Just ordered new computer -- input compatability, etc welcome!

[em3raldxiii]

Okay, so I did a little bit of research on compatability, and unfortunately most of the hardware I purchased is too new to have much data on compatability. So I am posting it here to get some discussion going.

This computer will be used for serious all-around computing, including pretty much everything. I do a little 3d gaming (not a huge amount, but some), I do a little video encoding, the usual internet junk, and I will be connecting it eventually to a HTPC (which I haven't built yet) over a wireless network.

So I am interested in compatability, comments on performance (although I am not terribly keen on discussing INTEL versus AMD, I am aware of the differences ... but others are welcome to hack that one out on this thread if they want ;) ). Just general commentary. I saved a ton of coin on this one by building it as a bundle, got free shipping, free VIP membership, and a bunch of extra perks.

WIthout further adieu, here's the hardware list:

My New Computer

CASE: Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay No PS Top USB2.0 1394 Audio

PROCESSOR: AMD Phenom 9500 Quad Core Processor 2.2GHZ 4MB 95W Socket AM2+

MOTHERBOARD: ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe WiFi 790FX AM2+ 4PCI-E16 CrossFireX 2PCI SATA2 RAID Sound GBLAN Motherboard

MEMORY: Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400 2GB 2X1GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 5-5-5-18 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel RAM

VIDEOCARD" ASUS Radeon HD 3850 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDCP HDMI HDTV Out Video Card

POWER SUPPLY: Corsair TX650W 650W ATX 12V 52A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 120MM Fan

HARD DRIVES: 2X Western Digital SE16 500GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB Cache 8.9MS NCQ Hard Drive OEM 3YR MFR Warranty

OPTICAL DRIVE: LG G-H20L-S10 Black DVD+RW 20X8X16 DVD-RW 20X6X16 Lightscribe INT SATA DVD Writer OEM

SPEAKERS: Logitech X-230 2.1 Speaker System Black 32W RMS FDD2

ROUTER: ASUS WL-500G Premium Wireless Router 802.11G 54MBPS 4X10/100 Ports Media Server Bittorrent FTP Http

HD ENCLOSURE: Antec MX-100 Aluminum 3.5IN SATA Hard Drive Enclosure USB2.0

MEDIA READER: Logisys FP801BK Black 5 1/4" Panel W/ THERMAL, Power ON, LCD DISPLAY, Card READER, 13 I/O Port

EXTRAS:
Tru Blu by Taiyo Yuden DVD-R 8X 4.7GB 100 Disc Bulk Pack Shiney Silver Top
Ritek 80MIN 52X CD-R 50 Disc Shrink Wrap Bulk Pack
NCIX VIP MEMBERSHIP FEE P thER YEAR
RPM Sports Powerballs 250HZ Pro Gyroscopic Wrist & Grip Excerciser with RPM Display
Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound Paste NON-ELECTRICAL Conductive 4 Gram

GAME: Valve Black Box Coupon - *AMD Promo Only Not for Resale*

GAME: John WOO'S Stranglehold (PC Game - OEM DVD-ROM) ** AMD / ATI Promo Bundle Only **

Bottom Line: $1500 (including GST & Shipping)

I have the rest of the peripherals alreay :D :guitar:
I appreciate all your feedback!

[hhhhhx]

sounds like a heck of a machine, i like the 1TB of storage. :)

[ephonk]

Very nice machine! I'm thinking of building something similar myself - The principal difference being a Phenom 9600 2.3Ghz and DUAL Radeon 3850's set up with CrossFireX.

Sounds like you're getting more for the price tho - who are you ordering from?

[jargs]

Change that ATI card to Nvidia and you'll be set to go ;)

[hhhhhx]

shouldn't you be useing intel processors for gaming?

[geekygirl]

Personally I would steer clear of the Phenom's right now and wait until AMD release the next batch of B3 cores as there have been reports of BIOS incompatibility issues as well as problems when running virtualization apps apparently. (I am not biased AMD or Intel - my current rig is the first Intel rig I have ever had lol)

Having said that though as long as your mobo is verified Phenom compatible (there are about 17 on the market at the moment...) you shouldn't have any issues..its just something to keep in mind in case you do have issues.

Otherwise that will be a nice rig that's for sure :)

I have the Antec Nine Hundred case and it's nice and quiet and very cool. One tip though - save the thin foam that comes in your mobo box and cut it to fit in the
front of the case in front of the fans...doesn't restrict airflow in the case and saves a lot of dust getting inside the case!

Would be interested if you could give a write up about how the HD3850's go with Ubuntu and how easy (or not!) they are to setup - would be useful info for my Launchpad team *grin*

[Aquaman420]

I thought I read at Phoronix that crossfire on linux isn't supported yet.

[em3raldxiii]

Wow, thanks for the feedback guys (and gals). I'll address a couple of points:

Regarding the Radeon video cards, part of what drove me to try it was this review (http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=944&num=1) at Phoronix. In short, they said they were impressed with their apparent Ubuntu compatability. They addressed some of the driver concerns and had enough good to say to make me confident that I could make it work with a minimum of fuss.

Regarding Crossfire (which is supported by the board I chose), from what I can tell it's not supported at all by Linux. Besides which, for the comparatively small amount of gaming I do, I'll be happy with *one* high performace video card :laugh:. The Motherboard is indeed one of the few that supports the phenom.

Regarding the 1TB storage, one of the 500GB drives will be inserted into the enclosure and connected to the router which has built-in torrent support. Apparently there are open source firmware upgrades available, so if I have any gripes at all with the firmware, I will roll up my sleeves and give it a go.

Regarding the processor: I almost went with an equivalent Intel setup, but for one I am not very familiar with the newest intel arrangements, and for another, I just wanted to try the phenom out ... for the adventure ;). This way, I can give back to the Ubuntu/Linux community by posting my success. I will definitely be posting about my experience with this hardware as I go.

For anyone who is wondering, the monitor I am using is a Viewsonic VX2240w which I am *extremely* happy with. It's a 22" widescreen with a HUGE contrast ratio and 2ms latency. I know, it's a bit much for someone who doesn't game *that* much, but when I do I don't want ghosting to drive me nuts.

I order all of my stuff from a company called Netlink Computers (http://www.ncix.com). They have several outlets in the Greater Vancouver Area in Canada, and one or more somewhere in the US. I generally go through around 5 to 10 grand in computer hardware every year (I build a few for friends & family, and the odd stranger hehe), and I highly recommend Netlink (NCIX). One of my favorite features is their web-pricematching system. If you find an advertised price (not including "cash discount" prices) from a reputable dealer on the internet, post the link on your order and they will automatically match it (subject to review, of course). They also have a points-earning system for writing reviews and stuff. Hmm .... I wonder if I could earn points for referrals :twisted:

Anyhoo ... Keep the feedback rolling folx!

[dalosiman]

Wow, thanks for the feedback guys (and gals). I'll address a couple of points:

Regarding the Radeon video cards, part of what drove me to try it was this review (http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=944&num=1) at Phoronix. In short, they said they were impressed with their apparent Ubuntu compatability. They addressed some of the driver concerns and had enough good to say to make me confident that I could make it work with a minimum of fuss.

Regarding Crossfire (which is supported by the board I chose), from what I can tell it's not supported at all by Linux. Besides which, for the comparatively small amount of gaming I do, I'll be happy with *one* high performace video card :laugh:. The Motherboard is indeed one of the few that supports the phenom.


I have a radeon card in my current setup and I switch between ubuntu and windows and I've never had an issue with drivers. In fact if anything the radeon works better in Ubuntu than in windows. :)

[ephonk]

Regarding Crossfire (which is supported by the board I chose), from what I can tell it's not supported at all by Linux

Uh-oh. I may need to rethink this. I wonder if there are similar issues with Nvidia's SLI? I don't do a ton of gaming, but when I do, I want the horsepower on tap.


I order all of my stuff from a company called Netlink Computers (http://www.ncix.com). They have several outlets in the Greater Vancouver Area in Canada, and one or more somewhere in the US.

Thanx for the tip! I will certainly check them out...

[Cew27]

hi there
you have opposite preferances from me haha the machine i just built had an intel core 2 quad and nvidia 8800 ultra
may i ask why you whent for the amd phenom over the intel quad

[em3raldxiii]

Oy ... another case where I forgot to subscribe to my own thread. Sorry about that :(

Anyway, first to address ephonk: From what I have read (and that's quite a bit), SLI is supported by Linux/Ubuntu - although I haven't read any super happy success stories. I think these things (SLI and Crossfire) are on the verge of support though. From what I can tell, the hardware companies are finally starting to listen and realize that Linux users are no longer just a fringe group, but a dedicated potential market.

And Cew27, my biggest reason for going with the phenom versus intel quad is simply the fact that I have *substantially* more experience with AMD machines. Then once I got to reading about the internal workings, I liked the theory behind the AMD quads because they are four more-or-less distinct cores all actinge semi-independently on the die. The intel quads, as far as I can tell, are more like two dual-cores mashed onto one chip. The overall technology on the AMD quad was simply more attractive to me (although I do not profess to think it would be higher performance). I tend to suspect that the four individual cores would be better for my purposes (running multiple applications) versus hardcore gaming where the game can absorb as much horsepower as you can throw at it. The way I look at it (and I could be greviously erroneous here), the four individual cores won't work well with most games until those games openly support multi-threading in a quad-core kind of way; whereas individual apps can be associated with individual cores if the operating system knows what to do about it. Net result, gaming (I think) will be better on the Intel quads because of the close nature of the dual-cores on the quad chip. Again, though, this is 70% conjecture based on the smattering of information that I have come across.

I welcome correction, of course!! If anyone *knows* and can confirm/disprove any of this, please post!! Of course, open discourse is fine too ;) ... even if you are like me and are just "guessing".

Cheers!!

[soxs]

I just ordered a simiarl configured rig. Same CPU, 3870 GPU, and same motherboard, just without wifi.

I choose AMD products allover because of their poltical step towards opensource and nvidia graphics cards of the 8xxx build will NEVER get video decoding support (well, I know a quad is more than enough for decoding h.264, but .. what nvidia tries to do, just because they have atm a better graphics driver, is wiked)
I ordered a phenom, as I pretty much like the concept of the K10 architecture and as I require rather 4 cores than 2 dualcores (so gaming should be still doable^^).

Oh, just a random note: You will not get happy with wifi (at least not with ubuntu 7.10) according to a linux report for AM2+ compatibility, this board works quite well, except wifi, but it was tested with fedora 7, so you may be lucky...