What to consider when building a PC for Linux

[pythonmegapixel]

I am not looking for specific build lists at the moment as I am still very much on the fence about whether and when I want to buy a new PC. This is why I have not provided a budget etc.

One thing I do know is that if I buy a new system, I want it to run Linux - I use it on my laptop, and I really enjoy it. But I have a few questions about building a PC to be compatible with Linux.

 

• GPUs... Nvidia or AMD? Which has better Linux drivers? Are there any specific cards to avoid? (I largely play Minecraft and use my computer for productivity tasks, and I also do a tiny bit of video editing though not very much)
• Motherboards - are any manufacturers likely to exhibit severe performance drops or driver issues under Linux? Which chipsets are better? (I don't care whether I buy Intel or AMD, just whichever does the better job of being a CPU for my use case)
• Does using Linux make troubleshooting the system significantly harder in the event that something doesn't work?
• Are there any good databases containing information about Linux hardware compatiblilty available freely online?

I'll be running Ubuntu or one of its derivatives, if that's of use to anyone.

Any other relevant comments/suggestions/issues would also be very welcome.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Amd normally have bettter drivese, and there open source and included, no nothing to installed. Nvidia drivers are closed source, and have more issues gernerally.

 

All modern chipsets from amd and intel work well. Most boards will work fine, but some with third party chipsets will have issues. Expect things like rgb not to work out of the box.

 

Most systems run linux fine these days, nothing you really have to worry about for normal use.

[pythonmegapixel]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

All modern chipsets from amd and intel work well. Most boards will work fine, but some with third party chipsets will have issues. Expect things like rgb not to work out of the box.

I'm not a massive fan of RGB anyway and it'll be under the desk most of the time anyway; that's no issue.

I'm unsure what you mean by a third party chipset? I thought to be compatible with CPUs, boards had to use the chipset supplied by the CPU manufacturer.

 

Quote

Most systems run linux fine these days, nothing you really have to worry about for normal use.

Thanks for your help.

 

The main issues I've had with my recent Linux installations is Realtek Wifi cards not working, but given that it'll always be using Ethernet, I don't think that is an issue.

[kelvinhall05]

AMD GPUs have exponentially better drivers than Nvidia cards. The only cards I can think of off the top of my head that you should avoid are any southern islands cards due to their experimental support that is, in my experience, very bad.

 

I haven't heard any problems with mainstream desktop chipsets/motherboards or onboard hardware. I'd say for the most part you're totally fine. Maybe there are a few specific examples, I dunno.

 

I personally find troubleshooting on Linux to be far better than on Windows.

 

There aren't really any single databases afaik. I just tend to google for "[hardware] linux" or something along those lines.

 

 

EDIT: Probably doesn't apply to you since you sound like you're interested in a desktop, but laptops usually take a bit of work to get going. At the bare minimum you usually have to install and configure some battery/power saving utilities like TLP.

[kelvinhall05]

1 minute ago, pythonmegapixel said:

The main issues I've had with my recent Linux installations is Realtek Wifi cards not working,

These usually require a bit of extra work to get going iirc.

[G0dSpeed]

Definitely go AMD their Linux drivers are usually better because of their open-source nature.

[Electronics Wizardy]

12 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

I'm not a massive fan of RGB anyway and it'll be under the desk most of the time anyway; that's no issue.

I'm unsure what you mean by a third party chipset? I thought to be compatible with CPUs, boards had to use the chipset supplied by the CPU manufacturer.

by third party chipset I mean things like addition sata, wifi, ethernet, usb and other controllers. Try to get boards woth stuff mostly from amd/intel for better compatibility.

[mahyar]

23 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

GPUs... Nvidia or AMD? Which has better Linux drivers? Are there any specific cards to avoid? (I largely play Minecraft and use my computer for productivity tasks, and I also do a tiny bit of video editing though not very much)

amd drivers are generally better but as a daily linux driver that uses an nvidia gpu i say nvidia's drivers are also great

 

23 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Motherboards - are any manufacturers likely to exhibit severe performance drops or driver issues under Linux? Which chipsets are better? (I don't care whether I buy Intel or AMD, just whichever does the better job of being a CPU for my use case)

most if not all modern mobos are ok

 

23 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Does using Linux make troubleshooting the system significantly harder in the event that something doesn't work?

well there is a command baked into distros called dmesg it spits all of initialization log for all hardware and software it makes debugging very easy

[pythonmegapixel]

Thanks to @zhnu  @G0dSpeed @lexusgamer05and@kelvinhall05
for responding.

 

I think I'll definitely look at AMD GPUs then. I've heard a lot of people say that Minecraft runs incredibly poorly on AMD but I imagine that's somewhat hyperbole and given that it's playable on some integrated graphics I can't imagine it being too awful.

 

Laptops do tend to be more of a nuisance to get working, but I'm definitely interested in a desktop system.

 

I assume there's no reason, then, why if I build a system it shouldn't perform the same in software on Linux as it would in the same software on Windows?

[mahyar]

Just now, pythonmegapixel said:

I assume there's no reason, then, why if I build a system it shouldn't perform the same in software on Linux as it would in the same software on Windows?

because most of time the software is written for windows and then ported to linux and optimization will not be as good as windows because developer do not care that much about it

[pythonmegapixel]

5 minutes ago, zhnu said:

Depends on software, there's some that doesn't work on Linux only Windows but you can always dual-boot or keep a VM for those cases, for games https://www.protondb.com/

Yes, I know that... I meant the software that is natively written for it.

6 minutes ago, mahyar said:

because most of time the software is written for windows and then ported to linux and optimization will not be as good as windows because developer do not care that much about it

More and more software is being written natively for all of the major platforms at once. So I'm not too concerned about that.

 

But rather, there's no reason why running Linux should cripple the hardware itself in such a way that properly optimised software couldn't get as much out of it?

[mahyar]

Just now, pythonmegapixel said:

Yes, I know that... I meant the software that is natively written for it.

More and more software is being written natively for all of the major platforms at once. So I'm not too concerned about that.

 

But rather, there's no reason why running Linux should cripple the hardware itself in such a way that properly optimised software couldn't get as much out of it?

you missed the point

the way that linux interacts with hardware is very different  than windows

[pythonmegapixel]

2 minutes ago, mahyar said:

you missed the point

the way that linux interacts with hardware is very different  than windows

I don't understand what you're talking about.

 

From the perspective of the user, I shouldn't have to care about that. All I'm asking is, if system X gives me 160fps in game Y under Windows, assuming the developer has taken the time to optimise their game correctly for both platforms, is there any reason why system X shouldn't also give me 160fps in game Y under Linux?

[pythonmegapixel]

3 minutes ago, lexusgamer05 said:

I play Minecraft on AMD and it's great, you won't have any issues

Do you play on Linux, Windows JE, or Windows BE?

[mahyar]

Just now, pythonmegapixel said:

I don't understand what you're talking about.

 

From the perspective of the user, I shouldn't have to care about that. All I'm asking is, if system X gives me 160fps in game Y under Windows, assuming the developer has taken the time to optimise their game correctly for both platforms, is there any reason why system X shouldn't also give me 160fps in game Y under Linux?

first the linux does not support direct x and it should use dxvk

and librarys are not same in platforms

[pythonmegapixel]

2 minutes ago, mahyar said:

first the linux does not support direct x and it should use dxvk

and librarys are not same in platforms

That's a good point actually - however I imagine it's unlikely to make the game perform very poorly, certainly not to the point of unplayability, unless the developer has done a really awful job of optimisation.

 

Honestly I don't know why I'm fixating on this so much; obviously if Linux doesn't work that doesn't stop me from buying a Windows license down the line, if needed.

 

Anyway, thanks very much for your input; your posts have been very helpful.

[mahyar]

7 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

That's a good point actually - however I imagine it's unlikely to make the game perform very poorly, certainly not to the point of unplayability, unless the developer has done a really awful job of optimisation.

 

Honestly I don't know why I'm fixating on this so much; obviously if Linux doesn't work that doesn't stop me from buying a Windows license down the line, if needed.

 

Anyway, thanks very much for your input; your posts have been very helpful.

well as i said libraries are not same across platforms

that optimisation thing is only for native port like csgo but stuff that is running on wine is a different story that im too sleepy (its like 1AM) to explain