Build Linux Box

[albert]

Is it cost effective to build a Linux box from say, a barebones kit? I do video editing and rendering, and now suffer very slow rendering times on my desktop and laptop.
Right now I am using Kino to edit, which I think is great .. although it's not being developed anymore. But this hiccup in the Linux video road aside, what would be the specs for a machine which renders relatively quickly, and not for the cost of a new Mac?

[cebalrai]

Is it cost effective to build a Linux box from say, a barebones kit? I do video editing and rendering, and now suffer very slow rendering times on my desktop and laptop.
Right now I am using Kino to edit, which I think is great .. although it's not being developed anymore. But this hiccup in the Linux video road aside, what would be the specs for a machine which renders relatively quickly, and not for the cost of a new Mac?

The new AMD Phenom X6's (six cores!) will be great for this sort of thing, and not break your bank. Newegg is selling them for $209.

Grab 4 GB of DDR3 and a midrange GPU and you'll have a great machine for video editing.

[DataMan]

In most situations, you are going to come out way ahead by building the box yourself. Not only will you be able to avoid the "near junk" quality level of components most big box mfgr's are putting into their PCs these days, but your investment will provide you with the means to up the specs quite a bit for the same amount of currency.

My last build (last December) consisted of a a new full tower, 850w power supply, dual quad core CPU with lots of cache, 8G of high speed RAM, video card with 1G video RAM, 2 optical dvd burners, a mother board with lots of SATA connections and 1.75TB of initial storage. All of this and about 1.5 hrs of labor for about the price of a mid range big box PC.


Go for it!

-DataMan

[albert]

Is it cost effective to build a Linux box from say, a barebones kit? I do video editing and rendering, and now suffer very slow rendering times on my desktop and laptop.
Right now I am using Kino to edit, which I think is great .. although it's not being developed anymore. But this hiccup in the Linux video road aside, what would be the specs for a machine which renders relatively quickly, and not for the cost of a new Mac?

The new AMD Phenom X6's (six cores!) will be great for this sort of thing, and not break your bank. Newegg is selling them for $209.

Grab 4 GB of DDR3 and a midrange GPU and you'll have a great machine for video editing.

Read a review of the AMD at http://www.techspot.com/review/269-amd- ... page5.html and am wondering, price wise, how its performance stacks up against the i7 quad? Re video rendering times, which is better value? I also noted that in a review somewhere re the super expensive i7 960, the reviewer stated

I owned an AMD Phenom II 955 3.2ghz before this. HD video editing was "OK" with it. Popped the Core i7 in... WHAM! Can watch the video in real-time and edit up to 6 layers of effects without any noticeable lag. LOVE it. The render times however weren't that different. The Intel only beat the AMD by about 15% (or roughly a few seconds)... not sure if it was worth the $588 but I'm glad I can edit HD now without any slowdowns.

at http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6819115224
so my bug question is if the rendering times only differ by a couple of seconds, which then is the best value today?

Is there some sort of guide out there for putting something together with compatible parts, especially tuned for Linux?

Note that I with this reply I am just trying to sort out some of the confusing [for me!] specs and reviews out there, before I blow any cash.

[albert]

In most situations, you are going to come out way ahead by building the box yourself. Not only will you be able to avoid the "near junk" quality level of components most big box mfgr's are putting into their PCs these days, but your investment will provide you with the means to up the specs quite a bit for the same amount of currency.

My last build (last December) consisted of a a new full tower, 850w power supply, dual quad core CPU with lots of cache, 8G of high speed RAM, video card with 1G video RAM, 2 optical dvd burners, a mother board with lots of SATA connections and 1.75TB of initial storage. All of this and about 1.5 hrs of labor for about the price of a mid range big box PC.


Go for it!

-DataMan

If possible, can you detail your construction, or direct me to a guide? I have not built a PC before.

[dawgdoc]

If possible, can you detail your construction, or direct me to a guide? I have not built a PC before.

This Article, dated July 09, discusses building a PC at 3 price points. About 1/2 way through the article it goes into assembling the parts you decide on in a step by step manner.

Hope it helps.

[DataMan]

Try these guys. They live for PC builds and there are some actual Linux-types that are known to haunt the boards Way back when, they helped me out with the first build I did.

http://forums.hardwareguys.com/ikonboard.cgi

-DataMan

[DrHu]

Is it cost effective to build a Linux box from say, a barebones kit?

Yes..

In fact, one idea is to buy the cheapest mainboard available and beef it up with a good graphics card, since you will be mainly concerned with the processor and RAM capacity available for that mainboard; for any further updates. Also that you can turn of an integrated graphics card, if it is being included on the mainboard
--even some atom like or other low power boards could be used; that is all you need to put together a good Linux box

[pluraldave]

Remember the cooling! Get as big a case/motherboard form factor as will fit in the physical space allocated for the computer and make sure the case has good size intake/output fans (or rather spaces for them). Also I prefer a top mounted PSU as an extra heat source under the GPU (hottest part of my system) really doesn't help (even if it is expelling air).

Also your cpu, motherboard, gpu will all come with instructions. It's pretty simple to put a computer together but make sure you read the instructions first.

[albert]

Found this video tutorial for shuttle barebones: http://ca.shuttle.com/BuildYourOwnXPC.aspx

[albert]

Try these guys. They live for PC builds and there are some actual Linux-types that are known to haunt the boards Way back when, they helped me out with the first build I did.

http://forums.hardwareguys.com/ikonboard.cgi

-DataMan

Maybe I'm doing something wrong but when I try to register I get

Sorry, the board administrator has switched off registrations

for this site.

[DataMan]

In fact, one idea is to buy the cheapest mainboard available

Dr Hu
i'd respectfully take issue with the above. For all intents, the m/b is the heart of the system. Going the cheapo route could increase the probability of bios type of problems. Additionally, a m/b failure leads to a near total tear down of the system for replacement.

Re. the H/w Guys board, I still have a contact over there. I'll e-mail him on the situation and post back on the blocked registration.

-DataMan

[albert]

In fact, one idea is to buy the cheapest mainboard available

Dr Hu
i'd respectfully take issue with the above. For all intents, the m/b is the heart of the system. Going the cheapo route could increase the probability of bios type of problems. Additionally, a m/b failure leads to a near total tear down of the system for replacement.

Re. the H/w Guys board, I still have a contact over there. I'll e-mail him on the situation and post back on the blocked registration.

-DataMan

Thanks. I look forward to getting on that board.

[DataMan]

I heard back from some people who are still active in the H/W Guys board. Because of their forum s/w they can't resolve the ongoing problem with spam. As a result, they have locked out all registration. You can follow the attached link and e-mail the webmaster (the owner of the board) and see if that works for your registration.

Sorry for the inconvenience, just happens when these boards are based on old-technology apps.

http://forums.hardwareguys.com/ikonboar ... =19;t=6760

-DataMan

[albert]

I heard back from some people who are still active in the H/W Guys board. Because of their forum s/w they can't resolve the ongoing problem with spam. As a result, they have locked out all registration. You can follow the attached link and e-mail the webmaster (the owner of the board) and see if that works for your registration.

Sorry for the inconvenience, just happens when these boards are based on old-technology apps.

http://forums.hardwareguys.com/ikonboar ... =19;t=6760

-DataMan

Thank you.

Is there a list somewhere, up to date, of intel based components compatible with linux?

[DataMan]

I don't know of a per se list. My recommendation is to pick your potential processor(s) and do a query posting starting in Mint's H/W forum. You can also post in the Ubuntu H/W forum as a second choice.

These are general starting places. You may get a more direct link from someone else in the collective.

I would finally say that, all things being equal, unless you're selecting the very latest wiz-bang technology from Intel, chance are high that you'll be ok.

-DataMan

[albert]

I don't know of a per se list. My recommendation is to pick your potential processor(s) and do a query posting starting in Mint's H/W forum. You can also post in the Ubuntu H/W forum as a second choice.

These are general starting places. You may get a more direct link from someone else in the collective.

I would finally say that, all things being equal, unless you're selecting the very latest wiz-bang technology from Intel, chance are high that you'll be ok.

-DataMan

This is just a thought:

What about a wiki for a Mint Linux box with a step by step illustrated [maybe video] guide for all of us newbie builders?

I only suggest wiki so that it will be maintained with up to date components, unlike all of the other sites I've visited in the past week which have outdated hardware listed (for eg., forum users criticized a how to build a pc guide because they could not find the parts at neweg since they had been discontinued). If I am able to get some decent guidelines (that is, proper steps, such as the treatment of static electricity - grounding the case etc.?) for building such a computer, I would gladly document my build using video to post to such a wiki. Would that be unique to Mint? Would this forum host such a wiki?

What do you think of that?

[albert]

I see now that there's hardware support database at the Mint community forum, http://community.linuxmint.com/hardware/

Can't find an illustrated guide there, however.

Posted this an idea there.

Please note that I want to make absolutely certain that each step illustrated by my pics or video is at least my best effort to give the community the safest and most efficient manner to build a Mint Box. For example, I wouldn't want some user to come back to me after they fried their box lamenting a missed instruction critical to some method that may have prevented such (and, I really dislike disclaimers, as they tend to be a lawyer's easy way out; I don't think they have any place in free software forums).

[exploder]

I just re-built a machine with a Biostar MCP M2+ motherboard, it runs great and it's very upgradeable. This board uses an NVidea NForce chipset, has on-board everything, supports quite a few different AMD processors, supports up to 8 GB of RAM and Biostar has a good reputation for quality. The on-board thermal protection has always been a huge plus for me. It doesn't take very long to assemble a computer with this board and the quick set up guide makes things very easy. I have never been disappointed with Biostar, this is the 5th system I have put together using a Biostar motherboard.

[Aging Technogeek]

If you are interested in what's available and some (not total) assembly hints, check out these two topics about the drive to get a 64 bit system for merlwiz79 (the XFCE maintainer/developer). He kept everyone up to date about where the money was going and the progress of the build.

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 29&start=0

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 71&start=0