Linux for gaming?

[Hellcat]

Hi,
I am about to build a gaming PC with;
AMD64 CPU (unsure which one)
nForce4 motherboard
2x nVidia 6800GT
Corsair RAM

I am planning to use it mainly for playing games, but possibly also for homework. I have never used Linux before and have heard that it isn't necesarrily good for gaming? I am willing to learn. Is there a particular distro that would be good?
Thank You for any help!

[Zyglow]

Try Fedora, Mandrake, or SuSe. All three are easy to install, maintain, and configure.

[GnomeProject]

A few suggestions for you to not only increase your responses on here, but also how to get a foot hold on what Linux can and cannot (currently!) do:

1. www.google.com/linux - great place to search for anything Linux related

2. www.distrowatch.com - great place to give you a brief synopsis of almost all distros and what they have to offer

3. Always research and search before you ask a question, and possibly try to narrow things down a bit more than "What distribution is good for gaming?" In fact, "Linux" is simply a kernel, and most distributions differ primarily on their file structure, if it's modeled after Sys V or BSD and a few other things I am forgetting (correct me if I am wrong everyone else). Now, with that said, a "good" distribution is one that "fits" you. I would advise trying a few of the "more popular" ones out there like RedHat, Suse, Mandrake, even Gentoo if you're brave enough as a beginner, then moving onto the "less popular" distributions. I AM NOT SAYING THEIR POPULARITY MEASURES HOW GOOD THEY ARE, I AM SIMPLY GOING BY DOWNLOAD STATS ON DISTROWATCH.COM.

4. I am sure you will hear or see this phrase frequently: RTFM - Read the F'ing Manual. Basically, read up on www.tldp.org (the Linux Documentation Project) and of course the "MAN" pages, or manuals that come built in with all "Linux Distributions." For instance, if you want to find out about "who," then from the cli - command line interface, type 'man who' without the quote marks.

5. Not a lot of games run natively on Linux Distributions without the use of an emulator like Wine, WineX or Cedega - an open-source project based on wine. I would suggest you check out www.transgaming.com.

If you need anymore help after doing those things, then come back here and we'll help you out some more. But, if you ask what distributions are "good" for this or for that...you'll get a lot of OPINIONS, but that's about it...

Regards,

Adam

[CoffeeMan]

If you want gaming, and you want linux, and you are willing to learn, do some research on Transgaming WineX (http://www.transgaming.com/products_linux.php) utility. I have not used it myself, but I hear good stuf about it. Another thing, is that WineX is not free. Everything else is, though.

[Parcival]

If you like RPGs, buy a boxed copy of NeverWinter Nights for PC CDROM - it runs natively on Linux. How this is being done can be seen

here (http://icculus.org/~ravage/nwn/) and here (http://nwn.bioware.com/forums/viewforum.html?forum=72) .

You may also check out your distribution, maybe it already has an installer packed with it.

Other great games (= I have them installed :D ) for Linux (Google for them ;) to see if you like them )

Enigma
Chromium
Ennemy Territory
Frozen Bubble
Mahjong 3D
Mutant Storm
OpenMortal
Powermanga
Tuxcart
Tuxracer
Xpilot

Most likely, they are already included in your distro, too.

[rocketpcguy]

games support windows better than linux, though you can get doom 3, ut2004, ET, quake 3, working natively.

[Rinias]

Originally posted by Hellcat
Hi,
I am about to build a gaming PC with;
AMD64 CPU (unsure which one)
nForce4 motherboard
2x nVidia 6800GT
Corsair RAM

I am planning to use it mainly for playing games, but possibly also for homework. I have never used Linux before and have heard that it isn't necesarrily good for gaming? I am willing to learn. Is there a particular distro that would be good?
Thank You for any help!

Ha! That's an awesome PC! If you have the $$, then I seriously suggest opting for the AMD FX-53 or FX-55. These chips burn! Is your MB PCI Express? If not (I'm not up-to-date on that board), then the second 6800 will do you no good...

Another thing to consider, which I am not sure about, is that the PCIExpress as of yet might not be supported. You should probably check that out first... The RAM of course is fine. The AMD might not work to its full potential yet, though that's a PC you can keep for years... Check out your hardware to see if it is supported before you even think of games in Linux. _IF_ it's all supported, then of course you'll be burning!! You just have to hope that Cedega's up-to-speed for HL2!! (There already is Doom 3 for Linux, in case you were wondering)

[BaVinic]

Originally posted by Hellcat
Hi,
I am about to build a gaming PC with;
AMD64 CPU (unsure which one)
nForce4 motherboard
2x nVidia 6800GT
Corsair RAM

I am planning to use it mainly for playing games, but possibly also for homework. I have never used Linux before and have heard that it isn't necesarrily good for gaming? I am willing to learn. Is there a particular distro that would be good?
Thank You for any help!

Actually, Linux gaming has come a long way, not as far as gaming for windows has, but it is getting there, not only are the "big" gaming companies starting to port to native Linux, but there are also MANY great opensource games that are written for Linux, that rival many windows games. Wine and WineX (Cedega, same program, new name) work good as a windows layer but more and more native installers are being written.

As to Distros, I use Fedora Core 3 for my Game Box, although I am sure just about any up to date distro will serve you well. Distrowatch was a good suggestion to learn more about each one.

Welcome to the world that is Linux, if you are willing to learn, and not expect to "get it all" at once, you will find Linux a great tool for fun, and for home work.

Good Luck!

BaVinic

[battalax]

It all depends what games you play ive noticed that alot of the newer games have some sort of linux compatibility and when i first got ut99 working in suse i noticed that it was actually nicer then it was in windows and it was much faster as wel you should really www.google.com/linux and find out which games you are going to play most often and see how they work on linux