New Linux Build

[deviaan]

Budget (including currency): $25,000 - $30,000 MXN

Country: Mexico

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: What I _think_ are the heaviest programs: Blender, Unity, Godot, Kdenlive (or some other video editing software). Then some work programs: JetBrains IDEs, pretty standard web stacks inside of docker containers--usually 2 - 5 containers at a time. As far as games go, most of them are pretty light or old games, but I would like to get into more modern games if possible. Examples include WoW (Lutris), Darkest Dungeon, Pillars of Eternity

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): I've been using Linux for a long time now, but only on ThinkPads, never on a custom built PC. Since I'm finishing up school, I took a bunch of Game Dev classes that I'm very excited about, though the software struggles to run on my old laptops. I thought this would be a good excuse to build a computer. I built one about 6 years ago, so I'm not a complete noob, but still very noobish all the same. My biggest concern is if the CPU/GPU I'm picking will work well with the programs I have to use.

 

Right now, the main parts I have in mind are:

Ryzen 7 5800x or Ryzen 5 7600
Radeon RX 6800 xt

 

 

A local computer shop lists both the processors at ~$4.5k and the GPU varies between $10k-11k, so that leaves about $10k for the rest of the build which I think should be enough.

 

Thank you so much for any help and advice!

[igormp]

7 minutes ago, deviaan said:

Blender

How much are you going to use it? If a lot, then maybe going with an nvidia GPU for Optix would be a good pick, otherwise AMD is a pretty good option for out of the box usage on linux.

7 minutes ago, deviaan said:

Ryzen 7 5800x or Ryzen 5 7600
Radeon RX 6800 xt

Why not go for a cheaper GPU and get a better CPU? It seems that most of your workloads are more CPU-bound, and the games you mentioned are not that GPU-heavy to begin with.

[Paul17]

6 minutes ago, deviaan said:

Budget (including currency): $25,000 - $30,000 MXN

Country: Mexico

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: What I _think_ are the heaviest programs: Blender, Unity, Godot, Kdenlive (or some other video editing software). Then some work programs: JetBrains IDEs, pretty standard web stacks inside of docker containers--usually 2 - 5 containers at a time. As far as games go, most of them are pretty light or old games, but I would like to get into more modern games if possible. Examples include WoW (Lutris), Darkest Dungeon, Pillars of Eternity

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): I've been using Linux for a long time now, but only on ThinkPads, never on a custom built PC. Since I'm finishing up school, I took a bunch of Game Dev classes that I'm very excited about, though the software struggles to run on my old laptops. I thought this would be a good excuse to build a computer. I built one about 6 years ago, so I'm not a complete noob, but still very noobish all the same. My biggest concern is if the CPU/GPU I'm picking will work well with the programs I have to use.

 

Right now, the main parts I have in mind are:

Ryzen 7 5800x or Ryzen 5 7600
Radeon RX 6800 xt

 

 

A local computer shop lists both the processors at ~$4.5k and the GPU varies between $10k-11k, so that leaves about $10k for the rest of the build which I think should be enough.

 

Thank you so much for any help and advice!

You could also consider Intel processors for the QuickSync options - they apparently work even with the dgpu - so, you have 'double' the power?   This means you can also use the 6800 XT.   Although, Nvidia gpus tend to work better at Blender and video editing software - the AMD gpu is apparently better to use in Linux - so, it depends on how often you're using the software and what software programs they are.   

[deviaan]

12 minutes ago, igormp said:

How much are you going to use it? If a lot, then maybe going with an nvidia GPU for Optix would be a good pick, otherwise AMD is a pretty good option for out of the box usage on linux.

Why not go for a cheaper GPU and get a better CPU? It seems that most of your workloads are more CPU-bound, and the games you mentioned are not that GPU-heavy to begin with.

I don't expect to use Blender, or most of the video software, too much. We'll be doing some modeling, and while I would like to continue making games as a hobby, I think most of my time is going to be spent in the engine rather than in blender. The video editing software is just for sharing some progress, so it also won't be a huge focus.

 

I could see getting a more modest GPU, like a 6750? And use the difference to bump up to something like a 7700.

Edited May 11, 2023 by deviaan
wrong chip name

[deviaan]

9 minutes ago, Paul17 said:

You could also consider Intel processors for the QuickSync options - they apparently work even with the dgpu - so, you have 'double' the power?   This means you can also use the 6800 XT.   Although, Nvidia gpus tend to work better at Blender and video editing software - the AMD gpu is apparently better to use in Linux - so, it depends on how often you're using the software and what software programs they are.   

Yeah, the performance difference between Nvidia and AMD on Linux is what makes me feel confused. I've seen both people who get great results overall with the proprietary Nvidia drivers, and people who get better performance, regardless of the app, with AMD. It seems like it might be a wash, but since I'm new to both the software and having a dgpu on Linux, I'm not sure.

 

An Intel Chip might be pretty good too, I honestly just looked at AMD since it seemed neat to have both the CPU and GPU be from the same company.

[Alex Atkin UK]

17 minutes ago, Paul17 said:

the AMD gpu is apparently better to use in Linux

This is frankly not true and never has been true in my experience, despite many people claiming otherwise.

 

A lot of people go on about how NVIDIA needing proprietary drivers (as the open source ones lack features) makes them bad compared to AMD supporting open source, but when I tried AMD on my laptop I couldn't get OpenCL to work.

I've always used NVIDIA on Linux as its the only GPU I have been able to prevent screen tearing with, including the Intel iGPUs.  There can be issues with installers or big distro upgrades, but you get used that potential and your mileage may vary depending on how your specific Linux distro handles things.

[svmlegacy]

I've never had much trouble with nvidia GPU's on Linux, just make sure to install the proprietary driver through the package manager (Do not install the package NVIDA provides...) You'll also need to turn secure boot off if your distro supports it.

[Paul17]

7 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

This is frankly not true and never has been true in my experience, despite many people claiming otherwise.

 

A lot of people go on about how NVIDIA needing proprietary drivers (as the open source ones lack features) makes them bad compared to AMD supporting open source, but when I tried AMD on my laptop I couldn't get OpenCL to work.

I've always used NVIDIA on Linux as its the only GPU I have been able to prevent screen tearing with, including the Intel iGPUs.  There can be issues with installers or big distro upgrades, but you get used that potential and your mileage may vary depending on how your specific Linux distro handles things.

Well, AMD has good open source drivers for Linux - Nvidia does not.   Try booting up any distro with the Nouveau drivers.  

I wouldn't 'count' any experience with laptop graphics - I think that you will have problems if it's AMD or Nvidia - hybrid graphics - doesn't have good support on either Nvdia or AMD, afaik.   The Intel igpu is good enough to boot up and basic computing - I don't know about screen tearing and intel igpu - isn't screen tearing often a result of vsync/frame rate/refresh rate issues?   

[deviaan]

You know, now that everyone mentions it, System 76 uses Nvidia for all their discrete GPUs and I've heard they run very well. I'm planning on using PopOS anyways, so maybe I don't have to worry about driver differences and can just focus on price/performance.

[Alex Atkin UK]

17 minutes ago, Paul17 said:

Try booting up any distro with the Nouveau drivers. 

Like I said, there are issues with initial installation due to that but once you get the proprietary drivers installed is just plain better, especially if you need OpenCL or CUDA.

 

17 minutes ago, Paul17 said:

I wouldn't 'count' any experience with laptop graphics - I think that you will have problems if it's AMD or Nvidia - hybrid graphics - doesn't have good support on either Nvdia or AMD, afaik.  

Not hybrid, iGPU.  Admittedly they did at least work, unlike my experiences with nouveau, but I couldn't figure out how to get OpenCL to work.  NVIDIA are better supported for OpenCL and of course CUDA as its what the professionals are using.  Blender in particular will be easier to get working on NVIDIA, its only relatively recently even added AMD support for GPU rendering.

[deviaan]

21 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

 Blender in particular will be easier to get working on NVIDIA, its only relatively recently even added AMD support for GPU rendering.

 

Wow no kidding, it looks like a 3080 is much, _much_ better when it comes to Blender than AMD. It's not even close, the 3070, which costs about the same as the 6800xt here, takes less than 1/2 the time to render than the 6800xt.

 

I guess now I have to figure out how this affects other programs which aren't so well optimized, and how often I'll be using those. I think for now, I'd maybe use Blender to make a model or two, but I'm hoping to use it more regularly in the future. If the difference in Godot/Unity is negligible, it sounds like a 3080 is the way to go. Especially since I don't think either card will struggle with the games I do play, and even when getting into "AAA" games, I don't mind playing on Medium settings.

[igormp]

1 hour ago, deviaan said:

I could see getting a more modest GPU, like a 6750? And use the difference to bump up to something like a 7700.

IMO even a 6600xt should be enough for your needs, and maybe you could try to snatch a 7900 or an i7 13700.

 

1 hour ago, deviaan said:

Yeah, the performance difference between Nvidia and AMD on Linux is what makes me feel confused. I've seen both people who get great results overall with the proprietary Nvidia drivers, and people who get better performance, regardless of the app, with AMD. It seems like it might be a wash, but since I'm new to both the software and having a dgpu on Linux, I'm not sure.

 

An Intel Chip might be pretty good too, I honestly just looked at AMD since it seemed neat to have both the CPU and GPU be from the same company.

Take a look on some benchmarks from phoronix/openbenchmarking.

FWIW, I use a nvidia GPU with linux on a daily basis and never had any issues. Also used to use AMD, didn't have problems but they have no support for the software I need to use nowadays (mostly ML-related).

 

[deviaan]

On 5/11/2023 at 7:06 PM, igormp said:

IMO even a 6600xt should be enough for your needs, and maybe you could try to snatch a 7900 or an i7 13700.

 

Take a look on some benchmarks from phoronix/openbenchmarking.

FWIW, I use a nvidia GPU with linux on a daily basis and never had any issues. Also used to use AMD, didn't have problems but they have no support for the software I need to use nowadays (mostly ML-related).

 

Ok that makes a lot of sense. It seems like I should go for a beefier CPU and an Nvidia GPU for the work load I'm planning on. I'm thinking bumping up the budget so I can get a 3070 and just save up to get one of the CPUs you mentioned. Thank you!