Linux Machine (budget 30K)

arnuld

arnuld

Disciple
My old post is here. That was June and now is September, my budget is increased too and I have cash in my hands right now :hap2: , plan to buy this in first week of next month (October). I have searched extensively this forum and finally at least decided on PSU, Corsair VX450:

  1. What is your budget?
    • 30K (can be +3K)
  2. Q: What is your existing hardware configuration (component name - component brand and model)
  3. Which hardware will you be keeping (component name - component brand and model).
  4. Which hardware component are you looking to buy (component name). If you have already decided on a configuration then please mention the (component brand and model) as well, this will help us in fine tuning your requirement.
    • CPU - AMD (<= 3.0 Ghz dual/tri core, I don't think I need Quad-core and/or 3.2 Ghz. Whats the deal with those Black Editions ??? )
    • Motherboard -- Gigabyte
    • RAM -- any good brand (DDR2, no need for DDR3)
    • HDD -- WD or Hitachi
    • SMPS -- Corsair VX450 ?
    • GPU -- Any Linux supporting (only if on-board card is incapable of playing Blu-Ray/HDrips)
    • Cabinet -- any decent cabinet
    • UPS -- APC or any good one (stepped sine wave ?)
    • A Fan (to fit on the back of the cabinet). Do I need one more along with this ?
  5. Is this going to be your final configuration or you would be adding/upgrading a component in near future. If yes then please mention when and which component

    N/A
  6. Where will you buy this hardware? (Online/City/TE Dealer)


    • Hyderabad (CTC, Most probably dealer named Shewta)
    • Not open to online purchase
  7. Would you consider buying a second hand hardware from the TE market
    • Nope, not at all
  8. What is your intended use for this PC/hardware


    • Browsing a lot.
    • Download rig, 24x7 operation
    • Watching HD movies (1080p at 6000 kbps video Bit rate)
  9. Q: Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them and the reason for your preference/dislike.
    • Prefers AMD over Intel. First Intel is expensive than AMD and 2nd, on-board VGA and audio of Intel MOBOs are not well supported in Linux. If I am wrong, poke me in the eye.
    • Prefers Gigabye MOBOs as have heard a lot about them on different forums.
  10. Q: If you will be playing games then which type of games will you be playing?
    • N/A
  11. Q: What is your preferred monitor resolution for gaming and normal usage


    • Desktop - 1680x1050
  12. Q: Are you looking to overclock?


    • No Way :hap5:
  13. Q: Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?

BTW, what about those Dual-Layer DVDs, Will normal DVD writer work on them ? Again, many thanks to techster for his Power Supply thread :thanx:
 
CPU - AMD AthlonII X3 440 ~ 3.8k
Motherboard -- Gigabyte 785GMT-US2H ~ 4.5k/ Gigabyte 880GM-USB 3/Gigabyte 785GMT-USB3 ~ 5.7k
RAM -- Corsair 4GB(2*2) DDR3 1333MHz ~ 4.7k (DDRIII RAMS costs just Rs.100 more than DDRII and it will be easy to upgrade in future as they will get cheaper than DDR2 once the DDR3 market share crosses DDR2's)
HDD -- Seagate 7200.12 1TB ~ 2.9k
SMPS -- Corsair CX400~2.7k/ Corsair VX450 ~ 3.6k
GPU -- Any Linux supporting (only if on-board card is incapable of playing Blu-Ray/HDrips) --> AFAIK Nvidia cards has the best Linux drivers. HD4200 should handle 1080p but not sure about the 15GB+ ones. So wait for more ppl to reply.
Cabinet -- CM Elite 310~1.6k/NZXT Gamma~2.2k
UPS -- APC 650VA ~ 2.9k
Total: 25.9k

If the IGP is not satisfactory then u can go for a low end Nvidia card.
 
Thanks DarkAngel. I keep on searching the archives and I have 2 questions

(1) What about buying wireless keyboard and mouse (not Bluetooth), will they work on Linux ?

(2) Read on this post that MSI makes boards with same quality as of Gigabyte but at a lesser rate. Any solid MSI board for recommendation. I am ready to pay 6-8K for MOBO.

EDIT-1: I keep on searching for archives again and again. What about: AMD Athlon II X4 635 + ASUS M4A88TD0V EVO/USB3 Mobo ?

EDIT-2: You advised APC 650VA UPS with VX450 but I can see from here, here and this guide that hooking VX450 with APC 650VX is complete disaster.
 
Prices have dropped a lot :D Does the budget and the needs stand the same? PFB the changed prices

CPU - AMD AthlonII X3 440 ~ 3.3k
Motherboard -- Gigabyte 785GMT-US2H ~ 3.5k
RAM -- Corsair 4GB(2*2) DDR3 1333MHz ~ 2.1k
HDD -- Seagate 7200.12 1TB ~ 2.7k
SMPS -- Corsair CX400~2.5k/ Corsair VX450 ~ 3.4k
Click to expand...
 
arnuld said:
Thanks DarkAngel. I keep on searching the archives and I have 2 questions

(1) What about buying wireless keyboard and mouse (not Bluetooth), will they work on Linux ?
(2) Read on this post that MSI makes boards with same quality as of Gigabyte but at a lesser rate. Any solid MSI board for recommendation. I am ready to pay 6-8K for MOBO.

EDIT-1: I keep on searching for archives again and again. What about: AMD Athlon II X4 635 + ASUS M4A88TD0V EVO/USB3 Mobo ?

EDIT-2: You advised APC 650VA UPS with VX450 but I can see from here, here and this guide that hooking VX450 with APC 650VX is complete disaster.
Click to expand...

I thought all the mouse and keyboards which were wireless work on the Bluetooth standards.

MSI board is not recommended because of this reason -- http://www.techenclave.com/cpu-mobo-corner/need-help-buying-processor-motherboard-under-183565-3.html -- Read the post by The Sorcerer.

If you don't buy the graphics card, it will be fine to go fo the Corsair CX 400 which performs fine with APC 650VA, also back-up will be influenced by the total Power Draw of the system, which is dependent on the Total Actual Power Consumption of your system which in your case will be less than 400W for sure, so you needn't worry about the APC 650VA 390W limit being strained.

You can go for the AMD Athlon IIx4 635/640 -- avoid ASUS boards they have a poor A.S.S. history in India, DarkAngel can validate this.

arnuld said:
Does this configuration still stand if one wants to buy a computer today ?
Click to expand...

Yes even if you want to run Windows on this RIG, it will serve you in good stead.
 
ALPHA17 said:
If you don't buy the graphics card, it will be fine to go fo the Corsair CX 400 which performs fine with APC 650VA, also back-up will be influenced by the total Power Draw of the system, which is dependent on the Total Actual Power Consumption of your system which in your case will be less than 400W for sure, so you needn't worry about the APC 650VA 390W limit being strained.
Click to expand...
Is UPS really required ? I always bought UPS earlier because I thought if electricity fails then hardware will suddenly come to halt and this may damage the components (e.g. HDD, MOBO etc), so when electricity fails, which is quite frequent in India, then I use battery back up only to shut the system down cleanly. Thats it. Was thinking of buying this Line Conditioner
 
^^

UPS is at your discretion but getting one you can't go wrong, if you loose data later because of power outages don't blame us blame yourself for skimping on that aspect.
 
ALPHA17 said:
^^

UPS is at your discretion but getting one you can't go wrong, if you loose data later because of power outages don't blame us blame yourself for skimping on that aspect.
Click to expand...
I agree with what you say. Only fear what I have if I get buzzing sound on putting a Active PFC based SMPS on my el-cheapo APC BACK-UPS. I can't buy pure sine wave, its too expensive. I read too many threads on TE since morning where guys have problems (like buzzing sounds on battery backup) and I also read threads where they did not have any sound when VX450 was hooked on same UPS. So I acutally can not spend money and take 50/50 risk of success/failure. I definitely want to buy good SMPS and that would be Corsair as I can't find any Passive PFC (CM eXtreme series which is Passive PFC based, is not recommended by TE)
 
arnuld said:
Thanks DarkAngel. I keep on searching the archives and I have 2 questions

(1) What about buying wireless keyboard and mouse (not Bluetooth), will they work on Linux ?

(2) Read on this post that MSI makes boards with same quality as of Gigabyte but at a lesser rate. Any solid MSI board for recommendation. I am ready to pay 6-8K for MOBO.

EDIT-1: I keep on searching for archives again and again. What about: AMD Athlon II X4 635 + ASUS M4A88TD0V EVO/USB3 Mobo ?

EDIT-2: You advised APC 650VA UPS with VX450 but I can see from here, here and this guide that hooking VX450 with APC 650VX is complete disaster.
Click to expand...

I don't have the perfect knowledge about this wireless thing, but as far as I know, the usb transducer, which converts RF signals from your wireless keyboard, must be simulating an AT keyboard connected with wire. So it should not be a big problem...
 
nileshgr said:
I don't have the perfect knowledge about this wireless thing, but as far as I know, the usb transducer, which converts RF signals from your wireless keyboard, must be simulating an AT keyboard connected with wire. So it should not be a big problem...
Click to expand...
Thanks. I am sure now that this USB wireless mouse/kbd combination wil be fine. I still can't find a UPS and Passive-PFC based SMPS combination though. UPS (10K) + SMPS (4K) = 14 K, CPU + Mobo = 10 K :eek:ppo:
 
DarkAngel said:
Prices have dropped a lot :D Does the budget and the needs stand the same? PFB the changed prices

CPU - AMD AthlonII X3 440 ~ 3.3k

Motherboard -- Gigabyte 785GMT-US2H ~ 3.5k

RAM -- Corsair 4GB(2*2) DDR3 1333MHz ~ 2.1k

HDD -- Seagate 7200.12 1TB ~ 2.7k

SMPS -- Corsair CX400~2.5k/ Corsair VX450 ~ 3.4k
Click to expand...
EDIT: Just noticed that APC 650V has maximum 400W of power output, so Corsair VX450 won't fit on it. Hence I will go with CX400, exactly Like ALPHA17 advised
 
@OP : I have a 500W FSP SAGA II , run it on an APC 650V BackUPS , Runs fine , gives me a 15 minute backup / I dont think the VX450 should be a problem / More money spent on the PSU is money well spent. Also you should note that both these PSUs are based on the same Seasonic S12-II back bone.

I'm guessing the VX450 uses japanese caps and the CX400 uses normal OST caps. although the CX series has better ripple and noise correction at normal voltage , at maximum load the VX has a better power output when compared to the CX. I dont know what I'm debating about here :S , the VX has a better internal unit alright but the CX delivers pretty decent performance too.

PS : I chose to go with the cheapest (but a decent) way in , FSP SAGA II 500W ~ 2.2k :p
 
I am experiencing following problems in buying:

  1. not able to get Gigabyte 785GMT-US2H. I am able to get 880GM-UD2H & 880GM-USB3.
  2. Gamma and Elite 310 are not available. They have never ever hard of a brand called NZXT :-O . Elite 370, 430 and Antec 200, 300, 600, NSK 4482B are available.
  3. Corsair VX450 is available. Antec 550 is also available. I thought of buying APC 1KV along with Antec 550.
 
All three look good to me. Just do a google search for the 880GM mobo models along with "linux" keyword to read in general if there are any reported issues - if you don't see any and/or if people are generally saying ok things then it should be good to go with Linux.

Anyway these days latest Linux releases hardly have issues at all :D
 
Thanks Viashal, I bought it:

880GM-U2DH (880GMA wasn't available anywhere)

Athlon II X3 440 -- CPU + MOBO = 7.9K (cpu, mobo were billed together. Sorry, but I can't remeber the individual prices I was told)

Antec 430 Earthwatts Green PSU. 80+ certified 82% efficiency at full load. Even at 88% of output, its 378.4 Watts, which is less than maximum output of UPS -390 Watts (couldn't get Corsair CX400 or VX450. only CX430 was available which is not good quality as Google search says) - 4.1K

Antec 300 cabinet (couldn't get NZXT Gamma, no one in CTC, Hyderabad has ever heard of this brand) -- 3.9K

Corsair 4 GB RAM (2 * 2) DDR3 1333 Hz 1150 * 2 = 2.3K

APC 650VA UPS -- 2.9K

SONY SATA DVD-RW -- 900/-

Logitech wireless ketboard/mouse (K260) -- 1.15K

As soon as I put components together, everything worked fine on Puppy Linux Live CD. Audio work just great, Desktop graphics are too fast :) . Will update with prices soon.

EDIT: Prices Updated.
 
arnuld said:
everything worked fine on Puppy Linux Live CD. Audio work just great, Desktop graphics are too fast :) . Will update with prices soon.
Click to expand...

Wow...Times have changed. Earlier I used to spend weeks trying to find the drivers for Linux and compiling them, but in recent times seems most hardware is supported Out of the box. Big Win:hap2:
 
Seriously, ATI has huge headaches with Linux. You won't be able to get good decoding capabilites with the Catalyst drivers as they're not up to the mark. Secondly, only Ubuntu and its derivatives support ATI graphics. If you intend to use Fedora or other bleeding edge distros like Arch, then you might stay away from ATI. It would help a lot if you could add an el cheapo card such as GT 210 (hell, even 8400 GS will be ok) just to decode HD movies and take the load off the CPU. The VDPAU library of NVIDIA drivers does wonders in Linux with Mplayer & XBMC. I've been using this myself since last 18 months & CPU usage has never touched 10% with high-bitrate full HD movies too..
 
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