Something a little different. I know everyone always posts "whats the lowest requirements to run..."

I want to ask, how do the top end machines perform in linux? I want to compare this to say WinXP as I have a new machine that isn't loaded with any OS yet and i'm wandering if I should make it a linux box (hate dual booting) Please post your system specs, distribution, and how well your machine runs. The only test i've ever done with linux on a newer machine is knoppix 3.2 on a p4 2.4ghz 512ddr radeon 9100 128mb and it flew (even though it had to read the cd everytime you wanted to do anything)

I want to know who runs linux on awesome machines and what the specs are.

Of course it is totally depenedent on what exactly you are going to do on the machine. If your going to use it to check your e-mail then whats the big deal? If your using the machine as a server that is expected to have some high usage then thats a different story.

What are you going to use the machine for? In my experience Linux is much better then Windows all around(not very technical but I think most will agree with me here).

It's going to be doing quite a bit of server work, and every now and then Im gonna have to use it as a desktop pc, so it's gotta be all round versatile.

If it's going to be doing quite a bit of server work, Linux would be an excellent choice! but for multimedia (+ all round versatile) I would still prefer Windows.

(I own a Dazzle* Digital Video Creator hardware encoding device (http://www.dazzle.com) and it currently works only under Windows. )

I wouldnt get an ATI card. They dont have linux drivers anymore.

Ive got a P42.0Ghz, 256MB PC800RDRAM, Geforce4Ti4200 128MB.

Linux flies on it. Much better than Windows.

Althought GUI under Linux is not better than Windows. But I learned many things from Linux than under Windows. I love Linux

my box is P4 2Ghz/512Mb RAM / Geforce 64Mb and imho Linux on it run faster than win2k.
about GUI, yes, gnome or kde, will be slower than windows, but i use fluxbox or E, cause they run faster as windows (also imho )

My box is PII 400 128Mb Ram, it's too old, a bit slow but i really dont care. I'm working very well under Linux

i would say if u can afford it jump for an intel, i have an intel and amd, my intel is faster, imho.

im with contrasutra, on not getting an ati card, i would go with nvidia just because you know you ahve *some* support, event though the machine will do mostly server work.

also, my new box i jsut got has a WD drive that spins at 10k, this thing is fast ig et about 55-60 megs a second, no that ive experienced it i couldnt go back.

i run IceWM and its alot faster than XP/2k.

My specs are in my signature. I built this box a couple of months ago as a desktop machine, not a server, but with this hardware and Mandrake 9.1 it is rock solid. It's not cutting-edge hardware, but it does all I want with ease.
I had trouble with the onboard sound so I got a great little sound card for about $8 from Newegg and it's perfect (good speakers make all the difference.) This motherboard is fast and very stable...
I got an Enermax server case that has a top blowhole fan, and I put in some silent case fans, and got a FalconRock2 heatsink/fan. My processor runs at about 90-100 F, and the system is totally silent.

I have to use WinXP in a small LAN at work, on a Dell something-or-other, and things are always crashing.

I built this a couple of months ago. It recognized everything during the install. No hardware problems or software problems either. When my UPS gets here tomorrow, I will not be shutting down any more. I did that here while back and it ran for three weeks, no rebooting or even logging out. I shut down because of a storm. It seemed to get faster after a few days of running.
I did a lot of research before buying. The advice above has been good. NVIDIA video, external modem and you are good to go generally.

My two cents worth. Glad to help you research your hardware if you need it.

I have an amd 1700, 512mb, nvidia 420 and a soyo mb. I just installed Slack 9.0 and lov it. It comes with KDE 3.1 it runs as fast as XP. With Slack 8.1 and KDE 3.0 it was a little slow sometimes.