Shopping for a Linux Desktop


HelenF

Very Active Member
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Jun 22, 2013
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I'm looking for a new computer, mostly for doing work. Any advice from people who have done this more recently?

I'm using Fedora and will probably stick with LXDE regardless of the available computing power. At the moment, the most demanding thing I'd like to run is probably Android Studio (which my 2012 Windows laptop struggles with before even thinking about phone emulators). I might also be interested in a Windows VM later, with other heavy IDEs. And it would be great if it was quiet. Might go up to £600, but want to avoid paying too much for things I don't actually need.

I'm considering these at the moment:
http://www.chillblast.com/business-systems/task/business-desktops
They allow not buying an OEM Windows licence (which can't be transferred to a VM), there's a lot of customisation options available and it's pretty specific about what parts you're getting. I'm trying to check compatibility on things.

I was thinking a Core i3-6100 with 8G of RAM and a small SSD.

I wonder whether PSU, case fan and CPU cooler upgrades are worth it. The person on the help chat thought the Quiet Cooling Fans are controlled by the motherboard and would probably behave fine with Linux, but they can't guarantee compatibility for any of the hardware. The Aerocool 80 PLUS 500W PSU has good reviews around for being quiet.

I wasn't planning to get a graphics card at the moment. If I get one sometime, I'd prefer a decent open-source driver over playing the latest games at the highest settings with a proprietary one. I mostly play 2D games. Searching around, seems like the integrated Skylake Graphics 530 could do a pretty good job using open-source drivers, including for low-end 3D, though support might still be a bit immature?

(My old machine has an ancient Nvidia GeForce4 MX 420 using the Nouveau driver. A while back I tried running the 2D games Braid, To The Moon, and World of Goo, none of which worked, though maybe I didn't try very hard. IIRC, Kodi needed some graphics-related flag to make it not crash, so maybe other programs have similar things.)
 
If you're not restricted on space, I'd go for a case that fits a standard ATX PSU (easier to get good ones - which can be made rocket science) and an ATX mainboard (more flexible). A wider case will also allow for bigger CPU coolers which in turn will generally allow for more computing power while creating less noise.

Since I'm not from UK, I can't comment on the prices, but from a technical point of view these builds look solid and generally Linux-compatible. That being said, I don't feel the CPU cooler upgrades they offer are worth it. I'm not saying the alternative coolers aren't good, but I don't think that they are worth the money. I'd take the stock cooler, see how it performs and consider an upgrade later. Pretty much the same probably goes for RAM and an SSD (which is really worth it).

I generally prefer to build my computers on my own or if I find a shop that has all the parts I want, I pay them to put everything together. That usually works out quite ok, but they tend to not put much effort into cable management.
 
To simplify things greatly, I'd suggest fanless computers. No fiddling with fan controllers or PSUs, but it may hurt your ability to upgrade (or, in the case of most NUCs, kill it altogether).

Well above 600 GBP, but the CompuLab Airtop-D w/Intel Core-i5 costs ~$1000, and is completely silent, minus the hard drive, which can be easily swapped for an SSD if wanting complete silence. The case alone is ~$800, so it's very pricey. However, you can use most Nvidia cards after taking the fans off to accommodate the plates inside the case. You can also upgrade to the latest LGA1150 Intel CPUs.

There's also the Skull Canyon NUC going for ~$650, which is well within 600 GBP. Can't upgrade it much though (RAM and storage).
 
A year ago I bought a fanless setup for a Linux Desktop and I paid € 59,00 extra for assembling. After some research and choosing the parts I bought everything from one company and wanted their assurance the combination would work without any problem.

It is running 2 sessions of 64 bits Ubuntu - one in Virtual box. I don't play games on it.

Akasa Euler
€ 101,19
ASUS H81T
€ 84,89
Transcend JetRAM
€ 40,84
Intel Core i3 4130T / 2.9 GHz
€ 137,04
Samsung 840 EVO Basic
€ 118,89

I like the small form factor, that is it absolutely silent and speed is fine for non-gaming.
 
For my dev machine I don't really care about noise, because it's in another room of the house and I ssh into it to do any work. No good for graphical gaming of course, but it handles everything else I throw at it.
 
There can be an extreme difference in noise between regular fans and actually quiet fans. Intel's boxed fans (the ones included with the CPU) in particular tend to be loud and rather low-performing (though they do cool sufficiently), but there are also many expensive-ish fans that are rather loud, so be careful there. To keep the system quiet, the case is rather important, too. Some are dampened all around and/or constructed to suppress vibrations. Read SPCR's Recommended Quiet / Silent Components if you want to learn all about it.

Make sure to decouple everything that vibrates from the case to minimize transmission of vibrations. There are special cages for HDDs, and rubber bumpers (or bumper systems) for fans. Fans are also often optimized for either "blowing" or "sucking" installation, and can work worse / become (much) louder if this is not taken into account.

Many medium-to-high-end-ish motherboards have fan control that's configurable via their BIOS/UEFI GUI. Asus in particular has an elaborate one where you can set heat-RPM curves independently from the OS (I don't know whether other manufacturers have something equally involved by now, maybe someone else here does). You could also use a hardware fan controller, enabling you to to regulate the fan speeds manually (usually via a case front panel) and independently of BIOS/UEFI and/or OS, which would even work with a plain vanilla Intel-made mainboard.

I can't really say anything about chillblast, I haven't heard of them before (probably because I'm not in the UK). Personally, in this case I would recommend Alternate for their excellent service and varied choice of parts.

For the case, in this case I'd greatly recommend the Define R5 by Fractal Design.

As far as the PSU is concerned, it is strongly recommended to be careful with cheap (and, sadly, sometimes also with expensive) units. Some may be so-so, others are outright dangerous. Consult http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Review_Cat&recatnum=13 if you are unsure.

Do you have any specific (types of) SSD(s) in mind? Any kind of RAM specifically? Note that with this system, you could do quad-channel RAM instead of dual-channel (either now or as a future RAM upgrade), I have no idea how much you'd profit from it with your usage scenario though, maybe someone else here could make an educated guess...
 
Personally, in this case I would recommend Alternate for their excellent service and varied choice of parts.
Do you have any experience with their UK business?
In Germany they are pretty reliable in general, and they offer a "PC Configurator" where you can tell them to build your system. You'll have to mount big CPU coolers yourself though, because these might come off during transport. And unfortunately they don't always get the cable management right.
The advertised availability status of their parts tends to be overly optimistic.
 
Thanks for all the ideas!

The new fanless designs are pretty cool, but it does look like you pay more for the same specs, even after quieter-fan components are taken into account. I don't need a completely silent one (there are more annoying noises around here too).

I was sort of thinking of building for the last few months, but not this time. Maybe I can upgrade this one later on.

Looks like Chillblast are slightly overpriced, not interested in Linux, and only sell Micro ATX motherboards even when a big case is selected.

https://www.quietpc.com is a definite possibility (I didn't find that when searching before!)
They are interested in Linux, a bit cheaper than Chillblast for similar specs, supply full-size motherboards, there's not too much choice, and it should come out reasonably quiet with any option.
Actually, no, they are a bit more expensive (not sure what I did the first time).
 
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I was sort of thinking of building for the last few months, but not this time. Maybe I can upgrade this one later on.

[...]

https://www.quietpc.com is a definite possibility (I didn't find that when searching before!)
They are interested in Linux, a bit cheaper than Chillblast for similar specs, supply full-size motherboards, there's not too much choice, and it should come out reasonably quiet with any option.
Actually, no, they are a bit more expensive (not sure what I did the first time).
Wait... so are you, or are you not, interested in a new system right now?

Do you have any experience with their UK business?
In Germany they are pretty reliable in general, and they offer a "PC Configurator" where you can tell them to build your system. You'll have to mount big CPU coolers yourself though, because these might come off during transport. And unfortunately they don't always get the cable management right.
The advertised availability status of their parts tends to be overly optimistic.
No, I don't have experience with their UK business, I've just been a long-time customer of Alternate here in Germany. They don't have a branch in the UK as far as I'm aware, but you can order from over there, the UK is part of the EU after all.

Based on my experience, I would confirm that they tend to be overly optimistic about availability, but what do you mean with them not always getting cable management right? Do you mean things like cables hanging into / close to fans or such? I'd be interested in hearing more.

Now, would you please excuse me for a moment, I have to go sit in a corner and weep over the Brexit.
 
Based on my experience, I would confirm that they tend to be overly optimistic about availability, but what do you mean with them not always getting cable management right? Do you mean things like cables hanging into / close to fans or such? I'd be interested in hearing more.
There are basically three things to consider about cable management:
1. Make sure, the cables follow defined pathes.
2. Make sure, they don't block airflow.
3. Make sure, they don't block future upgrades.

They usually get 1. right. This basically means to fix the cables somewhere, so they don't just dangle and hang into fans. Unfortunately they do this by lumping all cables together into one giant inflexible string, that follows the shortest path (air line) through the case, although the cables are long enough to route them more intelligently. 2. and 3. suffer from this practice, because in a standard ATX tower this giant string will usually go right through the wind tunnel between the drive bays and the CPU cooler, and it may even block some of the mainboard's expansion slots.

This is not exclusively a problem with Alternate. All the other "configured" PC's I ordered exhibited the same problem to some amount (depending on the actual system setup). It seems to me it would be pure luck if you got a PC this way with good cable management in all three points.
 
Wait... so are you, or are you not, interested in a new system right now?
I definitely need to buy something, and rather soon! I meant I'm not going to self-build this time, but I might next time, or in 2-3 years I might upgrade the one I'm about to buy now.
 
1. Make sure, the cables follow defined pathes.
2. Make sure, they don't block airflow.
3. Make sure, they don't block future upgrades.
I think the airflow aspect is often rather overestimated (please tell me if yoi have information to the contrary). What you've said about Alternate's cable managenent thus is pretty much what I would expect of them...

I definitely need to buy something, and rather soon! I meant I'm not going to self-build this time, but I might next time, or in 2-3 years I might upgrade the one I'm about to buy now.
By that, do you mean the actual, physical act of assembling the computer, or is it just that you don't want to spend so much time finding compatible parts?
 
I think the airflow aspect is often rather overestimated (please tell me if yoi have information to the contrary).
In 2008 I bought a desktop PC with a 95W TDP CPU that came with the usual bad "lumped" airflow. It had the mainboard power cable and a bunch of 12V lanes and SATA cables running right in the path of the CPU-cooler's (tower type) intake, approximately 5cm away from the fan.
IIrc, after properly rerouting the cables I got the CPU temperatures down by 5K, idle and under load. Since then I've always taken care of how the cables are routed in the PC's I'm maintaining.

I think this is pretty significant, considering that it comes at zero cost.
Maybe it's not that much of an issue anymore, because today's PCs tend to be build without optical drives, which takes away some of the cables potentially crossing the intake.

It's not related to cables, but just last week I carefully renewed the thermal paste on my PC's CPU cooler. At first I was irritated, because the temperatures didn't drop, although I pretty much knew the old paste wasn't in ideal shape.
Then I realized that I forgot to connect one of the two fans mounted on the cooler. When I fixed that, the temperatures dropped 5k idle and 8K under load.
So airflow definitely makes a difference here.

Oh, and I also have an "ancient" example. In 1998 I bought a PC that had a pretty poor case layout. Ok, TDPs weren't really an issue and cooling concepts were in their infancies back then, but placing the ATX PSU in a way that it only gives the CPU fan 1cm "breathing room" is an obvious design flaw.
I had intermittent heat problems until I ended up opening the PSU's case*, so the CPU fan had more space and the heat problems disappeared.


*) Warning: Don't try this at home! (unless you know what you're doing - I didn't back then and still got away lucky)
 
By that, do you mean the actual, physical act of assembling the computer, or is it just that you don't want to spend so much time finding compatible parts?
I take stuff apart up to a moderate price and a certain complexity (e.g. changed parts in older computers and opened the bottom half of my CC Pandora), but putting together a new desktop worries me, particularly motherboard+CPU+cooler assembly.

As for parts, I was thinking shops like Chillblast and QuietPC had about the right amount of choice for my taste, but then I complain about them not having stuff. Chillblast doesn't have the full-size motherboards; and QuietPC doesn't have the Core i3-6100 or a normal 1TB hard drive, and if I go up one step I'm going to need to increase the budget a bit. So if I was happy about putting it together, I could easily take the list from one of those shops and tweak it a bit...

Put this in my cart on QuietPC about 5 days ago. It's coming up as £642.28 now. The price has gone up twice while it was sitting my cart - that's just annoying. Building myself would be better if I don't panic and don't break anything...

Cooltek Antiphon Quiet PC Case, Black
Gigabyte GA-H170-HD3 LGA1151 ATX Motherboard
Intel 6th Gen Core i3 6320 3.9GHz 47W HD 530 4MB Dual Core CPU
Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX 8GB (2x4GB) 2400MHz Memory Kit
Scythe Katana 4 Quiet CPU Cooler
be quiet Pure Power L8 500W PSU 80+ Bronze
Samsung 750 EVO 120GB 2.5in Solid State Drive
WD WD20EZRZ Blue 2TB 3.5in Hard Disk Drive
 
I take stuff apart up to a moderate price and a certain complexity (e.g. changed parts in older computers and opened the bottom half of my CC Pandora), but putting together a new desktop worries me, particularly motherboard+CPU+cooler assembly.
Don't worry about that! If you have a half-way spacious case, then installing mainboard, CPU and cooler is no more complicated than the other stuff.
Just make sure to carefully read the instructions and take your time!

There's a bunch of religions around the correct application of thermal paste, but it all boils down to not taking too much or too few and not trapping any air bubbles while installing the cooler (this is what all the pattern discussion is about). If you follow the manufacturer's instructions you're usually doing it right.

Scythe Katana 4 Quiet CPU Cooler
This is the only thing I MIGHT have 2nd thoughts about. No doubt, it's a decent cooler, but it's pretty big and voluminous (which is part of the reason why it's a good one). I don't like to fix those coolers with push pins, because although in general they work fine, sometimes when you transport the PC, they come off due to vibrations. Also, if they have been mounted for a long time, the outer parts of the pins often stay in the spread position, even after loosening the inner part. This is no real problem, as you can bend them back, but it takes away the advantage of easy installation because it sometimes requires you to unmount the mainboard in order to be able to hold the two halfs together while inserting them into the hole on the mainboard.
Therefore I prefer screwing mechanisms with a backplate. It's a little more work to fix them, but at least they are reliable in that they always have a predictable behavior.
 
Don't worry about that! If you have a half-way spacious case, then installing mainboard, CPU and cooler is no more complicated than the other stuff.
Just make sure to carefully read the instructions and take your time!

There's a bunch of religions around the correct application of thermal paste, but it all boils down to not taking too much or too few and not trapping any air bubbles while installing the cooler (this is what all the pattern discussion is about). If you follow the manufacturer's instructions you're usually doing it right.

I also heard things about the CPU needing enormous amounts of force and making terrible noises.

Scythe Katana 4 Quiet CPU Cooler

This is the only thing I MIGHT have 2nd thoughts about. No doubt, it's a decent cooler, but it's pretty big and voluminous (which is part of the reason why it's a good one). I don't like to fix those coolers with push pins, because although in general they work fine, sometimes when you transport the PC, they come off due to vibrations. Also, if they have been mounted for a long time, the outer parts of the pins often stay in the spread position, even after loosening the inner part. This is no real problem, as you can bend them back, but it takes away the advantage of easy installation because it sometimes requires you to unmount the mainboard in order to be able to hold the two halfs together while inserting them into the hole on the mainboard.
Therefore I prefer screwing mechanisms with a backplate. It's a little more work to fix them, but at least they are reliable in that they always have a predictable behavior.
I see. Again, if I built it myself, I'd get more options.

The other quiet option on the pre-built is the Gelid Tranquillo Rev.3, which is also big, but says it's a backplate type fixing.
 
I also heard things about the CPU needing enormous amounts of force and making terrible noises.
I haven't heard about that so far. But I have no experience with Skylake myself.
All I know is, that there were some problems with the stability of their chips in connection with some coolers. [1] But afaik, this has been resolved by the cooler manufacturers.

The other quiet option on the pre-built is the Gelid Tranquillo Rev.3, which is also big, but says it's a backplate type fixing.
I haven't found any meaningful reviews about this exact cooler, but the earlier revisions seemed to be quite ok. It doesn't seem to have much potential for overclocking though.


[1] http://www.tomshardware.com/news/skylake-cpus-damaged-by-coolers,30690.html
 
The freaky CPU sockets thing was probably from before Skylake. It might be better now. I don't hear any loud crunching in this video. Though this guy comments that the CPU fixing lever has "got a lot of resistance on it", and that can mean different things depending on whether you've done it before ;)

Oversized coolers don't seem like such a good idea really...

it's pretty big ... I don't like to fix those coolers with push pins
What do you think about smaller coolers with push pins?

There's also the Skull Canyon NUC going for ~$650, which is well within 600 GBP. Can't upgrade it much though (RAM and storage).
I was meaning to mention earlier: that doesn't include any RAM or storage (or the 20% VAT in the UK). I guess someone who needs a lot of storage would keep a USB or Thunderbolt hard drive permanently attached.
 
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