# Dell XPS 8300 - Compatible with Gentoo?

## creepytennis

Hi,

I've been offered a Dell 'XPS 8300' at work to replace my ageing PC. I will only take it if it will work with Gentoo:

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d00x8301&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=xps-8300

Dell tell you next to nothing about the actual hardware in the machine, so all I've got to go on is very vague:

Intel® Core™ i3-2100 Processor (3.10GHz, 3MB)

Graphics : Integrated Intel® HD 2000

NVIDIA® GeForce GT 530 1GB DDR3 Graphics Card

Sound : Integrated 7.1 with THX® TruStudio

- Has anyone had success installing Gentoo on a 'XPS 8300' system?

- Could anyone suggest some obvious potential problems with this system?

- Does anyone have any ideas about where I could find more information about the exact hardware? Does anyone know what the hardware really is?

Thanks loads for any help!

Jamie

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## Gusar

Obvious problem: Optimus

Hackish workaround: Bumblebee

Other than that, wireless could be a potential issue, though lately there's drivers for everything in the kernel.

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## creepytennis

Thanks loads for your reply.

Does it definitely have Optimus? I thought Optimus was a laptop thing?

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## Gusar

This isn't a laptop? LOL. I saw both intel and nvidia graphics and just assumed. There's a desktop variant of Optimus, called Synergy. But I don't think it's on the market yet.

Well then, unless Dell is doing something really crazy with their machines, I don't see a problem.

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## mbar

 *creepytennis wrote:*   

> Graphics : Integrated Intel® HD 2000
> 
> NVIDIA® GeForce GT 530 1GB DDR3 Graphics Card
> 
> 

 

Those are options only, you have to pick one  :Smile: 

```
   

      

Graphics : Integrated Intel® HD 2000 [Included in Price]

   

      

NVIDIA® GeForce GT 420 1GB DDR3 graphics card [add £90.00 or £4/month1]

   More video processing power

   

      

1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 5670 graphics card [add £120.00 or £6/month1]

   

      

1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 5770 graphics card [add £220.00 or £11/month1]

   

      

Graphics : 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6450 [add £60.00 or £3/month1]

   

      

Graphics : 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6670 [add £140.00 or £7/month1]

   

      

AMD Radeon™ HD 6770 1GB DDR5 graphics [add £250.00 or £12/month1]

   

      

NVIDIA® GeForce GT 530 1GB DDR3 Graphics Card [add £110.00 or £5/month1]

   

      

NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1.25GB DDR5 Graphics Card [add £370.00 or £18/month1]

   

      

AMD Radeon™ HD 6870 1GB DDR5 Graphics Card [add £320.00 or £16/month1]

   

      

AMD Radeon™ HD 6950 2GB DDR5 Graphics Card [add £490.00 or £25/month1]

   

      

NVIDIA® GeForce G405 512MB Graphics Card [add £80.00 or £4/month1]
```

Click "Switch to list view" on that page.

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## creepytennis

 *mbar wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Those are options only, you have to pick one 
> 
> 

 

Thanks loads for your help. Actually I did that deliberately. (And I can see why Gusar would have thought it was an Optimus!).

I want to use the machine for WebGL development. My understanding is that at the moment, under Linux, the only way to convince Firefox or Chromium to run WebGL is to use the nVidia binary driver.

My biggest fear is some kind of conflict whereby the integrated graphics stop the nVidia binary driver from working. I know this shouldn't happen, but sometimes Dell motherboards and BIOSes lack options for stuff like disabling the integrated graphics.

Thanks loads for your help though! I'm now 90% on getting the machine. If anyone could confirm that the nVidia binary driver should work I would be 100%. I know It's a long shot that anyone would know that for certain - but thanks loads for your help so far.   :Very Happy: 

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## Gusar

 *mbar wrote:*   

>  *creepytennis wrote:*   Graphics : Integrated Intel® HD 2000
> 
> NVIDIA® GeForce GT 530 1GB DDR3 Graphics Card
> 
>  
> ...

 

If I'm nitpicky, not quite. You will *always* have intel graphics. Because Sandy Bridge is a combined CPU/GPU chip. But you can choose to leave it at that or also add a dedicated graphic card. Then you choose in the bios whether intel graphics is always active or only when there's no dedicated card.

There's just one thing... The GT530 is quite a low-end card. £110.00 for it is a lot, I must say. I can get a GT430 (which is very similar) for 50EUR. So maybe skip the GT530 and separately buy a GT430, or possibly a faster GT450. I have one of those. No idea if the Dell case could accommodate it, though.

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## mbar

 *Quote:*   

> GeForce GTX 560 Ti

 

Uh oh, I just realized that Titanium "brand" has made a comeback. I still remember my first GeForce4 Ti 4200 and how it smoked almost everything (apart form higher specced Ti 4x00 models) at that time.

And then the 9700 came.

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## Gusar

Yep, the "Ti" brand is back. I don't think it means Titanium this time though, it's just Ti. But it does signify the same thing, the 560 Ti and 550 Ti are noticeably faster than their non Ti variants. Pricier too, of course  :Smile: 

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