Building Linux PC: Partie Un

I will be building my first Linux PC in 6 years. Back in August of 2017 I put together a Ryzen 3 series Linux-Ryzen-PC. One year later I upgraded to a Ryzen™ 7 2700 processor CPU Cores 8 Threads 16.

For 2023 I plan to put together a small form factor PC. If you are thinking about building your own S.F.F (small form factor) system, keep in mind that every compact case is unique, so no single build guide can tell you exactly how certain components will fit together in that case. S.F.F cases often arrange components in a way that makes it difficult to install otherwise standard PC parts. Putting together small S.F.F systems will also cause 35% more to put together. The smaller you go the more expensive things cost.

Even in 2023 it can be a challenge to put together a GNU+Linux PC. You definitely have to make sure the software and hardware you buy actually work with each other. It can be daunting and time consuming, but in my humble opinion worth it. Best advice I can always give is not to ever put too much stock in the latest and greatest. When trying to so-called future-proofing a PC you will find that it is a waste of time. Most expensive components provide diminishing returns. Mid-to-high components is that best way to go. You get more for your money.

The first thing to look at is your motherboard. Your motherboard will determine what components you can buy. Components you will need to choose is computer case, a central processing unit (CPU), a solid state drive (SSD) or hard disk drive (HDD) for storage, memory (RAM), a power supply (PSU), and a monitor. An optional component is going to be a graphics card (or GPU), but it's necessary for photo or video editing and modern AAA gaming.

When you're shopping for components, make sure you're buying from a reputable vendor. You may think you're buying from a large online store like Amazon, Walmart, or Newegg, but they allow third-party sellers to list products as well. There's usually a little notice that will tell you as much, right underneath the buy button.

All over the internet you can find plenty of PC building guides and videos. That's not the purpose of this post. This is a personal build of each component I selected that will work with any Gnu+Linux distribution with at least Linux kernel 6.1. As noted above even in 2023 it can be daunting to put together a GNU+Linux PC that works out of the box.

My selected components:

Silverstone Raven RVZ02
Fractal Design Ion SFX-L 650W 80 PLUS Gold PSU
 be quiet! LP BK034
Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 PC4-25600
Solidigm™ P44 Pro Series 512GB PCIe GEN 4 NVMe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280

My selected accessories:

LG HD 1080p TV
MSI Vigor GK30 Gaming Keyboard & GM11 Gaming Mouse
PowerA Enhanced Wired Controller For Xbox Series X|S
BenQ MOBIUZ EX2710Q 27 1440p monitor.
Dainty01 external USB 3.0 and type-c external blu ray drive
HP Smart Tank 7001 printer
4K Webcam, (DEPSTECH DW49 HD 8MP Sony Sensor)
Datacolor Spyder X Pro – Monitor Calibrator (SXP100)


Components I purchased new for this build in 2023

*TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z SATA3 4TB Internal Solid State Drive.
*Gigabyte B760I AORUS Pro
*Intel Core i5-13400 Raptor Lake
*SilverStone Technology RC07 PCI Express 4.0 x16 Riser Card

Note: The included riser card for the Raven V02B does not support PCIe 4.0. However, you can still use it with any PCIe 4.0 supported card and motherboard by selecting to run at PCIe 3.0 setting in your motherboard BIOS/UEFI.

*The Predator BiFrost AMD Radeon RX 7600 OC is

Note: The Predator BiFrost AMD Radeon RX 7600 OC is not necessary for this build. If are only intend to mostly surf the web, watch streaming services, software development, general office use or light gaming the Intel UHD Graphics 770 will be all you need.

The base cost for my system cost about $800 USD including local taxes. It does everything I need it to. Software development, general office use, and light gaming. I can even run processor-intensive tasks such as video encoding and the project will get done, but the tradeoff is the time it will take. 

It's impossible for me to test every single Linux distribution. These distributions I did have time to evaluate for the motherboard and video card I am using.

Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon Edge.
Debian 12 bookworm.
LMDE 6 Faye
MX-23 Libretto
Rhino Linux
Fedora Silverblue.
OpenMandriva ROME 23.08
Nobara Project 39
RebornOS.
Arch Linux.
ArcoLinux.
Garuda Linux.
Regata OS.
openSuse tumbleweed.
GeckoLinux Rolling edition.
Slackware-current.
Gentoo.

Note: New Gnu/Linux users might feel intimidated by the choice of Linux distributions available. Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon Edge,MX-23 Libretto,Nobara Project 38, or GeckoLinux Rolling edition are the distros which I believe are a perfect fit for beginners’ distros.