My new Linux/OC/Gaming build :)

R

Remp

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Hey guys!

I'm gonna build a new computer in a few weeks, and here is my hardware list. Please tell me what you think about it, I hope everything is compatible with linux. (I think they are)
I'm also gonna game on this computer, I'll be using Dual boot. Another question: What do you think about the PSU? Someone says that it's enough, but someone says that I need at least 600W.... But I think that's too much..

Case: Fractal Design Core 3000
Motherboard: Gigabyte P67A-D3-B3 Intel P67 LGA1155
Processor: INTEL Core i5 2500K 3.30 GHz
Graphic Card: ATI HD6870 Sapphire
Memory: Kingmax 8GB/1333MHz DDR-3
Winchester: WD 500GB 7200RPM SATAIII 16MB
PSU: Cooler Master GX450W
 


That looks like a pretty respectable setup. You might consider booting to an SSD and using the mechanical drive for just storage. You have some good horsepower and RAM there, it'd be a shame to let the hard drive hold you back. The PSU is probably enough but personally I'd step up to something a little bigger like a 600W unit to accommodate future upgrades like additional video cards and optical drives. It's not just about what you need now, but also what you'll need in the future. You could always just replace the PSU if necessary but for that I'd personally rather spend a couple bucks extra up front and have it taken care of.

I'm curious, what OSes will you be dual-booting?
 
Yeah, since I've posted I made a few modifications, and I ordered the setup. My PSU is now a Chieftec CTG 600W, and the case is a Bitfenix Shinobi. I've been thinking about the SSD too, but I think it's just too expensive.. :S Maybe later, when the price drops a little.
 
Oh, and I forgot to mention the dual-boot: Actually, I think I'm gonna triple boot, because I'm gonna use Crunchbang Linux as my primary OS, and Win 7 for gaming, and I wanna experiment with Mountain Lion hackintosh too, because I'm interested in the hackintosh world as well :D
 
That looks like an awesome spec, it'll keep you running for years :)
 
I've been thinking about the SSD too, but I think it's just too expensive.. :S Maybe later, when the price drops a little.
Yeah, I haven't taken the SSD plunge yet either because of prices, but the drives keep getting bigger, faster, and cheaper so it's just a matter of time before they get affordable enough to pull the trigger.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the dual-boot: Actually, I think I'm gonna triple boot, because I'm gonna use Crunchbang Linux as my primary OS, and Win 7 for gaming, and I wanna experiment with Mountain Lion hackintosh too, because I'm interested in the hackintosh world as well :D

I haven't heard of Crunchbang Linux, what interests you about it? I should look into running a Hackintosh OS. I've been interested in what the Apple fans are always raving about, but don't want to pay a premium for hardware to check it out. I'm more of a "bang for the buck" kind of guy.
 
Haha I totally agree with you... I thought about getting a Mac Mini, but for the same price I could get a lot better PC. And that's what I did... okay it's a bit more expensive than a Mac Mini, but you couldn't get any Mac with at least this good specs for the same price. Maybe for the double :p I really like the Mac OS, but I like Windows and Linux too for different things... I just couldn't choose between these two to go with for life. I'm always going to be switching and experimenting :D

I like Crunchbang because of it's minimalism, and it's lightweight too :) I don't know why I like lightweight systems so much, but I do like them :D
 
Haha I totally agree with you...
I like Crunchbang because of it's minimalism, and it's lightweight too :) I don't know why I like lightweight systems so much, but I do like them :D

Performance is a key parameter in my liking lite distros, too. #! is fun, it's Debian-based in Statler, and the support is good.

BTW -- you're wisely going with the 600W PSU -- this will allow slight OC specs (something you'll want to explore).

For example: I unlocked the second core on a Sempron 145 and have it running stably at 3+GHz as an Athlon II X2; Mushkin Essentials DDR3 1066 2X4GB RAM runs at 1333Mhz with mildest OC. This allowed via my new Gigabyte GA-M68MT-S2 mobo. I just put it together and have it powered by a CoolerMaster 550W PSU, which is really more than I need with this setup. I'm dual-booting Salix64-xfce-13.37 and Peppermint-Two-amd64-06052011 on a 500GB Seagate 7200rpm hdd; GPU is a nVidia Quadro FX 3450, which should be adequate when the new Humble Bundle arrives. I'll see how Oil Rush runs, too.

No SSDs for me unless I get a helluva good buy!

Best wishes with your new build!
 
Looks like you have power to spare. Why the dual boot? To play games? If so, what kind of games are you into?
 
Good idea dual booting :) When I had Linux before I found Windows better for gaming.
 
Yeah, Dual Booting is for gaming :) And I'll use Linux for programming, and general computing. I wouldn't need a config like this only for programming :p Btw, I wanna play Guild Wars 2, and a few upcoming games like GTA 5, and other games like Saints Row the third...etc these newer games I couldn't run on my current machine.
 
Instead of dual/multi-booting, you might also consider using virtual machines. A virtual machine is an isolated guest operating system that runs within the host operating system. Using a virtual machine, you can have your favorite flavor of Linux running on your Windows machine or run some version of Windows in your Linux environment. Some of the most popular virtual machine applications are:


You probably won't have much luck running games or video intensive apps in a virtual machine, but having another environment and your favorite apps it available to you without rebooting into another operating system can be very handy.
 
Yeah, I know about virtual machines, but I'll just stick with dual booting, because mostly I wanna play games on Windows, I don't really need anything else... only Photoshop and Illustrator, but these two are not for virtual machines too... I think. By the way you can play games on Virtual machines, at least I had success running a few smaller indie games, and they ran pretty well!
 
By the way you can play games on Virtual machines, at least I had success running a few smaller indie games, and they ran pretty well!
Yeah, smaller more lightweight games may run well enough, but I was thinking more of the higher end graphically intense stuff. Even with top notch hardware you could have problems running that kind of stuff.

Another thought on virtual machines... they're also handy for when you want to try out an operating system without carving up your hard drive for something you may not care to keep. It's nice to be able to fire up an empty VM, load the new OS, and start playing around with it right away. I most recently did this very thing when the Windows 8 Consumer Preview was released. Being an operating system that not only was new to me, but also still in beta and months away from officially being released, there's no way I'm going to go mucking about with my partitions for something like that.
 
You got me thinking now... as you know I really like experimenting with new stuff :) I think I'm gonna try the new Windows 8 through Virtual Box :) Thanks for the tip :p
 
This has me even thinking :)

I'm gonna try the Windows 8 through Visual Box as well! Thanks for this.
 
You got me thinking now... as you know I really like experimenting with new stuff :) I think I'm gonna try the new Windows 8 through Virtual Box :) Thanks for the tip :p

This has me even thinking :)

I'm gonna try the Windows 8 through Visual Box as well! Thanks for this.
I highly recommend keeping a few VMs around loaded with your favorite operating systems. They are a great way to try out new ideas and new software without taking the risks of messing up your system!
 
Wow, I must say that's some pretty impressive stuff, and I'm impressed by the fact you've managed to accomplish that. Should be a great PC to game on and I wish you the absolute best of luck with the system!
 
Those specs sound excellent for gaming on a Linux. I wasn't fully aware that gaming works fine on Linux platforms, but now that you mentioned it, I might as well give it a try when I order my laptop. Thanks for sharing!
 
Nice specs, that's pretty similar to what I've got and it works pretty good.
 

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