Budget Build for 12.04 Precise 64bit Desktop

[shreepads]

Hi

Need to put together a 12.04 budget system which will primarily be used for browsing (including video streaming), Skype, managing photos, playing music/ videos (up to 1080p), LibreOffice and some light gaming (e.g. Solitaire, Hearts, Sudoku, World of Goo, FieldRunners, TuxCart, SuperTux, Gcompris, TuxPaint etc).

Will not be used for video/ audio editing, RAW image processing, 3D rendering or intensive gaming (e.g. FPS, Speed DReams etc).

OK to use a low resource desktop like XFCE if necessary, but would ideally like to use a more intensive one like Cinnamon or even Unity (I won't be using it!).

Starting point is the latest budget build(s) recommended by Anandtech on
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6182/f...m-buyers-guide

Not too keen on ITX so this build:

Intel Celeron G530 minitower system

Component Product                                    Price 
Case Fractal Design Core 1000                        $47 
Power supply Antec Earthwatts 380W                   $39 
CPU Intel Celeron G530                               $45 
Motherboard Biostar H61MGC                           $50 
RAM 1 x 4GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1333                   $20 
Solid state drive Intel 330 Series 60GB              $67 
Hard disk drive Western Digital 250GB WD2500AAKX     $60 
Optical drive Samsung SH-222BB/RSBS                  $19 
Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit       $91 

  Cost with SSD: $378 
  Cost with HDD: $371

Have some doubts about
- PSU: Antec Earthwatts not available where I live, what other sub 400W PSU would be good and not too expensive?
- CPU: Is the G530 HD Graphics capable of running Unity/ Cinnamon and 1080p video (in Linux) smoothly?
- Motherboard: Want to use Intel's own H61 as have found Intel mobos tend to work very well with Linux. Of course H61 doesn't have USB 3.0 so that's a drawback. And getting USB 3.0 support via PCIe cards in Linux seems like an iffy thing from reading around the interwebs. But do get PCIe 3.0 so that's nice...
- RAM: Is 1x4GB better or 2x2GB? Assuming will never need more than 4GB for the scenario outlined
- Storage: SSD out of question will probably go for WD Blue 500GB or so, should be sufficient for the needs?
- Optical drive: Probably go for a Asus one
- OS Win 7 for $91: Yeah, right!

Add-ons:
- Webcam: Any cheap good Linux compatible ones?
- Monitor: Preferably 20/ 21 inch, is there anything like a cheap good IPS panel monitor?

TIA for any suggestions!

[Epodx64]

It'd personally stay away from the Celeron at all costs those things are junk and nothing but problems. If you wanted to go a little cheaper go with an AMD build not as nice as Intel but you'd be able to piece together something pretty decent on newegg.

[whatthefunk]

Another thing to make sure of is that the onboard graphics card will work with Linux. On my Z68 mb, the on board graphics is not detected at all.

Agree about Celeron. My old computer had a Celeron chip and it was garbage.

[Epodx64]

If you're not looking to overclock you could get a G41 LGA 775 chipset w/ DDR3 Ram (Gigabyte GA-G41MT-S2PT) Get a nice quad core "core 2 quad" Q9450 should work nice get some crucial DDR3 ram. The GMA X4500 works fine under Ubuntu The Q9450 is a pretty damn good processor still w/ 8 GiB's or DDR3 Ram that should run anything you could possible throw at it and would be pretty cheap 50$ for the mobo 125ish$ for the processor 30$ for the Ram get a 500 watt psu too just to be safe.

[varunendra]

For the kind of requirements you mentioned, I'd recommend an AMD Sempron-145 with Asus M5A78M-LE (or even LX will do). If you are lucky enough, the 145 may get successfully unlocked to 2-cores, and can also be safely overclocked upto 3.2 GHz at stock voltage with even the cheapest type psu (I have run it successfully for 24hrs.+ @ 3.4GHz @ stock voltage with a cheap 250W i-Ball psu). Even if not, the combo will be better than the combination in your signature (have personally tested it against HP DX2480 with E7400 cpu).

Also, since you don't seem to need overclocking, why corsair? Get a 1333MHz 1x4 GB Kingston or Transcend RAM module. 2x2GB is definitely better, but only slightly and given your scenario, not worth the price difference IMHO. For PSU, go with any Cooler-Master sub400W model, or any decent one.

If you really care for USB3, then I'm afraid the budget will dramatically increase. For that addition, I'd recommend an AMD FX-4100 with Asus M5A88-M. The remaining specs may remain the same, but the overall power and features will rise (and so will the cost) equivalent to a decent 3d gaming rig.

Do tell us what you went with and how's the performance.

[shreepads]

Thanks for all the comments!

- This build is for someone else, not me. I'm going to continue using the build in my sign (just got a USB 3.0 expansion card working succesfully in it!) for the forseeable future...

- Re Celeron, I think Intel has made a mistake branding these low end Sandy Bridge chips (eg like the G530) with the 'Celeron' brand, given the poor impression the earlier range of Celeron chips created.
See this: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5005/h...buyers-guide/2

- Re Z68, I think the chipset itself has no graphics capabilities, it uses the graphics in the Sandy Bridge cores (or a discrete card). Which CPU are you using on that Z68?

- Re LGA 775/ G41/ Q9450: Not too keen on a build using EOL components. And a quad-core seems over-kill for what I have in mind, not to mention more expensive.

- AMD, somehow have this impression that AMD parts are more power hungry and less Linux compatible (especially the onboard Radeon graphics), could be entirely wrong though, don't have any experience with them!

- Overclocking not really an option. I don't have much experience in it and given the thermal and power conditions where I live I don't want to try it. Yes, entry level memory modules (Corsair has a few of those as well) should do just fine..

[whatthefunk]

- Re Z68, I think the chipset itself has no graphics capabilities, it uses the graphics in the Sandy Bridge cores (or a discrete card). Which CPU are you using on that Z68?

Core i5 3.1 GHz

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Core i5 3.1 GHz

Hmmm probably Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) with Intel HD 2000 Graphics?

[whatthefunk]

Thats the one.

[shreepads]

Thats the one.

Going a bit OT here, but have you seen this:
https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=38492