My new Linux Rig - Hardware & Software

[itshondo]

For too long I have been using older equipment to run Linux on. The problem with that was I always ended up with systems that were too loud for my taste and not as fast as I desired.

I decided that it was about time to make a dedicated system that would be fast, new, relatively inexpensive and quiet.

So here's what I made.

THE HARDWARE

My 1st requirement was that I wanted it to be a micro ATX case & motherboard. As I have a Micro Center nearby I looked online and found that they had this nice little Linkworld 727 case for $20-

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0312891

PC Power & Cooling 500 watt Silencer Mk II Power Supply-

Biostar A780L3G Motherboard

AMD Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition Dual Core CPU ( I bought the 560 and the Biostar mobo as a $100 combo at Micro Center )

Coolermaster Hyper TX3 Heatsink

3 Antec Tri-Cool (3-speed) 92 mm fans (2 for HSF & 1 for case exhaust)

8 gb (2X4gb) Corsair XMS Series DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800)

Western Digital 320 gb 7200 rpm / 16gb cache SATA hard drive

Sony Optiarc SATA DL DVD Drive

Zotac GT430 Fanless Video Card

 

[itshondo]

HARDWARE - Installation

Installation was as normal as any other build.

The case is not super strong, but it is well designed with just a few sharp edges. Here is a pic of the linux rig next to my "Main Rig" (Win7) -

The two 5.25 inch drive bays have spring loaded doors -

I installed the DVD drive until it's OPEN/CLOSE button was just touching the case's button. Here the drive is open -

Under the 2 drive bays is a spring loaded door that covers the floppy bays, audio connections and USB ports -

Inside -

Here is a shot of the Linux Rig with the side panel off. Notice at the bottom of the image the case feet- those are drawer pulls/knobs. They keep the bottom of the rig up & off the floor and the front/bottom intake open.

The stock fan that came with the Coolermaster TX3 HSF was too loud for my taste, so I bought 2 Antec triCool 92mm fans and installed them in a push/pull configuation. I set them at their lowest speed and they are almost silent. This combination also keeps the 560 CPU cool, maxing out at 42 C while running Prime95.

Here is a pic of the 3 Antec fans- 2 on the TX3 and 1 as an exhaust (lowest setting too) -

Here is the Fanless Zotac GT430 1Gb video card - silence.................

I installed a very quiet 92 mm fan as an intake -

in the Bios I overclocked the 3.3 Ghz CPU to 3.8 Ghz. Here's how I did it -

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=674204

 

[itshondo]

After I got the hardware installed I started trying different distros of Linux.

I installed & evaluated -

OpenSuse
Kubuntu
Ubuntu
linux Mint
Fedora

Each one of them failed to properly recognize my Intellinet 802.11N USB wireless adapter.

Then I installed the distro I have always enjoyed most, PCLinuxOS. It did recognize the Wifi adapter - works perfect!

I decided to install the "Full Monty" version of the distro, as it is loaded up with just about everything you could dream of. Using Synaptic Package Manager I later removed packages that i didn't need. I also installed the PAE kernel to utilize all 8 gb of memory.

Here's a screen shot of the basic desktop-

And a Gkrellm window, system not being pushed-

I then started playing with Windows software emulators.

I managed to successfully get these Windows apps (that I really like) using Wine -

- Password Corral
- PhotoImpactX3
- Prime95

And with Crossover -

- Microsoft Office 2007
- CPU-Z
- Internet Explorer (just a test......)

So I could (and I may) switch over to my linux Rig for everything. There really isn't any reason to keep using my Windows 7 rig any more.....

 

[itshondo]

Notes on the Hardware-

Biostar A780L3G Motherboard

- I was pleasently surprised how easy it was to overclock the 560
- High quality NB heatsink
- Onboard audio works very well
- Onboard ATI video (in my kid's rig) works great- plays Spore fine
- Automatic CPU fan control drove me bonkers with the ups & downs. I connected the 2 Antec fans directly to the PSU

PC Power & Cooling 500 Watt PSU

- Great PSU, solid reviews, steady
- very quiet, almost silent
- Not modular - lots of spare cables to stow away

Zotac GT430 1 GB Video Card

- dead silent
- great output (hooked to the VGA cable of my monitor)
- Running 1920 X 1200 resolution

Coolermaster TX3 HSF

- works very well, about 14C cooler (Idle) than the stock AMD HSF
- Relatively quiet with the stock Coolermaster fan
- Dead quiet with the 2 Antec TriCools fans pushing & pulling

Antec TriiCool 92 MM fans

- almost silent on Low
- Medium & high settings available

Corsair Memory

- Fast & Flawless

WD Hard Drive

- reliable
- Quiet
- Fast

Sony Optiarc DVD Drive

- no problems so far.....

Linkworld 727 Micro ATX Case

- best $20 I ever spent
- great fit & finish
- very good looking

 

[itshondo]

Feel free to post up information about your dedicated Linux rigs..............

 

[theflyingrat]

My Mint 10 box is in my signature. It does well with the relatively low level of hardware I'm using!

Hadn't seen PCLinuxOS, myself. Looks snazzy enough... glad you're having fun with it!

 

[dfonda]

Nice build Hondo!

I have a Msi P67 G65, Intel i7 [email protected](CM Hyper 212+ H/S arrives tomorrow) 4GB of Ripjaw x 2133, Corsair 650W, Cooler Master Storm case(Arrived today) 320GB HD. Oh and old 8800GT on a 24" Acer. No optical just a USB 16GB flash drive.
Currently running on Ubuntu 11.04 Beta.

I am real interested in how you got cpuz to run...googling crossover right now.

I'll post a pic once I get it in the case...right now its running on a cardboard box.

 

[itshondo]

I installed CPU-Z via Crossover as an unsupported application.

 

[itshondo]

The only thing I am having problems with is my printer. I just can't seem to get the HP 1020 LaserJet to work.

 

[mbentley]

The only thing I am having problems with is my printer. I just can't seem to get the HP 1020 LaserJet to work.

i have a hp laserjet 1018. i would assume that your 1020 would use the foomatic/foo2zjs driver as well. might wanna check to make sure it is installed.

*edit: also, here is my dedicated linux machine. it's my server but i also have gnome installed for when i just want to leave my desktop off and i just need to check something out really quickly (these pictures are a little old. just imagine 5 hitachi drives under the 2 wd raptors):







what i run in it:

• case - chieftec bravo ba-01b-b-b full atx tower
• psu - cooler master silent pro m600 rs-600-amba-d3 600w modular psu
• motherboard - msi p43 neo3-f lga 775 atx
• processor - intel core 2 quad q6600 2.4ghz (sl9um)
• ram - 4 x 4096mb ddr2 800 (pc2 6400)
• hard drives - 2 x wd raptor 74gb (raid 1), 5 x hitachi 1tb (raid 5)
• video - gigabyte geforce 7200gs 256mb
• operating system - debian squeeze amd64
• ups - apc back-ups xs 1300va lcd

and what it does:

• on debian
  • file server
  • web server
  • vmware host
• in VMs (mostly windows server 2008)
  • domain controllers
  • dhcp server
  • dns server
  • exchange 2010
  • certificate services

 

[dfonda]

Here is a Pic of a new P67 Ubuntu 11.04 Beta running Folding@Home. Just need to do some cable management and make a cover for the HD cage. Sadly my H/F didn't arrive today as I had hoped... Folding on a 46" LCD

 

[ihrsetrdr]

I love threads with lots of hardware pr0n photos!

I've got (5) X58 rigs and (1) P67 in my folding farm, all running Linux(4 Debian, 2 Ubuntu).

I'll find a hardware pic and post it up later.

 

[David]

I have a HP LaserJet 1020 attached to a WinXP box as a print server; I can print from a Debian 6 box to it no problem, and can check what driver it's using if that helps?

 

[ihrsetrdr]

I love threads with lots of hardware pr0n photos!

I've got (5) X58 rigs and (1) P67 in my folding farm, all running Linux(4 Debian, 2 Ubuntu).

I'll find a hardware pic and post it up later.

O.K., here's some X58 rigs, except for the one on the top, that's a PII running Redhat 8.0 desktop:

Yea, they are not very pretty, but they operate on Debian GNU/Linux and a couple are running Ubuntu.

They are running Folding@home 24/7/365 for OC Forum's Team 32.

The only "pretty face" in my crew is the one below, my 'main rig':

At the time that the picture was taken, it was a ga p35 skt 775, with a Q6600 @3.2ghz. As you can see, it was a faux mac-pro then, but is now housing an X58 motherboard running Linux.

Edited for sloppy punctuation.

 

[dfonda]

Whats your address Tim? I am going to send you a can of Black spray paint, for the beige rigs...

 

[itshondo]

Time for an update on my Linix rig... (since 2011)

It's my main desktop computer but I also have a separate Windows computer to edit video & game on. Both rigs are connected to a 32" LG 4K monitor through a 4K HDMI TESmart 4 port KVM.

The Linux rig is still running the Phenom II 560 Black dual core but a 965 X4 will be installed in a few days (picked it up cheap on ebay ) that will be cooled by the tried & true Coolermaster Hyper TX3 Heatsink cooler.

In order to run the new 4k monitor at 4K I installed an Asus GTX 1050ti 4GB video card and it performs nicely and relatively quietly. It plays all video content smoothly at 4K @ 60hz.

I have a SSD with PCLinuxOS installed and two other hard drives for storage & backup. Linux Mint is also installed as a hobby OS, just playing with it. Everything is installed in a newer MATX mini tower with the same Biostar A780L3G Motherboard & 8gb of ram.

I built this rig almost 8 years ago and it's still strong, fast and quiet.

 

[caddi daddi]

it's just so dang hard to beat those old phenonII chips, I still have to of those rigs running!!!!

 

[itshondo]

Upgrades complete -

• GIGABYTE GA-78LMT-USB3 R6 motherboard (bought used on ebay)
• AMD FX-4350 4.2 Ghz CPU (965 got lost in the mail)
• Coolermaster FX3 CPU cooler with 2 90mm fans
• 16gb (4x4gb) Crucial XMS DDR3 1600 memory
• Crucial 250gb MX500 SSD (OS drive ACHI mode)
• WD 1TB SSD (Storage drive ACHI mode)
• Sony DVD drive
• Asus GTX 1050ti graphics card (4K res 3840 x 2160 @ 60hz)
• PCLinuxOS - KDE Plasma 5
• Silverstone TEMJIN Series TJ08T-E MATX Case

Installed PCLinuxOS without a swap partition and it flies!




eBay Northbridge HSF -



Wire management is easy -

 

[HankB]

Woo! Always fun to build a new rig. I just updated mine. Well... to be specific I updated the description in my sig.

I have a Micro Center nearby

Danger Will Robinson!!!

I also installed the PAE kernel

Isn't that a 32 bit thing? I've only installed the 64 bit versions lately.

Each one of them failed to properly recognize my Intellinet 802.11N USB wireless adapter.

I'm a little surprised, but not too surprised. In most cases you just need to install a firmware package or something like that to get it to work. But if you don't have Ethernet handy that may not be so convenient. Nevertheless, if you're happy with PCLinuxOS then no big deal.

How are things going with the Nvidia based card? I hear that the AMD cards are better supported at the moment. (I have a GTX 460 in my desktop and cannot upgrade to the 410 driver because it is a Fermi card and they are no longer supported.)

I did not know that PC Power and Cooling was still a brand. I've got one I bought 12 years ago and I'm using it in my server. (I think.)

Enjoy!

 

[itshondo]

Look at the dates of those entries....8 years ago

The Asus GTX 1050ti runs flawlessly on PCLinuxOS at 4K res @60hz.