PC Parts Filter: Help me build a very fast, very cheap Linux PC

October 23, 2006 9:02 PM

What's the best combination of motherboard, cpu, hard drive, and accessories to build a very fast PC? I'd like to pay $350 US or less for the total cost.

I'm building a new Linux desktop PC. I have the following parts:

PC Case with 350W power supply (Antec SLK1650B)
20.1" widescreen monitor - Viewsonic VX2025wm, VGA/DVI inputs
Spare CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives - all PATA or SCSI
Ubuntu Breezy installation CDs
100BaseT Ethernet cabling

I'd like to build a very fast Linux PC for software development and general office tasks (OpenOffice, web browsing, etc). 3D gaming performance is not important.

I am looking for recommendations on the best combination of motherboard, cpu, hard drive, and accessories to build a very fast PC. I'd like to pay $350 US or less for the total cost.

Ideally the PC would have Linux supported hardware without closed source drivers.

Thanks!

posted by dudeman to Computers & Internet (13 answers total)

Not sure about which specific motherboard would be best, but I would look at the Intel Core 2 Duo processors. They are the fastest processors at the moment.
posted by meta87 at 9:14 PM on October 23, 2006

That's a bit tricky. You didn't mention the RAM which is not cheap and very important nowadays. 1 GB is about $100. Another $100 for the hard drive, and now you're at $150 for the motherboard and CPU. That's more in the range of "a computer" than "a very fast computer". A "very fast" CPU is more in the $200 range right now.

Given that, I've found the Ars Technica buying guides are generally good. Their latest budget one.
posted by smackfu at 9:14 PM on October 23, 2006

Response by poster: Didn't mention RAM - an oversight. 1 GB should be enough to start. I'd like to have the option to go to 2GB in future.
posted by dudeman at 9:17 PM on October 23, 2006

Definitely check out the Ars System Guide, specifically the budget box. Right now, a Core 2 Duo and Motherboard will eat up your entire budget on their own, so I'd suggest, like Ars does, an Athlon 64 and nVidia motherboard.
posted by boaz at 9:27 PM on October 23, 2006

You're not going to get a "very fast" PC for $350.

You'll get a PC which is faster than anything that could be bought for any price 10 years ago, but it won't be "very fast" by comparison to what else is being sold today.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 9:38 PM on October 23, 2006

A slight aside - Ubuntu Breezy is an old distribution - Dapper Drake (6.06 LTS) is the current one and Edgy Eft (6.10) is at RC1 (and looking pretty good)...
posted by benzo8 at 1:17 AM on October 24, 2006

If you really want a good deal on computer parts, buy a new system from http://www.outpost.com. They have great deals, but of course buying a new system takes the fun out of building your own. It is most likely the cheapest way to go. Also check out fatwallet.com for computer/computer parts deals.
posted by speedoavenger at 7:21 AM on October 24, 2006

Whoops, didn't notice your budget. I guess the core 2 duos are a little out of your price range. The Athlon 64s are still good cpus.
posted by meta87 at 7:21 AM on October 24, 2006

Best answer: For CPU, if gaming performance isn't important, you just want the cheapest dual core you can find (right now that is the Pentium D 805). Having two cores will make a huge difference if you have many things going on at the same time, because with only one core, a single CPU intensive process stalls the system. Yes, I know you can change thread priority, it isn't the same as having a second CPU.

If you really want to push the limits of the price/performance trade off, you want a 15k RPM SCSI drive and SCSI controller. Used, you should be able to get an 80mbit/s U2W controller, still plenty of bandwidth for a system drive, for $20 with cable/terminator, and a 36GB drive for $60.
posted by Chuckles at 7:54 AM on October 24, 2006 [1 favorite]

Tomshardware had a recent piece about building a 500 dollar gaming PC. Just substitute the expensive 3D videocard for some bargain basement 2D card and you're very near your 250 dollar price point.
posted by damn dirty ape at 8:23 AM on October 24, 2006 [1 favorite]

Best answer: After looking at Tom's guide, I'd say it's pretty close. My suggestion would be to buy a mobo with integrated video to save you the cost of a separate card. The Tom's article suggests the 939Dual-SATA2, I'd suggest the 939NF4G-SATA2 instead. Or anything in the same price range with integrated video.
posted by GuyZero at 8:44 AM on October 24, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks for the input! The SCSI drive idea is interesting. In the 90's I ran my development machines exclusively with SCSI drives (of course, those were $4,000+ setups!). I grudgingly moved to IDE because the price difference was so huge.

I think my drive options are:

1) Go overbudget and buy a Raptor
2) Go with the SCSI option above
3) Buy two cheap IDE drives and configure as RAID 1. (I can get 160GB drives for about $50 after rebate)

Has anyone done 1) or 3) and if so, how happy were you with the performance?
posted by dudeman at 9:53 AM on October 24, 2006

damn dirty ape: Recent? That thing's a year old. In hardware terms that's pretty out of date.
posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 12:46 PM on October 24, 2006