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Hello good members of the Archlinux forums. Recently I have decided to build a computer, for gaming and daily usage, of my own instead of purchasing one already built. However since it is my first time building one, especially to make sure it is a beastly computer that will work nicely with Linux (I've googled most of the parts with linux in the search bar and most seem to be good to go I just want to be entirely sure), I would like a review of the parts I have chosen:
Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6811119160
GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6813128377
SAPPHIRE 100251SR Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit (256-bit x 2) GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6814102768
COOLER MASTER Real Power Pro1000 RS-A00-EMBA 1000W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6817171022
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6819103674
Patriot Viper 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PVT36G1600ELK
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6820220365
Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6822136320
Acer X233Hbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 40000:1 (ACM)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6824009163
SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 22X DVD-R 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner LightScribe Support
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6827151188
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional 70SB088600002 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Express Interface Sound Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6829102019
LINKSYS WUSB600N IEEE 802.11a/b/g, IEEE802.11n Draft USB 2.0 Wireless-N USB Network Adapter with Dual-Band Security features: WEP, WPA, and WPA2 Security key bits: Up to 256-bit encryption
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6833124278
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6835100007
ZALMAN CNPS9900LED 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6835118046
Logitech X-540 70 watts 5.1 Speaker
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6836121006
I'm aware I don't have a keyboard or mouse in the list. I plan to go to a local Best Buy to get those items. While Arch Linux will be the main operating system that I will be using I'm keeping Windows around for gaming.
Last edited by IvanEsirean (2009-07-29 19:51:24)
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ATI cards suck on Linux, because Catalyst drivers are horrible and open drivers have no proper 3D acceleration. Use nVidia instead.
But everything which doesn't need proper drivers (motherboard, cooler etc.) should work fine, because they aren't dependent on OS.
Edit: Not sure about the rest, somebody else should share his/her wisdom.
Last edited by Exitium (2009-07-29 16:30:45)
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ATI cards suck on Linux, because Catalyst drivers are horrible and open drivers have no proper 3D acceleration. Use nVidia instead.
But everything which doesn't need proper drivers (motherboard, cooler etc.) should work fine, because they aren't dependent on OS.
Edit: Not sure about the rest, somebody else should share his/her wisdom.
I will say, that ATi 4870x2 is a GREAT card under Windows...but-it is HUGE, a bit under 30cm. Depending on how your layout works, be warned you might have to get an angle grinder and cut metal out of drive cages to get it to go in.
My Nvidia GTX260 is 25cm, and only squeezes into my LianLi ATX mid-tower
Last edited by Skripka (2009-07-29 16:40:02)
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X-Fi support is limited and you won't be able to make full use of the card's capabilities. It will work though. Creative released the driver source code a while ago but so far ALSA hasn't included it. Hopefully they'll get around to that soon.
My Arch Linux Stuff • Forum Etiquette • Community Ethos - Arch is not for everyone
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So other than my graphic card choice and sound card choice I should be good to go?
I think I can be patient on the sound card, on the other hand I've been searching around now for a nice Nvidia card to replace the ATI one.
Which one would you guys recommend that would be nice for gaming and not too pricey?
Last edited by IvanEsirean (2009-07-29 18:56:00)
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So other than my graphic card choice and sound card choice I should be good to go?
I think I can be patient on the sound card, on the other hand I've been searching around now for a nice Nvidia card to replace the ATI one.
Which one would you guys recommend that would be nice for gaming and not too pricey?
What games do you want to play?
I think 8800GT or 9600GT will be good
Last edited by SpeedVin (2009-07-29 19:21:36)
Shell Scripter | C/C++/Python/Java Coder | ZSH
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Hmmm, after some thinking and research for now I will go with a 9600GT and upgrade later if need be.
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I think the LINKSYS WUSB600N might give you a (minor) headache. A while back you would have had to compile a custom kernel, afair. I believe it has become much simpler now, but I am not absolutely certain. There is the rt2870sta module which is supposed to work. Also, a new module called rt2800usb is now in the wireless-next branch of the kernel. If you are unsure, do a quick search.
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X-Fi support is limited and you won't be able to make full use of the card's capabilities. It will work though. Creative released the driver source code a while ago but so far ALSA hasn't included it. Hopefully they'll get around to that soon.
There is a good working snd-ctxfi driver in the alsa git. I only use Stereo, but from what i heard the rest should work just fine.
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9600GT runs like a champ on my main rig... never had any problems with it... just be sure to play around with the Loose Binding and Indirect Rendering settings if you plan on using compiz
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