Sweet Linux build - compatibility check and Q's (first build!)

[canaryyellow]

Hey All, I have a final-ish parts list and I'd appreciate it if anyone could help me make sure the parts are compatible with each other and with Ubuntu (have necessary drivers etc). Its my first build and I'm a Linux newcomer determined to make it work on a sweet machine. If anyone wants to suggest parts to improve performance or reliability without upping the price point I'd like that too.

With this motherboard I think I can run dual monitors without the video card I've listed (would save me $100 until upgrading). Am I correct here? Does it matter that one output is DVI and the other VGA? Probably not?

I heard about SSD caching, would doing this improve performance if I am using the SSD for all of my file storage? From what I understand, this wouldn't help.

If I'm forgetting anything else major please let me know. I'd like to avoid stupid, costly, time consuming mistakes on my first build (and my wife's reaction to them).

Seems like there are many 16gb corsair vengence, which one is the best one for me? Is this a good brand?

CPU: i7-3770k
motherboard: Gigabyte z77-D3H
Harddrive: Samsung 840 pro -256gb
RAM: 16gb corsair vengence
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 400R
powersupply: SeaSonic M12II 620
Video: EVGA 01G-P4-2650-KR GeForce GTX 650 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

I'm planning a wired ethernet connection.

Gaming is low priority, the software I want is on linux. I play chess, run my data analysis code, light image processing, and multitask this with the usual consumer stuff (email, internet, office environment).

Reposted from the Ireland section of the site sorry for the double.

Thanks,
-CY

 

[Aristotelian]

What are you using it for? If you are gaming, you probably don't want to go the Linux route. If you are doing media/office, then i7/16GB memory seem like overkill. I guess this would prove that you can make a "sweet" computer that runs Linux, but what is the point?

 

[zoomer296]

What are you using it for? If you are gaming, you probably don't want to go the Linux route. If you are doing media/office, then i7/16GB memory seem like overkill. I guess this would prove that you can make a "sweet" computer that runs Linux, but what is the point?

Valve games run faster on Linux.