI
Memory OCZ Gold PC-6400 512MB x2
Graphics XFX GeForce 7600 GT
Sound card Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value
Keyboard Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000
Mouse Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical
Hard drives Seagate 7200.9 160GB
Optical drive Pioneer DVR-111D
Case Antec TX-640B with 400W power supply

I don't NEED the HDD, Keyboard, Mouse, and Optical Drive but if I end up below the budget I will get them.
I want to build it or an equivalent computer using hardware that is known to work well with Linux and, if possible brands that encourage open source.
What are some recommendations keeping in mind I want it to be under $800 Australian (I know the website is in American dollars but lets see what we can come up with).
guitarmaniac.

guitarmaniac
May 6th, 2007, 09:01 AM
and its weird that we have matching avatars.

uncanny. you a muso as well? I've been thinking of changing mine as it seems to be somewhat common.

guitarmaniac
May 6th, 2007, 09:07 AM
Not to sure about GFX/Sound card.I'm not dead set on getting that particular sound card, a midrange one will do just fine, and I can keep my current one if I don't find anything I like.
ASUS is good. There are Linux drivers for LAN/AudioI was looking at gigabyte motherboards also but that ASUS one looks quite good and I'll stick to the guide where possible.

igknighted
May 6th, 2007, 09:42 AM
I'm not dead set on getting that particular sound card, a midrange one will do just fine, and I can keep my current one if I don't find anything I like.I was looking at gigabyte motherboards also but that ASUS one looks quite good and I'll stick to the guide where possible.

I have a gigabtye mobo... its been very nice. I would avoid SB sound cards (well, unless you are an audiophile I would avoid adding a sound card in general...) because the nice ones often do not work in linux, and the cheaper ones are worthless. They are promising drivers by q4 2007 if you want to wait that long for sound, but I'm not holding my breath for them to hit that date. Probably some time early 2008.

EDIT: The other choices look good. I would hesitate to trust extreme tech when it comes to anything linux, however, in the future.

guitarmaniac
May 6th, 2007, 09:58 AM
OK I can't live with on-board sound I suppose. Unless anyone knows of a good, relatively cheap sound card that has good Linux support.

bikeboy
May 6th, 2007, 09:58 AM
That Asus motherboard or the equivalent Gigabyte are good options, both readily available brands in Aus. There's little difference, iirc the Gigabyte has a few more features (firewire?) while the Asus is a better overclocker.

IMHO get value ram instead of the OCZ Gold. Much cheaper and you won't notice the difference unless you're trying to overclock, even then the diff could be minimal and not worth the $$. You could probably manage 2gb of value ram for less than 1gb of the Gold. Corsair and OCZ make value ram, brands like Kingston are fine too. Just make sure it's DDR2 for that CPU.

I agree that you should consider ditching the sound card, onboard is fine for most and seems to work well in Linux (the ones I've tried anyway).

For the graphics card, as long as it's Nvidia you should be right, the XFX is a good option and is again easy to get here.

To find the best prices, http://www.staticice.com.au is your friend.

guitarmaniac
May 6th, 2007, 09:59 AM
@jackmc

I changed my avatar to save confusion. :P

guitarmaniac
May 6th, 2007, 10:12 AM
That Asus motherboard or the equivalent Gigabyte are good options, both readily available brands in Aus. There's little difference, iirc the Gigabyte has a few more features (firewire?) while the Asus is a better overclocker.is there a particular motherboard of either brand that you'd recommend? I probably wouldnt use a firewire port much but my brother does a little video editing and my girlfriends iPod does have a firewire connection so I would use it if it was there, but probably not much.
IMHO get value ram instead of the OCZ Gold. Much cheaper and you won't notice the difference unless you're trying to overclock, even then the diff could be minimal and not worth the $$. You could probably manage 2gb of value ram for less than 1gb of the Gold. Corsair and OCZ make value ram, brands like Kingston are fine too. Just make sure it's DDR2 for that CPU.OK I will go with the cheaper stuff then if theres that much of a difference, I just want something that will last a few years, not a spaceship so I'll take your advice there.
I agree that you should consider ditching the sound card, onboard is fine for most and seems to work well in Linux (the ones I've tried anyway).will do
For the graphics card, as long as it's Nvidia you should be right, the XFX is a good option and is again easy to get here.will stick with the XFX GeForce 7600 GT unless I find anything thats a lot better/cheaper :P
To find the best prices, http://www.staticice.com.au is your friend.Will check it out, its Australian so hopefully the shipping prices arent too bad.
Thanks for the help so far everyone, I'd still like to hear more opinions so KEEP POSTING

%hMa@?b<C
May 6th, 2007, 03:56 PM
just to let you know, firewire only works on the ipod if it is formatted HFS+, yours is probably fat32 if you set it up on a windows box.

Iceni
May 6th, 2007, 05:05 PM
You want to get the Core 2 Duo E6320 instead. It costs the same and ups the cache from 2 to 4 megabytes:) Also I would advice on a bigger hard drive instead of multiple 160gb ones, simply for practical reasons. Always nice to save some space in your case in case you want 4 more :)

guitarmaniac
May 7th, 2007, 10:16 AM
jeffc313

just to let you know, firewire only works on the ipod if it is formatted HFS+, yours is probably fat32 if you set it up on a windows box.OK yeah mine is formatted to fat32 so firewires pretty useless to me, thanks for the heads up.
Iceni

You want to get the Core 2 Duo E6320 instead. It costs the same and ups the cache from 2 to 4 megabytes Also I would advice on a bigger hard drive instead of multiple 160gb ones, simply for practical reasons. Always nice to save some space in your case in case you want 4 morereally??? thats quite a useful thing to know. if theres are indeed the same price or have little difference then its $$$ well spent. I wanted to buy an AMD simply because I prefer them over intel and havent had any problems with them in the past, but it looks like it will be a while before they can rival intel which is depressing.
I don't NEED the hard drive, I've been doing just fine with an 80GB one but more storage can't hurt. Is there a particular model you would recommend?

Spr0k3t
May 7th, 2007, 10:26 AM
I'm just curious... what's wrong with integrated sound and how does an external sound card differ?

guitarmaniac
May 7th, 2007, 12:10 PM
Spr0k3t

I'm just curious... what's wrong with integrated sound and how does an external sound card differ?
The signal-to-noise ratio is typically poor, 3D audio options are limited, and since all the processing is host-based, games that use lots of audio channels can slow down a bit.taken from http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2100165,00.asp

Alex N
May 7th, 2007, 01:02 PM
OK I've had this (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2100159,00.asp) website bookmarked for some time now.
CPU Core 2 Duo E6300
Motherboard ASUS P5N SLI
Memory OCZ Gold PC-6400 512MB x2
Graphics XFX GeForce 7600 GT
Sound card Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value
Keyboard Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000
Mouse Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical
Hard drives Seagate 7200.9 160GB
Optical drive Pioneer DVR-111D
Case Antec TX-640B with 400W power supply

I don't NEED the HDD, Keyboard, Mouse, and Optical Drive but if I end up below the budget I will get them.


First of all, decide what you need. For games you typically need more powerful graphics card, but almost any good sound will do. This configuration does not seem well balanced
for me. Does 7600 GT support SLI ? Also I'd recommend against anything called SoundBlaster. If you need to work with sound, buy good expensive card, external preferred.
If no - stay with integrated one.

I've made many computers already and I can tell that it is not a problem at all. Read tomshardware.com and similar sites,

Iceni
May 7th, 2007, 01:12 PM
OK yeah mine is formatted to fat32 so firewires pretty useless to me, thanks for the heads up.really??? thats quite a useful thing to know. if theres are indeed the same price or have little difference then its $$$ well spent. I wanted to buy an AMD simply because I prefer them over intel and havent had any problems with them in the past, but it looks like it will be a while before they can rival intel which is depressing.
I don't NEED the hard drive, I've been doing just fine with an 80GB one but more storage can't hurt. Is there a particular model you would recommend?

Yea, it's a new version, probably to stay ahead of amd. I am also an amd user, but they are really nowhere compared to intel right now. The worst thing for them is the incredible performance of even low-end core 2's, making the choice easy for us buyers at this time.

About the hard drive - I was just thinking you might want to save space for more drives later. But if you are happy with your 80gb I doubt you'll care about getting the most space out of 5 3.5 slots in your case:) I have good experiences with wd and segate sata's, no real difference between them as far as I am concerned.

ahaslam
May 7th, 2007, 01:14 PM
OK I've had this (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2100159,00.asp) website bookmarked for some time now.
CPU Core 2 Duo E6300
Motherboard ASUS P5N SLI
Memory OCZ Gold PC-6400 512MB x2
Graphics XFX GeForce 7600 GT
Sound card Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value
Keyboard Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000
Mouse Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical
Hard drives Seagate 7200.9 160GB
Optical drive Pioneer DVR-111D
Case Antec TX-640B with 400W power supply

I don't NEED the HDD, Keyboard, Mouse, and Optical Drive but if I end up below the budget I will get them.
I want to build it or an equivalent computer using hardware that is known to work well with Linux and, if possible brands that encourage open source.
What are some recommendations keeping in mind I want it to be under $800 Australian (I know the website is in American dollars but lets see what we can come up with).
guitarmaniac.

Did you choose that mobo & vga for SLI? If you're not going SLI, I'd go with a GA-965P-DS3 & a 7950GT.
If you're overclocking or going SLI you'll need a better psu, something like a CoolMaster 500W iGreen (http://www.coolermaster-europe.com/index.php?LT=uk&Language_s=15&url_place=product&ftype=&p_serial=RS-500-ASAA&other_title=0).

PS. just read through the previous comments.... value ram is fine for standard desktop use, but not performance. The C2D really responds well to low latency memory & heat spreaders are essential for decent overclocks. Basically I'd recommend any ddr2-800 at cas4 with spreaders, there's better but you'll find a good value/performance compromise here.

maniacmusician
May 7th, 2007, 01:29 PM
motherboard - Gigabye GA-965P-DQ6, since you asked for recommendations on a gigabyte board.
Graphics - decide this at the end and spend however much you can on it. The more the better
Hard drive - For hard drives, I really only consider Western Digital and Seagate. Maxtor sucks, and none of the others really have a big reputation yet.
sound card -Don't really need it, as others have mentioned
case/PSU - 400W may not be enough if you get a better graphics card.


I would recommend getting a 160 or 200GB hard drive. It leaves room for expansion if you want more later. Make sure that the hard drive you buy is SATAII (aka SATA 3.0Gb/s), not the normal IDE/ATA hard drives.

For RAM, don't get two sticks of 512. In this day and age, that's a waste. If anything, you should go for 1GBx2, or 1GBx1. when you want to add more RAM later, and you probably will somewhere along the line, you'll be able to fit more this way.

Detonate
May 7th, 2007, 02:06 PM
If you really want to save some money, or as it was in my case, get a lot more computer for your money, check out the "open box" deals at newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/CategoryList.aspx

The problem is, the products may come without instructions, or cables, etc.

My MB did not include instructions. But these were available on the manufacturer's web site. My hard drive came without a sata cable. My DVD/CD/RW did not include any instructions. Again, info was available at the manufacturer's web site. Everything went together and worked without a hitch.

If you see a really good deal there, move on it quick. They don't last long.

Bartender
May 7th, 2007, 02:52 PM
Have you looked around at Phoronix (http://www.phoronix.com/)?
Lots of Linux/hardware testing.

guitarmaniac
May 8th, 2007, 08:57 AM
OK heres what I've got so far:

CPU Core 2 Duo E6320
Motherboard ASUS P5N SLI (@musicmaniac: the gigabyte mobo that you offered is a fair bit more expensive than the ASUS one and I'm on a budget :P)

Memory WHATEVERS CHEAPEST 512MB x2
Graphics XFX GeForce 7600 GT?
Sound card onboard
Keyboard doesnt matter.
Mouse doesnt matter.
Hard drives WD or Seagate 160GB?
Optical drive Pioneer DVR-111D?
Case Antec TX-640B with 400W power supply

the Antec case I'm having a bit of trouble finding and I've heard bad stuff about the power supply (though I'm not too worried).
Also I'm DEFINITELY crossing the mouse and keyboard that I had before off the list as I havent given Microsoft a $ in my life and I don't intend to start now.
Still thinking about the sound card as I wouldn't mind doing a little bit of recording (haven't really done any recording before but ubuntustudio has just come out/is coming out soon so I might hit up a friend to download it for me as I don't have the bandwidth myself and give it a try).
Any recommendations on cheap RAM anyone?
Keep in mind I'm not an extreme gamer (I use linux if you didn't realise so if anything on the list looks too high end then let me know.

ahaslam
May 8th, 2007, 08:27 PM
Any recommendations on cheap RAM anyone?
Check this out: http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair/products/specs/twin2x1024-5400c4.pdf
Very cheap & overclocks like you wouldn't believe, I'm running it at 900MHz with stock timings 8)

PS. Yeah the DQ6 is pricey, how about the DS3?

Zweih
May 8th, 2007, 08:54 PM
CPU Core 2 Duo E6320
Motherboard ASUS P5N-E SLI (@musicmaniac: the gigabyte mobo that you offered is a fair bit more expensive than the ASUS one and I'm on a budget :P)

Memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231098
Graphics http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130062 <--- evga has the step up program, which allows you to send the card you bought from them for credit towards another card from them.
Sound card onboard
Keyboard doesnt matter.
Mouse doesnt matter.
Hard drives http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136074
Optical drive Pioneer DVR-111D?
Case Antec TX-640B with 400W power supply


everything else works I guess, but those changes, well, there ya go

sloggerkhan
May 8th, 2007, 09:05 PM
Good deal if you're into rebates:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130056

For ABOUT $750 you should be able to get:
A case ( http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811154071 is a decent one with a handle (I like handles) or whatever you want )

A mobo (For under $130)

A 500 w power supply (Under $60)

A Core 2 Duo 6420 ( or in general, 6300-6420 range, under $185)

2 gigs DDR2 800 (under $130)

Seagate 320 or 400 gb HD (under $100)

DVD Burner (Under $33)

nVidia card (look at deal above, otherwise under $140 is probably a 7600GT)

If you built an AMD system, you could probably get nearly the same stuff and save another $65, though your CPU wouldn't perform as well.

guitarmaniac
May 10th, 2007, 12:45 PM
Ok I'm going to buy the computer piece by piece, one or two bits a fortnight. What should I get first, and if you know a site where I can get it cheap, please post a link. I am in AUSTRALIA so all the links to newegg.com etc are useless to me sadly as they don't ship out of America.
I'll go with the case first. I what do people think of this http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-P4-AMD-ATX-COMPUTER-CASE-w-500W-Power-Supply-USB_W0QQitemZ220109722026QQihZ012QQcategoryZ111424 QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem thanks for all the help so far guys.

guitarmaniac
May 11th, 2007, 01:43 PM
I've been thinking a bit and while spending $800 on a computer is quite cheap, I am not going to be running high performance games etc in Linux and for a little over $600 Australian, I can make a decent PC with tried and tested hardware that should, hopefully last me a few years anyway.
I went to tomshardware.com which should have been the obvious thing to do in the first place, and found this (http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/05/08/system_builder_marathon/) guide.
What does everybody think?

Snargledorf
May 11th, 2007, 01:54 PM
ALL HARDWARE WORKS WELL WITH LINUX!!! :p

Iceni
May 11th, 2007, 03:12 PM
I've been thinking a bit and while spending $800 on a computer is quite cheap, I am not going to be running high performance games etc in Linux and for a little over $600 Australian, I can make a decent PC with tried and tested hardware that should, hopefully last me a few years anyway.
I went to tomshardware.com which should have been the obvious thing to do in the first place, and found this (http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/05/08/system_builder_marathon/) guide.
What does everybody think?

Yea you can trust that tom know what he is talking about.

Don't bother bying a sound card tho, onboards are pretty good now and if you are not into serious stuff you dont need any more. You can eventually buy one later when you find some more money. Also as stated in that guide, you don't want to cheapen out on power supply. The case is also something you don't want to get too cheap, the cooler master centurion 5 is probably perfect for your needs.

guitarmaniac
May 12th, 2007, 12:08 AM
OK as I said before, I'm going to buy each part seperatly over a number of weeks. First two parts, mobo and case.
Found a good mobo here (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/MSI-K9N4-ULTRA-F-AMD-AM2-MOTHERBOARD-DUAL-DDR2-800-MI4_W0QQitemZ110125155675QQihZ001QQcategoryZ149173 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) so I just need to find the Cooler Master Centurion 5 case, preferably from within Australia to save on shipping :P