So, I have a not so unique problem. I want to build a PC with decent power and good Linux support but local parts are hard to get and importing is a mess.

Local shops don’t have much

https://www.scanmalta.com/shop/ this is the only local shop with parts in stock, and even they only have 1 amd GPU.

I’m looking for both amd CPU and GPU. At least 16 GB of ram and ideally as cheap as I can. Anyone have any advice to give me?

I’m aiming for something midrange-ish

  • luciole (he/him)@beehaw.org
    7·
    2 months ago

    Good luck assembling, you’ll love PC gaming I’m sure!

    Just in case you don’t know already: https://pcpartpicker.com/ is an amazing site to plan a build. You can put all the parts you’re aiming to buy and it’ll tell you if there are any compatibility issues. You can share your parts list with a community too and ask for specific advice.

    Concerning parts, XFX AMD GPUs are very well built and go for a reasonable price. Their 6000 series have great cost/performance value imho. I have a 6750XT in a PC connected to a 55’ TV and it’s hardly breaking sweat provided I don’t go overboard with game settings. For a normal computer screen you could have plenty of fun out of a 6650 XT I’m sure.

    Could you get Amazon delivery from say, amazon.it? It could give you a chance to find what you’re looking for.

      • Lvxferre@mander.xyz
        3·
        2 months ago

        All I know is I don’t know how to pick parts and what is compatable with ehat

        In addition to the site linked by the other user, you can also websearch “is [part1] compatible with [part2]?” and check the results, they’re often useful.

          • Lvxferre@mander.xyz
            5·
            2 months ago

            Yeah, bullshit machine would be awful for that. The way that it works it’s simply too prone to invent parts that don’t exist, or claim that two pieces are compatible when they aren’t [or vice versa].

    • Megaman_EXE@beehaw.org
      1·
      2 months ago

      This seems like a dumb question, but ima ask it anyway. Is there a more interactive or “fun” way to learn the process of building a pc? I know there are certain compatibility issues parts can have with each other, and I want to learn how to do all this.

      But I feel like the info is really dry, and instead of just memorizing information, I want to make it fun, lol.

      • DdCno1@beehaw.org
        3·
        2 months ago

        There’s PC Building Simulator and its sequel. The first one is on sale right now for 5 bucks (at least in my region):

        https://store.steampowered.com/app/621060/PC_Building_Simulator/

        The sequel is also on sale right now, but it’s only on Epic:

        https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/pc-building-simulator-2

        It’s not perfect, but it’s a whole lot closer to the real deal than most other job simulators. You can genuinely use this to pick up the basics, but there’s no substitute building in the real world. The sequel got better reviews (79 on Opencritic vs. 70 for part 1), but I haven’t tried it yet.

        What I’d recommend once you know which part goes where is getting some scrap parts from somewhere and assembling something functional out of them. I’m talking random parts found by the side of the road to at most 20 bucks in total for everything, case included. That’s how I built my first PC as a kid. It was only a 486 with 100 MHz (which came out in 1994) years after the GHz barrier had been breached (~2002ish), but it was mine and I loved it.

        • Megaman_EXE@beehaw.org
          1·
          2 months ago

          Ohh thanks! I’ll have to check that out! I didn’t even think about checking for a game lol

          I built my current PC with a friend back in 2013, and I’ve done some minor upgrading since then, but yeah, most of my knowledge is out the window at this point so maybe this will do the trick :)

          • DdCno1@beehaw.org
            2·
            2 months ago

            Happy to help. Forgot to mention: Make sure to check the difficulty options and disable things like automatically placed cables.

            Also, keep in mind that any prices in there tend to be widely out of date. If you want to use this to plan your build, use PCPartPicker to pick out the parts you can afford and then find them or the closest equivalents in this game. The sequel is obviously going to be a bit more up to date.

        • Megaman_EXE@beehaw.org
          1·
          2 months ago

          I’ll have to take a look, thank you! I guess videos are more fun than just reading the information haha

      • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
        2·
        2 months ago

        I feel like the end goal has always been the incentive for me. I learned to build a PC because, if I wanted to play the games I wanted, there wasn’t another option. I still do always enjoy the process of putting it all together, but I’m always ready to have it all working, booted, and put to use (if not just so I can be relieved that I don’t need to RMA anything, hah).

        If the end goal isn’t something that interests you, then maybe it’s just not worth doing it.

        • Megaman_EXE@beehaw.org
          1·
          2 months ago

          Hmm, yeah, I get what you’re saying. I guess for me, I don’t feel like I have a ton of time to actually sit down and learn stuff, so any way I can make it more fun or give myself some kind of incentive to learn helps.

          I know I want to get the end result, but it’s just a matter of tricking my stupid monkey brain into thinking it’s just fun games when I’m learning lol. It prevents me from getting bored long enough for me to dig in and get interested

          • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
            2·
            2 months ago

            Honestly, it’s just a matter of knowing this list:

            • CPU
            • RAM
            • motherboard
            • GPU
            • hard drive
            • case
            • power supply

            And roughly how they should fit together.

            But every time I build a PC I have to figure out what the latest versions of these parts are, make sure they’re compatible, and when I get the parts they might have some unique form factor I have to figure out on the fly. Just going to PC Part Picker and picking out each part is 90% of the way there. After that it’s just a matter of getting them, sticking them together, crossing your fingers that it powers on, and installing an OS. If/when it doesn’t power on, THAT’S when you start learning…

            But I would say building a PC is not a fraction as difficult as say, knowing how to work on a car.

  • the16bitgamer@programming.dev
    2·
    2 months ago

    While the safe bet with Linux is AMD, it’s not like Nvidia or Intel are bad options for Linux. (,running RTX 3050 and 12100f).

    It just depends on your platform and how comfortable you are with tinkering.

    From my testing, Ubuntu based, is the easiest to get up and running while Fedora and arch can take a bit of work.

    For my recommendation, look at the games you wanna run and see what they recommend for hardware. An in general safe bet, 12th gen Intel i3/i5 or 3rd gen Ryzen is a good bet for cheap hardware still in stock in stores or online. Upgrade is good (12-14th on the same socket & 1-5th gen Ryzen on the same socket).

    Graphics cards works on both, and AmD and Nvidia works on Linux, though Nvidia is behind on support, but not by much games will be stable.

      • the16bitgamer@programming.dev
        1·
        2 months ago

        Arch isn’t too hard with the AUR offering packages that said I only stuck out with Manjaro. They had a GUI to help with the install.

        I personally wouldn’t advise using it if you are new to Linux. I use Linux Mint and it’s been amazing for my work load. (Cad video editing and games.)

  • Lvxferre@mander.xyz
    2·
    2 months ago

    The site that you’ve linked blocked me for some reason, and cost/benefit in Malta is bound to be different from the one here in LatAm, but I’ve recently built a midrange-ish computer, so might as well list what I bought for reference.

    • CPU - Ryzen 7 5700X3D. Good cost/benefit ratio, and rather good performance. I had to buy a third party cooler as the CPU doesn’t come with one, so keep that in mind. I considered the Ryzen 5 5600 for budget reasons, too; it might be an option if you want to make the build cheaper.
    • Mobo - Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite. If coupled with the above you need to Q-Flash update the BIOS, but that was relatively painless. So far it’s working great, can’t complain about it.
    • RAM - I went for 2*16GB instead, mostly to future-proof my build. The brand is Apacer Nox, I didn’t find people complaining about it and it had a reasonable price.
    • SSD - Adata 480GB.
    • PSU - Gamdias Cyclops M1-750B, 750W. Frankly my method to look for a PSU was to look for 700~800W ones in a local forum, with the word “porcaria” (rubbish, shit) alongside it so I could see complains, then I found people actually praising this one.

    If I convert my overall costs from reals to euros it was around €500, but keep in mind that I didn’t buy a new HDD or a new GPU. GPUs in special are relatively expensive here, I’m hoping that the prices go down next year.