New Linux Desktop/WS, advice?

[fglrx]

This will be a completly new build, thought about getting the following for general use/coding/virtualization.

Most stuff probably won't change but I would like some advice anyway

Prices aren't final, I didn't search around for any good deals yet:

Core:

AMD Opteron 4180, 6x 2.60GHz 171€
AMD Opteron 4180, 6x 2.60GHz 171€
ASUS KCMA-D8 215€
Kingston 32GB DDR3-1333 ECC (8*4) 480€

Case/PSU/Fans:

Antec P183 121€
Scythe Slip Stream PWM 120x120x25mm, 1300rpm 4€
Scythe Slip Stream PWM 120x120x25mm, 1300rpm 4€
Scythe Slip Stream PWM 120x120x25mm, 1300rpm 4€
Corsair AX-750 80+ Gold 119€

Storage:

Kingston SSDNow V+ 100 128GB 220€

SW Raid 5:
Samsung EcoGreen F4 2000GB 71€
Samsung EcoGreen F4 2000GB 71€
Samsung EcoGreen F4 2000GB 71€

Reused:

ASUS Xonar Essence STX
Sapphire Radeon HD 5750

Guess it will come down to around 1800-2200€ (2400-2940$) depending on what Monitor I choose. I don't really like Dual-Monitor setups (Blasphemy!) so I'll probably go with a 27" or bigger 2560x1440 screen.

What's missing? CPU fans, most likely around 60€ combined. Still need to figure out which ones won't blow my ears away. Smaller PSU will work too, probably an Enermax 500W for around the same price.

 

[mfenn]

Most stuff probably won't change but I would like some advice anyway

Uh oh... Are we gonna have an IBJanky repeat?

Anyway, I have a few comments:

• The Tri-cools that come with the P183 are actually fairly quiet on low. You can probably ditch the extra fans unless you really want them to be PWM controlled.
• You definitely don't need a Corsair AX PSU. Something around 550W from Seasonic (or Enermax) will do just as well.
• I don't really like Kingston SSDs. You should be able to get something Sandforce based for a similar price. Sandforce works VERY well for dev. machines because the drive does on-the-fly compression to reduce the amount that is written to the drive and code is very compressible.
• I'm not sure what you will be able to do for the CPU cooler, since most are designed for servers and thus quite loud. Maybe get a passive heatsink and rig up some sort of fan/duct arrangement?
• I'd also normally suggest an NVidia GPU for Linux, but I don't think that that will go over well judging from your username

 

[fglrx]

Thanks, I heard a lot of bad stuff about Sandforce-based SSDs (especially by OCZ) maybe (probably) most of it is unwarranted but it kinda stuck with me.

There was a rather positive review of the Kingston SSD here at Anandtech not long ago. The extremly consistent speeds and good 'real world' performance seemed good enough.

Anyway, as long as it doesn't explode any of the recent SSDs should get the job done for me.

The Radeon is probably suboptimal but it's just laying around here, as long as I don't run into any major issues it should be fine.

At first I set everything up for an AM3 system (Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5, X6 1090T, Noctua NH-D14) but quickly went away from that when I decided that I wanted more than just 16GB RAM. The Corsair was a leftover from that option, especially when that would've been turned into a gaming system.

Thanks, C32 seems like an awesome deal. I wonder how Intel is selling anything these days with their inflated prices.

Dell UltraSharp U2711 - any good reviews for that unit? Are there better, cheaper ones out there?

 

[fffblackmage]

Thanks, I heard a lot of bad stuff about Sandforce-based SSDs (especially by OCZ) maybe (probably) most of it is unwarranted but it kinda stuck with me.

There were a lot bad stuff about every single SSD.

Intel - Had some issues with G1, I don't remember what they were.

Crucial C300 - Earlier drives bricked.

OCZ Indilinx-based - Poor performance.

Early Jmicron - severe stuttering issues.

They all had issues, but they all got fixed.

 

[mfenn]

Thanks, I heard a lot of bad stuff about Sandforce-based SSDs (especially by OCZ) maybe (probably) most of it is unwarranted but it kinda stuck with me.

There was a rather positive review of the Kingston SSD here at Anandtech not long ago. The extremly consistent speeds and good 'real world' performance seemed good enough.

Anyway, as long as it doesn't explode any of the recent SSDs should get the job done for me.

The Radeon is probably suboptimal but it's just laying around here, as long as I don't run into any major issues it should be fine.

At first I set everything up for an AM3 system (Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5, X6 1090T, Noctua NH-D14) but quickly went away from that when I decided that I wanted more than just 16GB RAM. The Corsair was a leftover from that option, especially when that would've been turned into a gaming system.

Thanks, C32 seems like an awesome deal. I wonder how Intel is selling anything these days with their inflated prices.

Dell UltraSharp U2711 - any good reviews for that unit? Are there better, cheaper ones out there?

I agree with blackmage that all SSDs had some teething problems, but that that's pretty much in the past now.

As for the monitor, I think that the U2711 is without peer in the 27" IPS market. TFT Central liked the U2711 quite a lot with the caveat that it does have a pretty small dot pitch.