Hey guys.
I am currently saving for a new computer to move away from my old crappy laptop.
The only problem is that I prefer Linux over Windows and although I will use Windows for Uni (MS Visual Studio & MS SQL Server) I need my hardware to be compatable with Linux.
So I was wondering if anyone could suggest some good computer parts that work well with Linux.
I'm new to building computers so any help would be appreciated.
So you are a college student?
I am just going to assume you are on a tight budget then.
This is almost the same exact build as I have and I know for a fact it will work perfectly with most Linux distros as I have used them on this hardware.
It can even do gaming but if you don't want/need gaming you can go with something like this for a bit cheaper
Can you wait for 6 more months and then get a Haswell with GT3? That would really be the best linux solution by far.
Other than that, there are few reasons to spec out a machine for linux, because you can get linux running fast and snappy on almost any machine, especially for productivity, and you lose no time solving problems with machines that are a few years old in linux, but latest gen machines are often a world of pain to set up for maximum performance. Especially for general productivity, a product with 2-3 years old technology is all you need to benefit from all the lastet features and have a really snappy machine that runs cool and efficient. The few linux native games that are available work very well with somewhat older hardware and bring FPS counts that are simply unseen in Windows, even on latest-and-greatest hardware. Even the most basic 5-7 year old notebook will run red eclipse, xonotic, doom, cube, alien arena, etc with 60-70 FPS on full resolution and with high details with open source drivers.
If you want a new machine to play FarCry3 on highest settings in Windows though, you might want tos tick to Intel/nVidia hardware, because it also works well with most major GNU/Linux distros, and it will be better in the future as nVidia and Intel might merge, and nVidia has ever more linux centric products (Tegra, Shield), while AMD has ceased practically all linux development almost a year ago and has signed a contract with Microsoft to supply the CPU/GPU of the new XBox 720 (figure out for yourself which technology offers the best guarantee for linux development, nVidia Shield or XBox 720...). AMD also doesn't supply as much open source tools for kernel/application optimisation for linux as Intel does. If you are a linux enthusiast and like to compile your own optimised kernel, Intel is also the way to go. Supercomputer manufacturers like Cray have traditionally been using AMD Opterons, but have switched to Intel Xeon last year, which says it all really.
I'm having a look now. And yes im in college but I rarley ever game so the cheaper the better. Thank you for your time :)