Building a Desktop PC (must work with Ubuntu)

**abhiroopb** · February 9th, 2010

I am interested in upgrading my current laptop and getting a desktop.

From my research I have decided to build my own PC. When I say build I mean I’ll research the components go to a shop buy the components and have them build it for me.

I have gotten hold of a price list (attached PDF) which has all the items needed for a desktop.

I live in Singapore so please don’t bother suggesting deals that appear on newegg.com, etc. as I would not be able to utilize these anyway. I am less interested about the price and more interested in each item. I can always find cheaper ones elsewhere. Right now I need to figure out what I should be looking for. I don’t have a fixed price in mind, again I’d rather get all the information and then make a decision.

Requirements:

1. MUST work with Ubuntu – so if there are known graphics driver issues please suggest an alternative. All the components must work with Ubuntu.

2. Generally good gaming PC – e.g. I’d like to play Modern Warfare 2 on full settings that sort of thing. I also want this to a last for 3 years at least and still be well performing.

3. I only want “name” brands. Doesn’t mean it has to be top of the line, but I would rather get ASUS or Corsair than something that is completely unknown.

I have listed below a summary of the components I am thinking of getting. I would appreciate feedback/components.

Specifications:

Prices are all in Singapore Dollars (conversion is 1 SGD = 0.70 USD)

1. Motherboard and processor

I’m interested in going for the i7 950 as within my budget it seems to be the most reasonable option and the biggest power gain. The 975 does not seem a significant performance jump and the price is a LOT higher.

I am not very familiar with motherboards so below is a table showing the motherboard, the motherboard price and the corresponding processor price. Unless it really matters I want to get the cheapest motherboard (providing of course it can fit all the rest of the components I need).

Code:

Motherboard	                                M/B price 	Processor Price (i7 950)  
Asus P6T SE (Green) X58 w/1394/GBE/Sound	359	        1173
Asus P6T Deluxe V2 w/1394/GBE/Sound	        549	        1333
Asus P6X58D Premium X58	                        599	        1398
Asus Rampage II Extreme X58 w/1394/GBE/Sound	669	        1456
Asus P6T7 WS SuperComputer SAS/Dual Lan	        810	        1599
ECS X58B-A2 X-Fire/1394/Raid/Sound	        259	        1085
EVGA X58-SLi Micro w/1394/GBE/Sound	        379	        1196
EVGA X58 SLi-LE X58 w/1394/GBE/Sound	        469	        1276
EVGA X58-Classified SLi EATX	                749	        1538
Gigabyte EX58-UD3R X58 w/1394/GBE/Sound	        345	        1163
Gigabyte X58A-UD7 X58 w/4 x PCI-E/1394/Sound	590	        1408
MSI X58M X-Fire Ready w/1394/GBE/Sound MATX	309	        1128
MSI X58 PRO-E X-Fire Ready Heatpipe w/FW/GBE/S	345	        1165

2. Hard Drive:

First: Western Digital Veloci-Raptor 300GB - SGD 318

Second:
WD 2TB 64MB (Caviar Green) - SGD 309
WD 2TB 64MB (Caviar Black) - SGD 449

Cannot decide between the Caviar Green and Black. Is the speed difference significant enough to justify the price? SSDs are still too expensive for me to buy, but I may upgrade in the future so is there anything I need to have in my motherboard or case to accommodate these?

3. RAM: PC3 12800/1600 Corsair CL9 – (2x4GB) – SGD 398

4. VGA : Sapphire Radeon HD5970 2GB DDR5 OC Edition – SGD 989

I know that the Radeon HD5970 is the best ATI card out there. But, I’m not really sure who “Sapphire” is. Is this the same as getting an ATI card?

The rest are generally basic products that I am unsure about and just picked whatever sounded good/was reasonable. I haven’t done much research on them so I would appreciate some feedback. The stuff above is obviously the important points.

5. Asus DRW-24B1ST 24X DvDRW SATA – SGD 52

6. Casing: CM CM690 3 x 12cm Fan + Side Window – SGD 119

7. PSU: CoolerMaster Extreme Plus 650W – SGD 109

8. Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI – SGD 85

9. Monitor: Samsung 23” P2350 (Wide) 2ms/50000:1 – SGD 308

10. Network:
Asus 10/100/1000 PCI Gigabit Ethernet Card – SGD 29
Netgear WN511T RangeMax W/L-N PCMCIA – SGD 105

Total (approx as I am unsure about a few of the items): SGD 4500 = USD 3150

Thanks for the help!

I just realised the PDF is too big to fit. If anyone is interested in seeing the price list I can try and send it individually later.

**abhiroopb** · February 9th, 2010

Absentmindedly posted this in the wrong thread. Could it be moved to the hardware thread please. Thanks!

**Azrael3000** · April 17th, 2010

have you got any updates on your progress? I'd be interested in building an Ubuntu pc myself. However I would need it for CFD simulations. So power is important for me too (CPU mainly).

If you are still deciding look at this: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...ht=ASUS+P6X58D

I actually considered this mb but it looks like this is not such a good idea. Maybe it changes with Lucid but I wouldn't bet on it.