Building a PC: Advice wanted, especially on onboard graphics compatibility.
 

Actual questions are in bold. Also specific hardware recommendations are welcome.

So I'm planning on building a computer, to replace the ten-year-old workhorse I have at the moment. But I'm not all that knowledgeable about current hardware.

The objectives are cheap and quiet. And of course everything needs to be Linux compatible.

I have a few existing devices that I will want to use, and thus need support for. An IDE hard drive, IDE DVD Writer, PCI Wireless Adaptor, and PCI tv tuner card. The drives are the really important things, the PCI devices less so.

I'm in England, and I'm hoping to bring it in to a budget of £200-250.

Usage is going to be web browsing including streaming media, watching video (though probably not HD),office work, maybe some light gaming, but probably the most demanding thing is GIS (Geographic Information Systems). I might want to try running stuff in virtual machines too.

For a processor, I'm thinking of an AMD Athlon II X3 435. Based on a magazine review, this seems to give the ideal price/performance ratio - anything more powerful means a bit of a jump in cost. Alternatively, I could go for a lower end processor and spend the money somewhere else instead. (More RAM is the obvious choice; would the ultra-cheap Sempron 140 and 4GB perhaps be better than the Athlon with 2GB?)

I want a motherboard with onboard graphics, and here's the first question: What's the Linux compatibility of onboard graphics like?. Most motherboards for AMD processors have ATI graphics, but there are some with nVidia chips. Which is better for Linux compatibility?

The second question: Is there much benefit buying any memory other than what's cheapest? I know there will be some performance differences, but are they worth worrying about in a budget machine? Also DDR2 is cheaper than DD3 now, but I expect in future that will reverse, so am I better off getting a motherboard that uses DDR3?

I've read that power supply quality is pretty important; an unreliable PSU can cause issues. And I'll also want to pay a bit extra to get something quiet, though I don't need fanless. Considering my choice of processor (TDP 95W) and other hardware (HDD, optical drive...that's about it), What power rating do you think I'll need?.

Finally, looking at processor heatsinks and fans left me utterly bamboozled. Advice when it comes to cooling is thus very much welcome

Buying a quality power supply should always be on the list for any new computer. I recommend Enermax, Seasonic, and FSP. These should qualify for high efficiency which your country is pushing. Buying a power supply that is passively cooled is not smart because the cooling depends on the ambient temperature which could be around 100 degrees F. An active cooled power supply should always be used.

Any processor bought as a retail model will come with a heat sink. It should be fine even for noiseless environments. Sure you can hunt down a better heat sink, but they will cost up to $60 that will make the build more expensive. The Scythe Grand Kama Cross is very, very efficient for its price. It is also does well at low temperatures.


Both nVidia and ATI graphics are supported in Linux. If you go with ATI graphics, use drivers from Xorg or freedesktop.org and not from ATI. If you select motherboards with nVidia graphics, nVidia's modules or drivers are better.

One thing to look out for is the extras such as NIC and storage controllers.


Do not buy based on speed of the memory. Buy memory based on latency. Latency rules in any component of the computer. DDR3 is better than DDR2 when dealing with on-board graphics because both the graphics and CPU have to fight for memory bandwidth. Find CAS 6 or lower DDR3 memory because both the graphics and CPU will be able to find data faster. The speed of the memory only provides a very small portion for performance. Technically if you do the comparison CAS6 DDR3-1333 memory is as fast as CAS 9 DDR3-1600 memory.

I would say that you definitely want to go with nvidia video since you are going with a midrange processor. Since you plan to watch videos, you'll want as much performance as possible out of the video chipset to ease the burden on the processor, which means proprietary drivers, and nvidia has great linux driver support, even if they are proprietary.

Also on the silence factor, if you are buying a new case, some are quieter than others. I bought an Antec Sonata two builds ago, and with a single controllable 140mm fan in the back, it was virtually silent. I think I paid $80 for the case with a 450W power supply pre-installed. The machine still runs like a champ, never had a problem with the PSU.

Avoid Nvidia 8200 8300 9400 onboard graphics. People doing the graphics stuff are having huge trouble reverse engineering how they work exactly and it's just not going well. Stick with ATI or Intel on board or you might never have 3d graphics on your computer with linux without using the soon to be outdated binary blob.

If you are willing to use a proprietary driver, choose Nvidia.

If you want to use an open-source driver and still have 3D, choose ATI.

For memory i would like to suggest you memory with high frequency.

For graphics i suggest ATI for better performance, One more thing I want to suggest regarding ATI chipset is that I've heard they having some problems with drivers on Linux tho it's a old news, but you can check more details regarding issues with drivers if you planning for ATI.

Except for maybe 3D games, nothing in there has demanding hardware requirements.

That might need more memory (but having much memory is a good idea in any case).

Do you need the CPU power for games?

I don't think you need three cores, except if you want to run multiple VMs simultaneously.
(If you don't have tasks that can be run in parallel, it is better to have less cores with higher frequency.)

Intel works, but doesn't have fast 3D.

AMD/ATI: The vendor fglrx driver is considered buggy; the open-source driver works for most models, but 3D acceleration for later models only in the latest kernels and might still be in beta status.

nVidia: The open-source driver is very incomplete; the vendor driver works very well and is fast, but older hardware and the latest kernel might not be supported.

I have an AMD 785G chipset (graphics is HD4200) which works just fine with the latest kernel, but I'm not using and have never tried 3D.

No, especially not overclocking memory. Memory frequencies have almost no effect on actual performance; this is also true, in a lesser degree, for memory latencies.

Please note that absolute latencies of DDR2 and DDR3 memory are usually the same; DDR3 numbers are usually higher because the base frequencies are also higher.

Most memory controller are not able to use higher frequencies when there are more than two memory sticks.

My old 350 W Enermax works fine (with no video card, 65 W TDP CPU, one HD, lots of other devices).

The best recipe for avoiding fan noise is to avoid waste heat in the first place. I have a Phenom II X4 905e; its bundled fan is quite quiet when used with the motherboard's fan management, even at full load.
The "e" is an energy-efficient model; you might want to consider something like the Athlon II X2 235e or 240e which have a nominal TDP of 45 W.

It is possible to patch the proprietary drivers to get support for the latest kernels. For instance I am running, on two different machines, the 190.53 and the 195.30 beta drivers, both of which have been patched to run on kernel 2.6.32.6 and 2.6.33-rc5.

If the temperature reaches that high I've got more to worry about than my computer, that's pretty much the record for England! But yeah, I'll get a PSU with a fan - just look for something quieter than the bog standard.

No, but I don't see the point getting something less powerful just because it's slightly cheaper. Either I go much cheaper (the Sempron), I go for lower power usage (one of the 'e' processors, or again the Sempron), or I go for the one I mentioned.

Two camps...

For those who like to keep their linux usage free of closed source, proprietary software, ATI is the choice. Others like the performance, reliability, and ease of installation of the Nvidia drivers on an Nvidia chip.

Whatever you are thinking of buying, be sure to google for the component or the relevant chip and linux to check on compatibility and problems. A little forethought in the beginning saves a lot of work in the end.

If you want a quiet PSU, be sure to use something with just one 12cm or 14cm fan. Also look for the decibel rating.

And also you may notice that some PSUs are rated "80 PLUS", this means that they are high efficiency and waste less power. It actually means 80% or more efficiency, so no more than 20% is wasted.

And I strongly agree that if you want open-source, ease of setup, and great integration with X and Linux, but still want decent 3D, choose Radeon and install the "xf86-video-ati" driver. If you want full 3D but don't care about proprietary software, poor integration with X, and difficult setup, choose Nvidia and install their proprietary driver.

What is difficult about setting up Nvidia proprietary drivers?

With xf86-video-ati, just do this:

<your package manager> <install command> xf86-video-ati
In your xorg.conf's Device section, add "Driver "radeon"".
Restart X.

And everything is great!

With Nvidia:

Download the huge binary file.
With the Nvidia driver, you have to get out of X, do the setup, pray it doesn't stop because of something with GCC and your kernel.
Then use that weird GUI setup tool that works strange.

And then your VTs don't work and you can't tinker with xorg.conf.

It's not about proprietary divers or open source drivers. It's about linux necessarily evolving to use your video card as a general purpose processor. That's NOT going to happen through the binary blob. The binary blob is the old way and open source drivers are the driving force that gets us to the new way. The new way has your gpu in the kernel because it's just another processor. The linux distros are evolving to various forms of that with things getting sucked into the kernel as the code is developed and worked out in various packages. The way it all interacts will change greatly step by step through each variation of the evolvement. X-windows and everything video related are going to hurt like hell for months as it evolves. I was just saying if you want to come out of the other side of door quick don't choose nvidia onboard graphics because they are not working with linux or helping as they would rather involve themselves totally with the proprietary version of it that will happen through windows. You can still chose many discrete nvidia graphics cards but until they get off their butt and provide the needed information nvidia onboard gpu's are a dead end and absolutely NOTHING a linux user should buy or touch.

The only problem I've ever had was using the bleeding edge kernel (2.6.33-rcX) which required me to patch the driver. xorg.conf gets generated automatically, the old file, gets backed up, I'm done.3 minutes and GREAT performance. I understand wanting to keep things pure linux/FOSS, but not the part about it being difficult. IMHO. Have a good day! :)