Using someones pc?

Riyonuk · 2007-07-24 21:34:46

Hi all, first post here. I know the titles a little misleading, as a somewhat new linux user (I used Ubuntu for about a month), I finally have a little income to spend, and want to build a custom pc. But am on a budget. I was hoping someone would let me use there computer parts to build mine. I dont mean literally, lets say they have a Geo959+ EX, which is obviously made up...I hope. Well they tell me that, and I go but it. That way I know the parts work together. Its also my first, from scratch, custom pc.

Also, I know for a fact that I want a widescreen setup. Is it best (In terms of saving money) to go with 2 widescreens, or 1 large widescreen?

So...hope someone out there can help

Lone_Wolf · 2007-07-24 21:53:12

Widescreen : starts at 19" TFT (1440x900) . 1x 24" TFT (1920x1200) is a lot more expensive than 2x 19" .

About used parts : Arch users are spread across the world, so we'll have to know where you're located.

Riyonuk · 2007-07-24 21:55:25

Hehe, I knew I didnt explain it well. I'm not looking to buy from others, just to see a list of there "specs", that way I can buy them myself. This way, I know the pc will work

Lone_Wolf · 2007-07-24 22:09:55

No problem.

A friend of mine has this : Motherboard Asus A8V-VM SE (socket 939) , Athlon™ 64 3800+
It's an older system without sata, but cheap.

Videocards : Nvidia usually gives the least problems
Soundcards : many motherboards have onboard sound, but for a separate card check http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/

Last edited by Lone_Wolf (2007-07-24 22:11:24)

Riyonuk · 2007-07-24 22:15:06

SATA are those new hardrives right? With the little black connectors, instead of those grey strips? Or do I have them backwards?

Obi-Lan · 2007-07-24 22:31:38

SATA harddisks are those with smaller connectors. And they arent so new anymore imo.

timtux · 2007-07-24 22:37:52

Paid 709,63 USD (4795 SEK) for it at 2006-12-11. Built it myself off course. Satisfied with it, i haven't even thought about upgrading it - yet.

Q-Tec Midi tower ATX L-MD, Silver/Black, L-Series, 350W PSU
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz Socket 939, 512KB, BOXED
Corsair Value S. PC3200 DDR-DIMM 1024MB Kit w/two matched Value Select 512MB (X2 = 2048MB)
ECS NFORCE4-A939, nForce4, Socket-939, GbLAN, ATX, SATA, Ljud, Raid, PCI-Ex16
Samsung SpinPoint P120S 250GB SATA2 8MB 7200RPM
Gainward GeForce 7300GS 256MB DDR2, PCI-Express, "BP7300GS-256-TV-DVI"
NEC DVD-burner AD-5170 IDE Black OEM DVD+R/+RW/DVD-R/-RW (Dual layer)

Last edited by timtux (2007-07-25 02:54:25)

pjeremy · 2007-07-25 00:24:37

Define 'budget'.

Antec P182 SE Chrom Edition Midi-Tower € 198,-*
Abit Fatal1ty FP-IN9 € 109,-*
OCZ DIMM 4 GB DDR2-800 Kit (OCZ2G8004GK, XTC Gold) € 284,-
Intel® Core 2 Quad Q6600 Boxed, FC-LGA4, 4x 2400 MHz 2x 4096 kByte 1066 MHz (Quadpumped) Kentsfield € 259,-*
Arctic Silver ArctiClean 30+30ml € 4,90*
Zalman ZM-STG1 € 7,-*
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme € 54,-*
Seasonic S12Energy+550 Active PFC, 2x PCIe 550 Watt ATX12V 2.2, ATX 2.03, EPS, 9x 5,25",6x SATA € 124,-*
2x Scythe SFlex 1200rpm 120x120x25 € 14,-* = € 28,-
Scythe SFlex 1600rpm 120x120x25 € 14,-*
Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74 GB 4,5/16/10000 Serial ATA/150 € 124,-*
2x Samsung HD321KJ SpinPoint T166 320 GB 8,9/16/7200 Serial ATA/300 € 64,-* = € 128,-
Asus EN7600GS TOP 512MB Silent/HTD (Retail, TV-Out, DVI) € 129,-*
2x LG GSA-H55N € 42,-* = € 84,-
Teac floppydrive (black, integrated Cardreader) € 24,-*

Total: € 1570,90

Last edited by pjeremy (2007-07-25 00:25:16)

ataraxia · 2007-07-25 13:56:03

I run Arch on a completely unmodified eMachines desktop (I don't remember the model number, but it's not in production any longer now anyway). The whole thing cost about USD 500 and has given me no problems.

Riyonuk · 2007-07-25 16:44:16

Budget for me would be under $1000

What monitor should I choose now? I want dual-screen or widescreen. Its good to be different than my friends ^^

Obi-Lan · 2007-07-26 10:15:16

Check local webstore for prices? And how big desk do you want? And what do you do, if you watch movies or play games wide would be probably imo nicer. Local webstore here tells its two biggest seller are Acer AL2216WSD 22" for ~250eur and Samsung SyncMaster 226BW 22'' for ~400eur. Both has 1680X1050 resolution.

I have Viewsonic VP930 19" and I'm planning to buy another but I have wide-screen tv also so for me choice is obvious.

Last edited by Obi-Lan (2007-07-26 10:17:04)

miko · 2007-07-26 10:53:27

Riyonuk wrote:

Hehe, I knew I didnt explain it well. I'm not looking to buy from others, just to see a list of there "specs", that way I can buy them myself. This way, I know the pc will work

I would say 95% of all parts you can can will work. Some problem can arise with not popular or specialized parts (like winmodems, card readers) or laptops. But for desktop PC, I guess anything you can get will just work.

Regards,
miko

Lone_Wolf · 2007-07-26 18:46:59

One comment :
Sometimes it takes a few months before new motherboard chipsets are supported correctly in the kernel.
example : the new Intel P35 based Motherboards came out just 2 months ago, you might encounter problems with them.
If you want to be certain that it works without problems, take chipsets that have been around for some time.

Riyonuk · 2007-07-27 01:38:11

I hadn't intended on playing games on Arch, as I thought linux couldnt play most games?

Roberth · 2007-07-27 04:57:54

You can play a lot of games through wine/cedega, but you need a good computer for that which guess you do not have the budget for.

Well if youre going to buy an cheap computer which will not be used for gaming a suggest this configurasion:

The newest celeren generation of processors, a motherboard which supports your processor and has an intel intergrated graphic card, at least 512 mb ram(everything should go smooth if you not intending in using compiz fusion etc.), and an harddisk as big as possible, I assume the motherboard has a soundcard, 500 watt power suply and rest should be up to you, this computer should be able to compile software just fine.

Lamprax · 2007-07-27 08:17:25

Hmmm ... Although I'm new to linux I'm not new to pc's in general and since I've just set up arch on an ... "ancient" pc (pentium III @ 450 MHz with 384 MB ram) and it works just fine I would say that any pc that can boot will do ( arch even found the scsi controller and tape bay without any problems !!! ) I would agree though that the least troublesome graphics card would be a NVidia (or at least that's what I have heard from many of my friends )
and since linux drivers development is a bit slower than windows you would probably be better of with a bit older stuff ( not pIII by any meant but also not the latest hardware also )

Obi-Lan · 2007-07-27 09:01:54

Intel motherboards has usually integrated intel graphic cards and those work well too.

Roberth · 2007-07-27 09:45:12

I don't think people are aware of that intel's intergrated cards are even less troublesome than nVidia.

denisfalqueto · 2007-07-27 16:58:34

Be advised that the Intel HDA sound chipset is pure crap. Avoid it as much as you can. Even if the sound works, it doesn't support headphones or mic. A friend has a laptop with this cupset and he is having bad times.

wuischke · 2007-07-28 07:06:00

Weird, I can't complain about mine. (ALC880, it's a 7.1 variant)

Both headphones and microphone work well as well as everything else.

denisfalqueto · 2007-07-28 22:13:47

I heard that each vendor implements it in different ways, so maybe you was lucky about yours.

mezoko · 2007-07-29 01:37:18

Well you can build one for as low as $200 shipped

Not the best buy any means but will work just fine with arch
https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wi … p+Computer

^^^
All the specaroughs!!

Riyonuk · 2007-07-30 05:40:09

Would it be wise to run arch on a ps3? I know I'll be picking up one, and if I can have a console/pc AIO, then thats great

mezoko · 2007-07-30 21:51:44

I'd say not. For starters you would have to mod you brand new PS3 secondly I do not believe that the ps3 is x86 or x86_64

Last edited by mezoko (2007-07-30 21:51:55)

Thrillhouse · 2007-07-31 04:40:32

Riyonuk wrote:

What monitor should I choose now? I want dual-screen or widescreen. Its good to be different than my friends ^^

I have a Dell 2407 WFP and couldn't be happier with it. I've had it for about 6 months. It is a little expensive but it has gone down in price considerably: $679 USD now but it started at $949. I bought it for $700 I think. I also think it's even cheaper if you buy it w/ a Dell computer.

The color quality and clarity is remarkable and it doesn't emit a lot of heat like other monitors I've had. I really have no complaints about it.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/prod … u=320-5647

Arch Linux

#1 2007-07-24 21:34:46

Using someones pc?

#2 2007-07-24 21:53:12

Re: Using someones pc?

#3 2007-07-24 21:55:25

Re: Using someones pc?

#4 2007-07-24 22:09:55

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#5 2007-07-24 22:15:06

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#6 2007-07-24 22:31:38

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#7 2007-07-24 22:37:52

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