Can I run Ubuntu on this setup?

Question

I've put together a build for a desktop pc but I'm not sure if it can run Ubuntu. If it requires some minor workarounds there's no problem, but I'd like to know what to expect. If needed I can switch to a different os such as Linux Mint, or buy a Windows os (though I'd like to avoid that). Any tips are appreciated :)

Link to parts: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Katyusha/saved/#view=vbhqsY

See this list. From what I see your video card could be a problem, though the card is based on Nvidia, so you should check for Linux-drivers for this card, if Nvidia drivers work with that card it won't be a problem. — mook765, Oct 07 '16 at 05:22
Possible duplicate of Is Ubuntu compatible with my hardware? — David Foerster, Oct 07 '16 at 10:54
Provide all parts in a list to be checked for compatibility. That's your work to do. @Katherine — userDepth, Nov 22 '16 at 15:11

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

You'll have one beast of an Ubuntu machine!

The only potential conflict would be the graphics card, but drivers for that can be easily installed if you feel like you need them.

Otherwise, I foresee no problems installing Ubuntu, though if you're installing to an SSD, I'd recommend not adding a swap partition, as you have more than enough RAM. If you do run into errors where you run out of RAM, it may be a good idea to buy a classic hard drive for swap and /tmp and any other frequently-altered data, but this is not explicitly necessary.

If I were in your shoes, I would have most everything off the SSD, so that it can be saved for important things. For example, I'd store videos and the like on the hard drive, and just symlink my ~/Videos over to my HDD. Similarly, I'd probably have /tmp and the like stored on my HDD, but such a setup may very well give you little to no benefit, but it is something to keep in mind.

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 07 '16 at 00:17

-1

That's substantially more than enough. It's better to have more than less.

The system requirements are:

2 GHz dual core processor or better
2 GB system memory
25 GB of free hard drive space
Either a DVD drive or a USB port for the installer media
Internet access is helpful

Official Sysem Requirements From the Canonical Site

answered Oct 07 '16 at 00:17

L. D. James

25,036

1

I think they're looking for incompatibilities, not minimum specs. – TheWanderer Oct 07 '16 at 00:18
Thanks. I haven't seen a total Ubuntu incompatible computer. I started with Ubuntu around 2007. The only computers I couldn't get it working well with were computers that didn't have enough resources... like less than 2 gigs of ram. Other than that, I've never had real problems installing the OS as long as it had the minimum requirements. – L. D. James Oct 07 '16 at 00:22
NVIDIA has issues sometimes, AMD just flat out doesn't have good drivers for 16.04, newer Intel CPUs (like the one OP is using) can cause issues, there's a lot of stuff to consider. – TheWanderer Oct 07 '16 at 00:24
@Zacharee1 I have seen occasions where I had to download and install drivers. I had to do that for my Gigabyte Mini Brix. But it only took minutes to check the hardware (lshw) and locate drivers for it. That was back in version 14.04. I didn't have to install drivers for 16.04. I've never experience any problems with the nvidia cards. – L. D. James Oct 07 '16 at 00:27
NVIDIA won't let you boot without special flags in some cases. I've run into it a lot. – TheWanderer Oct 07 '16 at 00:28
@Zacharee1 I've been a member of AU for a long time. I've recently become more active. Had I known you were having problems with your nvidia card, I would have been glad to help. To me the OP has an excellent choice in his Graphic card selection... but of course, that is only from my personal experience in compatibility. – L. D. James Oct 07 '16 at 00:33
A good chunk of my rep is from my Q&As on problems with NVIDIA and what's going on with AMD on 16.04: http://askubuntu.com/questions/760934/graphics-issues-after-while-installing-ubuntu-16-04-with-nvidia-graphics, http://askubuntu.com/questions/815591/ubuntu-16-04-14-04-5-and-amd-graphics – TheWanderer Oct 07 '16 at 00:34
If I may interject for a moment... This particular graphics card is relatively well behaved on Ubuntu, so there shouldn't be any issues to the best of my knowledge. – Kaz Wolfe Oct 07 '16 at 00:36
Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. (Also requested by answer poster) – Thomas Ward Oct 07 '16 at 00:50

score -1 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

For the most part, that'll work fine. You've got a pretty amazing spec lineup there and it's all compatible with Ubuntu, as far as I can tell. However, there are a few things to consider:

CPU: The 6th generation Intel processors (Skylake) may cause issues. It appears to have been fixed in the kernel included in 16.04, but read here just in case.
GPU: While NVIDIA is currently doing much better in the driver department than AMD is involving Linux, their hardware and drivers can still be finicky. Please read here for the solution.

Aside from those two potential issues, you've chosen a great parts combo. I'd probably buy it myself if I had the money.

Like Kaz said, I also recommend getting an HDD to run alongside the SSD. Not only because running a swap partition on an SSD will wear it out, but because 250GB isn't very much storage to begin with. A 1TB or even 2TB drive would be a (relatively) cheap investment for use as a data drive. You can even mount your home partition (/home -- where most-all user files are kept) on a separate drive seamlessly. (or this Move home folder to second drive)

Can I run Ubuntu on this setup?

3 Answers3