Low end linux computer for a friend.

[35g700]

My friend is interested in having me build a custom computer for him. I introduced him to Linux almost two years ago on his old P4 computer and he has loved it ever since. He would like a cheap computer to run either Ubuntu, OpenSUSE or Mint. These are some of the parts I was looking at:

MoBo/GPU: Newegg.com - ASUS M4A88T-M AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
CPU: Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.2GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX450WFGMBOX
PSU: Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts Green EA-430D Green 430W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Memory: Newegg.com - G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBNS
HDD: (Will be using old one)
Case: Newegg.com - Rosewill FBM-01 Dual Fans MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case


I opted for the triple core AMD CPU because I figure a fairly fast triple core would be better than a faster Intel dual core CPU in the long run, and supposedly it's not to hard to unlock the fourth core on that chip.

It's been a while since I've done a build so I just wanted to have it looked over just in case I'm missing something or their is a better option than this.

Also, one last questiono you think the driver support for the integrated video card will be good for Linux? I know AMD's driver support on Linux isn't all that great and I'd like to make sure that the card will work before I try installing Linux on it.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Night Fox]

Looks good. (incase you didn't know, the earthwatts psu doesn't come w/ a power cord)

I've had a hassle with GeForce graphics drivers on linux, but my brother (amd) has not had any issues. Not sure if AMD has different drivers for integrated vs. dedicated graphics, but Linux should automatically retrieve the appropriate ones (Ubuntu and Mint I know for sure does this, openSUSE should, but not positive). If he has an issue with the graphics, he can always just uninstall them and go without the 3D graphics that the drivers deliver.


Note: If he's planning on two or all three of those OS's, I'd recommend installing Ubuntu last, as it seems to be able to recognize the other OS's better than Mint or openSUSE (for GRUB). Also, I'd recommend a separate GRUB partition, and then backup the GRUB config file so when it you install updates on any of the OS's, you can replace the grub config file because it WILL get changed and mess it up.

 

[35g700]

Thanks for the tip, I talked it over with him and he opted to go for 8GB of RAM instead of 4GB and ironically he picked the nvidia themed coolermaster case because of how it looked to go with his integrated AMD video card.

 

[tj_extreme]

My friend is interested in having me build a custom computer for him. I introduced him to Linux almost two years ago on his old P4 computer and he has loved it ever since. He would like a cheap computer to run either Ubuntu, OpenSUSE or Mint. These are some of the parts I was looking at:

MoBo/GPU: Newegg.com - ASUS M4A88T-M AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
CPU: Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.2GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX450WFGMBOX
PSU: Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts Green EA-430D Green 430W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Memory: Newegg.com - G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBNS
HDD: (Will be using old one)
Case: Newegg.com - Rosewill FBM-01 Dual Fans MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case


I opted for the triple core AMD CPU because I figure a fairly fast triple core would be better than a faster Intel dual core CPU in the long run, and supposedly it's not to hard to unlock the fourth core on that chip.

It's been a while since I've done a build so I just wanted to have it looked over just in case I'm missing something or their is a better option than this.

Also, one last questiono you think the driver support for the integrated video card will be good for Linux? I know AMD's driver support on Linux isn't all that great and I'd like to make sure that the card will work before I try installing Linux on it.

Thanks for the help.

The SB i3's beat out a lot of AMD quad core offerings. Just saying..

 

[Trotter]

The SB i3's beat out a lot of AMD quad core offerings. Just saying..

True dat. You could go with either an low end i3, a SB Pentium, or even a SB celly and still be good.