Which distro is best for Athlon 64 Dual Core system?

[Timberwolf5578]

I currently use Mandriva, but I would like to try other distros. I have a AMD Athlon 64 Dual Core 6400+ system with 2GB RAM and a XFX Geforce 8800GT video card. I want to try a distro that looks really nice and is stable without problems. I would prefer a distro that is at least relatively easy to install and download programs/packages with. I like the look of KDE much better than Gnome, but if I can make Gnome's menus and taskbar to look as good as KDE, then I wouldn't mind using Gnome.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

[oz]

Pretty much any distro should work on your hardware as long as there is a 64-bit version available, if that's what you want. Otherwise, the 32-bit versions should also work. I'd recommend checking out the top 10 or 20 distros at DistroWatch.com and then experimenting with some of them so that you can decide for yourself what you want on your machine.

[i92guboj]

The first thing you need to decide is whether you want to use a 32 bits distro or a 64 bits one. Either would work on your machine.

Look around (32 vs 64 is a recurrent question in every forum under the sun) and ask again if you need aditional guidance. If you choose to go 32 bits, almost any distro will suit you. If you choose 64 bits, the selection might be -slightly- more limited.

[gothika-angel]

I have an AMD Athlon 4600+ running Ubuntu right now, and it looks gorgeous on my *limited* hardware. I converted from Vista that came pre-installed on my system (my own fault for not outright building the thing), to XP, then to Ubuntu, and then decided to convert everyone in my apartment to linux. So far my mission for a Linux-dominant apartment is going smashingly. So, Ubuntu would look amazing on that system, but if you want KDE, you'd need Kubuntu, which I haven't played with but should be similar/the same. I haven't had a problem so far with mine, so...well...that'd be what I recommend! Have fun, good luck!

[Timberwolf5578]

I'm trying to decide between these distros:

• Ubuntu -tried it but couldn't get monitor refresh rate and resolution to work properly, and I don't know how to configure the xorg.config file.
• Mandriva 2008 Spring KDE - worked good, but a little slow at times, and the urpmi is ok but a little annoying with the updates that lock it sometimes.
• openSUSE 11 KDE - can't get the Nvidia drivers to install, and doesn't recognize monitor model, and displays too low refresh rate.
• Sabayon 3.5 64-bit Pod - heard good things about it and going to download it and try it out.
• Fedora 9 64-bit KDE - heard good things about it and going to download it and try it out.

I think one of the main things is getting my Nvidia 8800GT video card and Samsung Syncmaster 997DF monitor to work properly with these distros.

[gothika-angel]

For Ubuntu, you have to fiddle with the Nvidia drivers. If enabling them, disabling them, rebooting, then re-enabling them doesn't work (had to do it for my boyfriend's acer), try Ndiswrapper (sp?). Should work. Other than that, I've heard good things about the other distros you're trying out.

[i92guboj]

I'm trying to decide between these distros:

[LIST][*]Ubuntu -tried it but couldn't get monitor refresh rate and resolution to work properly, and I don't know how to configure the xorg.config file.
[...][*]openSUSE 11 KDE - can't get the Nvidia drivers to install, and doesn't recognize monitor model, and displays too low refresh rate.

I deeply dislike Ubuntu, but you shouldn't discard a distro for just a slight problem like that one (otherwise I doubt you will find one that will fulfill all your requirements out of the box). That's an easy thing to do, and it involves only two steps: looking into the monitor manual and adding two lines to xorg.conf.

When needed, ask for help here or in another forum. If you need to modify xorg.conf by hand we can help you.

I think one of the main things is getting my Nvidia 8800GT video card and Samsung Syncmaster 997DF monitor to work properly with these distros.

All the distros do have the same stuff mostly, and they use the same kernels (yeah, slightly patched, but it's all linux). So, if your card+monitor works in one, it works in all. It just might need a bit of work.

The card should just work if you install the driver (they can't come preinstalled due to licensing issues), and the monitor will work if you use correct refresh values. That's the basic thing.

Ask if you need more help with a concrete issue and someone will be able to help for sure.

In any case, good luck in your quest to find your perfect distro

[oz]

I think one of the main things is getting my Nvidia 8800GT video card and Samsung Syncmaster 997DF monitor to work properly with these distros.

Those should both work fine in pretty much any distro if set up properly.

[Timberwolf5578]

I reinstalled Ubuntu and got it to work this time, and Gnome is much better than I thought.

[Timberwolf5578]

Update:

I tried the Live version of Sabayon 3.5 64-bit Pod, and it was really good, so I am gonna get the DVD version to see how it is. But the Pod version had impressive speed, really nice font rendering in Firefox, and seemed to have the best 3D performance of all the distros I have tried so far.