# Compatible gaming hardware?

## Lynx38

I'm looking to build a desktop PC I can game on, and I'm wondering what hardware I should use so it is compatible with gentoo.  Being a student, I don't have a lot of money to work with, so this poses a bit of a challenge.  Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks

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## eccerr0r

I didn't want to sound abusive with this but I'll have to say it since you had your profile write this too:  Yes, you have been living under a rock!

I think most "DIY builds" are typically more expensive machines which only people who have plenty of money to toss at the problem now.  With all these SoC solutions the only inexpensive machines can't be user-customized and must be bought as a unit.  Not to say you can't anymore, but they tend to be more expensive - unless you consider being able to assemble yourself as a value and willing to pay for that too.

The questions are still the same though:

How much money are you willing to spend.

What "games" do you want to run.

What other applications do you want to run.

Are you willing to sacrifice game experience to meet other desires (like all OSS).

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## _Nyu

The part that is required to have good performance in games (RAM, CPU, motherboard, GPU mainly) is usually not the problem. (just avoid APU and pro card like quadro or things like this)

Things that will -maybe- cause problems are things like wifi card, bluetooth card weird keyboard/mouse (like cyborg does)

the gamepad will also maybe cause problems.

For performances phoronix is a good website 

PS: IMO having a PS4 (which is a BSD btw...) or any game console is much simpler, cheaper and less painful than an annoying dualboot with a windows just for playing and if you plan to play on gentoo you are wrong, most of game are designed for ubuntu and you will have a lot of dependency problems

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## Lynx38

I'm not looking to build a pc to get a higher quality performance, I'm honestly just looking to learn.  (Also, it's not hard to get higher gaming performance then a laptop with limited capabilities) 

As far as budget goes, I'm looking to see what I can scrounge around the $300 range, since I'll be able to get general hardware things (such as cooling) for free.  

Games I'd like to run include: Portal 2, Bioshock, and Skyrim, but I'm hoping to see if I can also run Ori and the Blind Forest and The Stanley Parable (since they are less known I assume there's less of a resource)

Other applications: Skype, spotify, and a tbd browser.

I'm aware that gaming on gentoo is kind of iffy (as is installing gentoo at all, given my limited state of knowledge), but I'm interested in learning what I can and seeing what I can do.

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## zolom

I've ran a ton of games on Linux, and while most who post here are probably more knowledgeable these are my two cents:

When you say you're getting much of the hardware for free, I presume that is excluding the CPU, motherboard and GPU --still, $300 is still a pretty low number to work with for a gaming PC. Thankfully, these games don't seem too new. I would recommend getting a NVIDIA card over an AMD one because driver support for NVIDIA is generally considered to be superior (unless you prefer open source drivers, in which case that argument is probably a lot more contextual). If you're feeling brave, I would suggest saving money with a used or refurbished video card.

As for the CPU and motherboard, Intel chips are going to generally be better for gaming (especially if you're into emulation) but it's going to be difficult to find a modern Intel desktop processor and motherboard that won't consume your entire budget. You might be able to save money with a FX instead , which I imagine would be fine for Portal 2/Bioshock/Skyrim (I'm not familiar with the more obscure games). Maybe even a Phenom, if max settings and newer games just aren't for you. 

I believe Steam might have released Portal 2 for Linux (not sure), but these other games are Windows only. The only way you're going to be running them is with wine, and expect system requirements to be generally similar to the Windows specs. https://www.winehq.org/ is going to be your first and best friend for figuring out if running these games on Linux is even possible. I do not personally know if the games you listed will run on Linux, but be warned, that when it comes to commercial gaming on Linux sometimes you just need to be prepared for the fact that you can't always play the game you want to play. A much higher budget alternative might be streaming Windows games off of a second machine running Windows and using Steam.

If $300 is a hard limit, I would maybe search for a FX/mobo combo and a $100 used GPU (maybe something like a GTX 560? I dunno, look for good deals!). I would honestly prefer to spend more money though, and if you need more components like RAM you're almost certainly going to have to find more money.

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## eccerr0r

Well, there is a page to get Steam working (though I don't use it), and I've been running World of Warcrack just fine in Gentoo.  But I think total cost of my WoW box is well over $300 (then again, having an i7 by itself probably kills the budget.)  Fortunately the i7's on chip 3D accelerator is probably marginally acceptable in WoW so the discrete GPU isn't absolutely necessary.  One thing to warn, yes the 3D graphics under Wine tends to be slightly slower than Windows.

As I don't play or have the games you're looking into, I'm not sure what their 3D requirements are.  You may be able to get away with on chip, but more research is needed on that...

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## Lynx38

Regarding prices, I've found that you can purchase more expensive parts, such as intel chips, from China for a much lower price, which is part of the reason I've been able to keep the budget so low for the time being.

I checked the wine website, and the Windows games run fine with wine.  

Once again, I'm not looking for the best 3D experience here, just trying to make something I can game on without the discomforts of integrated graphics and limited space.

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## zolom

YMMV, but I would be very weary of any Intel chips cheaper than they should be. Only Intel manufactures Intel chips, and they sell them for Intel prices. These chips are going to be impossible to clone (although easy to counterfeit -- you can write the letters "i7" on literally anything), and if anyone is actually selling new Intel chips for cheap they are going to be defective or test chips that Intel never meant to (and therefore did not) sell. 

Seriously though, if you're sitting on a good thing don't tell me, because I would probably buy and flip everyone of those suckers if I knew they were legit.

Used CPUs might be another story, but I wouldn't personally buy one.

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## Lynx38

I haven't done much searching in the cheaper hardware category, but I know someone I can ask.  Thanks for the warning, though.

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## Roman_Gruber

second hand is not an option??

why buy new hardware when there are nerds selling their used good hardware for even newer nerdy stuff??

takes a while to grab things but worth. we have some websites here where people offer their second hand stuff.

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## Lynx38

Thanks, I'll look into it.

I've made a list of (first impression) possibilities here (http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Lynx38/saved/#view=QQmj4D).

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