I’ve used Logical Increments in the past and found it very useful to meet a budget. Now I aim for “price to performance” sweet spots (since GPU prices have been crazy I’m now well overdue for a new GPU).

Both CPU manufactures are changing their naming schemes (to make it difficult to know what it is, I wish this was hyperbole). GPU manufactures also make some weird choice on naming GPUs (same-name GPU with different VRAM). Reading/watching reviews of specific parts will likely be the best way to know what you aught to buy.

If you’re confident in your technical knowledge or want to then narrow down your choices then I would recommend watching videos from:

• (GPU, CPU, Case) Gamers Nexus
• (GPU, CPU, Case, Monitor) Hardware Unboxed and Monitors Unboxed.

For a casual overview of CPUs/GPUs video review I’d recommend something like Linus Tech Tips (even with the prior controversy).

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Whatever you do, do not get an Nvidia GPU. I’ve only ever had problems with Nvidia drivers on Linux. Meanwhile, the AMD drivers (both the ones baked into the kernel and proprietary) work nearly flawlessly.

Intel’s most recent generation of CPUs were also frying themselves and Intel (at least last I checked) were not accepting RMAs from affected customers. Something to consider for your CPU at least.

Not sure if this would help, but I found this channel helpful for understanding the basics and mostly avoiding wrong parts. Also he has some videos were he explains why you should choose one part over another.

Scatter volt channel

Do it

I’d avoid a 13th or 14th gen Intel processor right now because they’ve had a lot of problems with their manufacturing process. Otherwise, there’s not really much difference between AMD and Intel in terms of like, OS compatibility or anything.

I’ve done some basic work with Davinci Resolve on linux and I haven’t really had any issues with my Radeon 7800XT. I can’t really speak for using the proprietary drivers for AMD, but with the open source drivers, as long as you install rocm-opencl through your package manager, Davinci Resolve should be fine. Overall, I’d recommend an AMD GPU. Edit: You mentioned blender in a comment. For AMD’s open source drivers you’d need to install rocm-hip for Cycles to work

Edit 2: I hadn’t tried blender in a bit and I realized apparently at least on Fedora 40, you also need rocm-hip-devel at least as of 09/24/24 for supported AMD GPUs to show up in Blender. Idk how that would translate to other distros

PC Part Picker is good cuz when you start a new build, you start with the CPU and then it’ll only show you parts compatible with that CPU. As someone else mentioned tho, its not perfect and you still may want to check clearances between parts, like that your CPU cooler isnt too tall for your case, or that your Power Supply isnt too long (been there, lmao)

From my own personal experience with buying brand new RAM and it being bad a few times, I’d probably run memtest86+ for a few hours once the computer is together to make sure that the RAM actually works. You can download the linux ISO w/ GRUB option and make a bootable flash drive out of that and let it run. Afterwards, I usually install my OS. Might save you a few headaches down the road if you get into your new OS and things behave strangely, but its up to you.

Other than that, the setup shouldn’t be too hard.

Go AM5. The 7600x3d is 300 bucks and nice

Get a old workstation class machine

It is way more fun

GPU go with AMD, I don’t think I need to give much explanations here.

CPU you can do either, BUT AMD is usually better for multi-threaded applications (like video editing, modeling or animation), also an AM5 slot should last you years to come, AMD stayed with AM4 for a long time (I had most of the same PC for almost a decade thanks to that, it’s still the same AM4, but I had to replace the MOBO since the old one broke). So I would also choose AMD here, although Intel is not bad either, and if you get it in a sale it might come out cheaper.

Blender and DaVinci Resolve work better on Nvidia. AMD might work, but it will be a hassle and you’ll likely need the proprietary AMD drivers anyway.

With Nvidia supporting Wayland and the open-source NVK continuing to get better, you could even switch to open source drivers for gaming at some point, if you prefer.

Edit: I’ve had enough issues with AMD GPU’s clocking down while gaming, leading to micro stuttering. So don’t buy AMD just because everyone tells you they work flawlessly.

For CPU and mainboard, everything works well — just don’t buy a random unknown SSD from Amazon, then you’re asking for data loss and random issues.

My first question is about your laptop; is the SSD removable, because if so, even a pretty large SSD is cheap these days.

Also, the GPU question is complicated. For most use cases, AMD is better on Linux. However, since you’re doing Resolve and Blender, that gets a bit murky. It depends on if ROCm support is less dismal on later AMD cards - I have an RX 580, which AMD quickly dropped support for and I am bitter about.

This is not to say I like NVidia, but for fast video encoding and rendering, as far as I know, it’s the easier option. Someone correct me if I am wrong, please.

As for actually building the thing, you’d start by look for what CPU you want, then find a compatible motherboard, then read the board’s compatibility list for RAM. They usually have compatibility lists for storage - those don’t matter, as it’s pretty universal. Then choose a graphics card, a case with the right form factor, a PSU, and a cooler. I tend to go with liquid cooling, as it’s not that expensive anymore.

Like others have said, check kernel support for your hardware, but also, it’s generally much easier on desktop. The main things to look out for are ethernet and WiFi controllers. By the way, what distro do you prefer, because that’s definitely a factor.

Don’t go with Intel. Anyone recommending intel should be ashamed and should have kept up with the tech news about Intel’s CPUs basically burning up and Intel ignoring the issue, including all the warranty claims. NO INTEL. AMD Cpu and Gpu, because AMD develops more for Linux than Nvidia does. But you could still go for Nvidia (if you want raytracing on in games).

For DaVinci Resolve, you will need an nvidia gpu, even their amd support is half-ar3ed, and intel doesn’t work at all (they don’t support it under linux, while they do on windows). So you need to decide if you’re going to use resolve, or kdenlive (that works with everything, since it’s not really accelerated – it’s slower (their acceleration is buggy)). However, if you’re going with nvidia, you will probably experience problems on the everyday desktop. So I’d suggest an amd gpu and cpu possibly.

Alternatively, just get a refurbished Dell laptop, or an older Zenbook. These usually work great with Linux.

The latest beginner guide from LTT is really good. So good that I was somewhat baffled. Whoever did the script for that episode deserves a raise. It is information packed but beginner friendly and has plenty of infographic detailing stuff.