I want to make a decently-spec’d linux machine that would be able to run windows games. My budget would be around $800.
Things I already have and will not be needed in the build:
Keyboard
Mouse
Speakers
Monitor
SSD
Would prefer to have a more compact case but it does not have to be miniature. I also want a case that will be relatively quiet.
What parts would you suggest for my build? Also, is there a guide for getting the best compatibility possible with Windows games I could be refereed to?
I would be playing AAA releases and I understand that many will not be playable under wine. I am just looking for a hardware configuration that is very wine friendly.
I guess you could do a Ryzen 5 3600 with a B450 mobo and 16GB ram coupled with a 2060KO/1660 Super for under 800 usd, with a psu and case thrown in too. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/tkTjsk
What are you upgrading from? May help narrow the field a bit of you know where the bottlenecks are with your existing system? If you already have a reasonable mobo and CPU you may get better mileage putting that $800 into a strong GPU. For example my ‘newest’ rig is 3 years old and plays everything I want to play on Linux, and my windows box is Sandy Bridge and holds its own.
Note if you are recycling mouse, monitor and keyboard from a vintage system there will be diminishing returns from more expensive hardware as your monitor will be limited by frame rate and port selection (or missing freesynch/displayport 1.4).
Also your mouse may not have sufficient RGB to pwn all the n00bs.
There’s not really “Wine Friendly” hardware per se. WINE is just an abstraction layer for Windows APIs, it just translates those to Linux. Generally AMD cards are easier to work with from the driver side tho, since they come with the kernel (i.e. need no installation), whereas nvidia drivers require a proprietary package that may not be readily available depending on the Distro you’re looking at.
Both run reasonably well with Vulkan these days though, and that is what games under WINE are mostly running on these days (through D9VK/DXVK or VK3D3, or native Vulkan).
AFAIK that still doesn’t work properly as soon as you have more then 1 monitor, but I haven’t read up on it in a while.
Ok then I think @CybeastRaystriker suggestion of a Ryzen 5 and 1660 is a good upgrade. Note it won’t feel materially faster at the desktop as computers haven’t really changed much in the last decade, Moreover the software hasn’t really taken advantage of faster drive speeds and higher ram clocks. Your biggest boost would be the GPU and faster storage.
Note about reusing the SSD. It will work and be fine, but the new motherboard will have a slot for a m.2 SSD and the experience of having 1TiB of data on a stick of chewing gum is enough to blow the mind of any hardware lover. If you can afford it consider this an experience to pursue. It will help make the build very clean.
For a quiet build you want to get a physically bigger GPU with a large heatsink. Dropping one of those in a microatx case can be a squeeze, but worth it over a “mini” GPU.
Finally to play devil’s advocate. You could do this in stages, get a GPU now for your existing rig and get another year or more out of it, then go for Ryzen 3 when it is ready. I wouldn’t spend more than $400 on a GPU though as again, diminishing returns, especially without a high refresh rate monitor.
I agree with @Airstripone, SSDs can hold up a long time and as a drive to store games even really old ones are still fine as long as they work. For a system drive … I mean, even my mac pro from 2009 now has an NVME drive installed and you can absolutely feel the difference. And I’m not talking in benchmarks but just startup times of everything. So yeah, a snappy M.2 NVME drive for your system, programs and some games is gonna make a difference. And depending on what SSD you currently use, it might be a pretty massive jump.
The advice of doing it in stages is something I like here. But I would actually invest into a solid board and PSU instead of upgrading the old platform with new graphics. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing, right? The next ZEN is coming, no question. Right now, if I were on a budget, I would get one of the new 12nm Ryzen 5 1600 for cheap (or a used 2600) and wait for the next (most likely last) generation of AM4 chips to hit. (Either to buy the newest processors then or benefit from lower prices on the 3000 series.)
For graphics I always try to talk people out of nvidia. The open source AMD drivers are so good these days, …
I haven’t looked at it for a while but Navi had some problems on linux when it was new. If you can find one for 200,- or close to that, a Vega56 pulse a pretty massive leap from your 760 (obviously) and you can be sure that it runs perfectly with any current distro.
I apologize for my absence. My family and I have been going through hard times and I have been preoccupied for the last few days.
I like the idea of slowly upgrading by starting with my GPU. I do, however, have a unique situation. My case is a Silverstone ft03 mini. For those who do not know it is a mini itx case. I am worried about finding an AMD video card that will fit and also be what I am looking for in the future. Do you think I should wait on the future system like noenken is suggesting or upgrade my GPU first like Airspripone is suggesting? If I go to upgrade the GPU first what do you suggest? Would the 1660 fit in my silverstone?
Sorry to hear about the family challenges. I hope things are getting better.
That is a nice case. Your case will take a GPU up to 9.5" or 24 cm with two slots. There are some GPUs that will fit in that size, but not many. If you want to keep the rest of the system and just upgrade in stages I’d suggest looking at the case you want then get a new GPU that fits and move the rest of your system across.
@grandadmiral I would have to disagree with Noenken about how terrible Nividia graphic cards are on Linux. While it is true AMD graphic drivers are part of any Linux distribution, they are a lot harder to set up correctly to run games, at least that is what I have read. I don’t have an AMD graphic card, so I can’t comment on if it is true. I will admit some people have reported they have gotten AMD graphic cards to run games quite well, but I have read some people weren’t able to get them to work with games. As recent as two weeks ago two forum members were complaining they couldn’t get their AMD graphic cards to run games very well.
It is true the opensource Nividia drivers, so you will want to install Nividia’s graphic drivers if you decide to purchase a Nividia graphic card. While installing a Linux distro can be hard when you use Nividia graphics, I think it is worth it for the better compatibility with games.
My advice to @grandadmiral would be to purchase a Nividia 2060, not a Nividia 1660 if purchasing new. If purchasing used any Nividia graphic card from the 1000 family would work. My only other advice I can give would be to not download Nividia’s driver from their web site use the Nividia drivers supplied from whatever Linux distribution you finally use.
IDK what you’re reading then. It’s literally installing the distro and start gaming. Provided the Distro is halfway usable after install. Of course you can still do optimisations, but that’s possible everywhere and not needed either.
“Better” is a matter of definition. Under certain configurations you won’t get anything to run because the nvidia driver just assumes some things about the system that might not be there (X11, systemd, …).
Which is the same driver because it is a binary blob. If you’re lucky the system package just installs it as well.
not really grab pretty much any system, and install lutris, and/or steam, and you’re balling.
obviously dont expect playing witcher 3 at 4k on a pentium 4 using a nvidia 8700.
The performance from windows difference(if any) is not really that big.
Id suggest buy a ryzen system pref using a amd gpu, but it’s not really a deal breaker, i just like the opensource concept.
at 800 bucks you’d get a banging system.
Personally i am a Ubuntu guy, and it sounds like 20.04 is gonna be lit.
Thank you everyone for the advice so far. I have been doing some research and have come across the method of GPU passthrough. Correct me if I am wrong but would this be the better way to go with compatibility of Windows games? I am interested in this as I have a legal copy of windows I could use for a virtual machine. I do not have any experience in doing this however. How hard is it to do and what sort of hardware would I need to do it?
Edit: I currently use and would like to continue using Arch linux if this sort of thing is relevant
TL;DR: Don’t dive head first into a passthrough build without knowing if you actually need it. It’s expensive both in money and time.
Technically yes, but it depends on the game.
For many games it is not needed anymore since DXVK/D9VK and VKD3D is a thing. Passthrough is useful if you’re wanting to play games that don’t run under WINE due to DRM or Anticheat issues, but outside of that there’s not really any reason anymore to go through the trouble.
edit:
To get an idea of whether what you’re wanting to play will run under WINE, just have a look at ProtonDB and Lutris as mentioned above. Most games run out of the box already with no configuration necessary (or the configuration being done through Lutris). If it isn’t, there’s usually some WINE/Proton build that will work with it, and setting it up is trivial (i.e. download -> unpack -> set -> play, Lutris does that automatically). Steam has a bunch of officially supported Proton titles as well (i.e. Valve and/or the Devs verified it works fine with it and enable it by default without configuration necessary). Outside of that a lot of games have native ports at this point due to the popularity of Unreal and Unity, which both support Linux-targets at compile.
There’s a bunch of tutorials here on the forum, wendell made multiple videos on it as well.
As for hardware, you will need 2 GPUs at least (one for the Host where an iGPU is enough, one for the VM). Since rebinding the GPU to the Host after the VM shuts down will be more headache then it’s worth you might consider getting 2 “proper” GPUs if you’re wanting to play natively as well. For the motherboard you need something with functioning IOMMU groups, since they are used to separate the host and guest/VM hardware. You also need 2 Monitors (or an HDMI dummy plug and LookingGlass). You might also need an audio interface since depending on the hardware it will be finicky to get audio out of the VM to the Host. On a sidenote: while nvidia does work in VMs, AMD is much more friendly about it since nvidia seems to actively discourage it in the driver.
