Advise

[compdoc]

>. The I7 processor has a graphics processor on board. As I dont need high
performance graphics, can I use that ? Is it reliably supported under Ubuntu
? 

 

I don't believe the i7 has onboard graphics, although it does support
certain video technologies. The motherboard you purchase can have on-board
video which is typically Intel based and is part of the chipset. On-board
video will likely take up some of your 8 Gigs of ram.

 

There's no way to tell if that will suit your needs. Try it and if not, you
can add a nice pci-e video card that will go as fast as you care to pay.

 

 

>. How well is SSD support integrated ? I have heard that SSD's should not
be used in situations where many writing thio the SSD takes place.

 

I think SSD support has been included in Ubuntu for at least a couple of
releases now. I have two SSD drives booting two systems. One system is
running 24/7 and is recording security cameras. The other is running mythtv,
which streams live TV into a bedroom. It gets turned on once or twice a day,
runs a few hours, and gets turned off. No problems with either.

 

SSDs are fast. Mine test at more than twice the throughput of most desktop
hard drives. 

 

A few things I have come to believe about SSD: 

 

1) You should enable and use sata AHCI in the mainboard bios for the SSD(s).


2) You should backup your files nightly because the long term reliability of
the various brands of SSD are not yet proven. 

 

 

>. I also wonder whether it is wise to build the system myself. I want to
have some low-noise components

 

If you choose wisely, you can build a system that's nicer than any complete
systems you can buy. There's an IRC channel on Freenode called ##hardware
that can give you great advice on Intel hardware. While there, you can also
visit the official support channel: #ubuntu

 

I don't know that the i7 is as quiet as its lesser cousins. I have an i3
2100T in a mini-itx system. The whole system draws only 32 watts of power
from the wall socket. It runs very quiet.

 

The high performance chips are going to make more noise in keeping them
cool, I think.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/attachments/20111030/e9aae346/attachment.html>