Hardware recommendations for building a good Linux gaming rig?

Moxvallix@sopuli.xyz to Linux Gaming@lemmy.ml – 40 points –

I know the first thing everyone will say is to use an AMD GPU. Agreed, sounds good (NVIDIA is sucky on my current machine). I have no clue which ones to start looking in to however.

I'm someone that is pretty good with the software side of computing, but not so much with the hardware side. I can comfortably construct a computer, just don't know much about what the best components to buy are. Any hardware suggestions / recommendations (for any component) are greatly appreciated (reasons for the suggestion is an optional bonus I would appreciate).

As for budget, I probably don't wanna spend much over $2.5K USD. $1K to 2K is probably about my preferred budget.

Thanks in advance to anyone that decides to help out.

(For anyone asking what I'll likely run on it: Arch Linux)

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Use pcpartpicker.com to build your system to help with compatibility.

Right now you either want a Ryzen 5800X3D or 7800X3D CPU depending on your budget.

For the 5800X3D, you'll want a DDR4 3600MHz dual channel kit for best RAM performance unless you want to overclock the infinity fabric. For the 7800X3D, 6000MHz DDR5. For either, you'll want a set of two sticks, not four. There are more specs for RAM that you can dig into and tune, but getting a kit with good reviews for a good price at these clock speeds will be enough.

For CPU cooler, the Noctua NHD15 is pretty much the best.

For SSDs, if your budget and motherboard allows it, get a PCIe gen 5 NVMe drive, but a PCIe gen 4 drive will probably be fast enough. Go with Samsung, if you can.

For power supply, get something with good reviews with 80+ Platinum or Titanium that can handle your load, and you'll probably be solid.

For GPU, go with a 7900XT or 6950XT if you can find one substantially cheaper.

For motherboard, if you go with the 5800X3D, the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming motherboard is $110 on Amazon right now, and when I got it a couple months ago, the version I got had a recent enough bios revision to "just work" with the 5800X3D, so you shouldn't need an older CPU to update it like you used to. At this price, this board is a steal. For the 7800X3D, get something with good reviews that you can afford.

EDIT: I would build something close to this: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yyPLFs

The air cooler market is very competitive right now. Noctua has great customer support and quality, as always, but there are better value options.

I would pick Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE, or alternatively the Peerless Assassin 120 SE

I would argue that as a proportion of the total build cost, the difference in cost between air coolers is fairly negligible, and as one of the few moving parts in the build, the reliability of the fan on the cooler should be a priority. I don't think a single other manufacturer has a demonstrated record of fan reliability and longevity that comes close to Noctua.

Would you pick those based on price or on performance?

Both. One downside seems to be the required pressure necessary when mounting. Noise normalized performance and overall value is great though. The phantom spirit is a slightly upgraded version with one more heat pipe compared to PA120SE

https://youtu.be/Mm4hyIHe1PM?si=oG_wLXj8vN_CJZj7

I'm certainly not a hardware expert but i've also been researching a new machine and everything i see about power supplies seems to suggest those 80+ ratings are mostly meaningless and suggest the cultists tier list

https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/

That's fair. I think for most people, they're a decent enough heuristic in that the higher certifications tend to correlate with good enough PSUs.

yea psu ratings dont rate the quality, they rate how efficient it is at converting AC to DC.

Bronze will use more power to output the same 12v than platinum and that's it. So if you care about not wasting energy during the conversion then get a higher tier psu otherwise don't bother factoring in the rating.

Thanks for the recommendations! Linking to a build was a nice touch :)

This is all a lot to take in lol, I might have to start a spreadsheet.

An alternative air cooler you can consider is the Deep Cool AK620. It's cheaper than the Noctua NH-D15 and probably a couple of degrees off in cooling efficienct. I have it with my Ryzen 5600 and am very happy with the performnce.

Note that whichever cooler you decide to get, their websites should also have a link for case and ram compatibility. You don't want to end up in a situation where the ram is too tall because of the rgb lights or the case can't be covered up.

Why two sticks of RAM instead of four? Is there some kind of issue with how Linux handles it or do these CPUs not handle it well or something?

4 sticks will still run in dual channel mode and it will add complexity. Depending on the motherboard and memory kit, there might a slight boost in performance, but there is more likely going to be a performance hit due to the added complexity. Since this person is building from scratch, and a two stick kit tends to cost the same as a four stick kit, it makes more sense to go with a two stick kit.

Thanks. Haven't been into the desktop scene in a while so was unsure why four sticks would be a worse idea. Always thought it would be better than two.

It puts more stress on the memory controller, DOCP might not work which is essential for Ryzen since it likes fast RAM.

I wouldn't have thought any board newer than the original Ryzen platform X370 has a problem with this. Do they?

Besides, the fact that these two CPUs have more cache and all cores on a single CCD makes them much less dependant on fast RAM.

You could run the 5800X3D with 2800 memory and get very close to its maximum potential already, it's crazy.

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