Re: New computer planned
On Mon, 2012-02-20 at 16:58 +0200, Andrei POPESCU wrote:
> On Lu, 20 feb 12, 14:19:36, Sian Mountbatten wrote:
> > My desktop computer is nearly 7 years old and I'm thinking that a
> > new computer using some of the hardware improvements would be a good
> > thing.
> >
> > So I'm going to ask my friendly computer consultant, who is only
> > downstairs from me, to build me a computer with hardware 3d
> > acceleration, solid-state drive, 8Gb RAM. What else should I ask for
> > and what works with Linux? He's going to give me a list of the
> > hardware he is going to install, so I can check Linux compatibility.
> > Although I am not a gamer, I would like to run tuxracer which really
> > needs 3d acceleration to work. Any suggestions will be welcome.
You can't check for "perfect" Linux compatibility just by a list of the
hardware. Regarding to your needs a combination of hardware always can
cause issues.
I experienced that 4GB are even enough for heavy audio productions. I
suspect that there are less fields off applications, where you need more
than 4GB.
> First decision: proprietary drivers or not
>
> For proprietary I'd chose nVidia cards over ATI anytime. While I can't
> comment on the driver itself, the packaging for nvidia over fglrx in
> Debian is superior (several generations supported, pre-built modules for
> stable, backports, responsive maintainers, etc.).
I've got bad experiences with NVIDI, so I bought a mobo with an onboard
ATI. The ATI caused an unsolvable issue, so I bought a NVIDI for the
mobo with the internal ATI. IOW I agree, I experienced ATI as more worse
than NVIDIA. I heard that the best solution should be to get a mobo with
an Intel graphics. Especially today most distros dropped the nv driver,
but the proprietary can't be used all the times. The nouveau driver for
most distros, including Debian ex testing, is the only alternative to
the proprietary one.
> If you definitely don't want to use proprietary drivers you can also
> consider Intel cards (or even built-in), since I expect the performance
> of either nVidia or ATI cards with the free drivers to be comparable
> with Intel.
>
> OTOH I doubt tuxracer has very high 3d performance requirements.
:D
IMO it's more important to get a passive graphics, they are all fast
enough to race with Tux through GoogleEarth. Perhaps you need something
special like HDMI or video composite.
Get a PSU with a large fan.
Get a CPU that has less power consumption.
I'm using an Athlon BE-2350 2.1GHz dual-core, 45W. it's fast enough even
for heavy audio productions, anyway, sometimes I wish to have something
faster, when compiling a kernel or converting a video.
I always use two HDDs, to make backups from one to the other, but just
two, to get less noise and power consumption.
The casing is the week point of my machine.
> > Keyboard: for many years now, I have used a keyboard which is not
> > membrane-based. It has individual key switches, is properly dished
> > and is a joy to use. No keyboard click, but I don't use that anyway.
> > The keyboard is connected to the PS/2 socket. Would a wireless
> > keyboard do as good a job? I suppose it would probably be USB, but I
> > shall listen to advice on that. The keyboard is an essential
> > peripheral and I am willing to spend money on a good keyboard. Maybe
> > I should keep the keyboard I am using. It's not overly clean, but I
> > can live with it.
>
> Make sure the new mainboard even has a PS/2 interface, otherwise you'll
> have to use USB adapters (which can cause problems sometimes).
It's always a PITA to use a new mouse or keyboard. Keep the once you've
got as long as possible.
Take care of PCI, and the different PCIe slots if you need them. You can
drop ATA, all you need is SATA, IOW buy new HDDs if needed.
If you want good audio quality buy RME cards only. If you need MIDI,
avoid USB.
- Ralf
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