Linux or Windows [Building my first (gaming) pc]

[klmn461]

For the past couple of months I've been looking into making my first gaming pc.
I have a budget of $500, 1 500g 7200 RPM hdd; I intend to format it, and 1 stick of 1600 M 4G ram, DDR3 I think. So excluding ram and storage, that $500 is going to everything else. Here are the specs.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3sDQm
CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($180.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Mwave)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card ($121.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill FB-03 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($19.99 @ Micro Center)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $492.42
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

One thing about the rig that bothers me, isn't its performance, I'm quite content with that; but the OS itself.

Windows 7 is an old OS and it's still $100 just like 8.1. I guess I'm sounding picky or cheap, I just want to use as much power this thing can make, and if I used Linux, I'd have breathing room if the market for these products fluctuates. Meaning that the price would go down to 400 or so, I could even invest in more powerful hardware that way too.

Steam OS is getting quite popular, and if it gets even bigger, it would encourage developers to port their games over to linux, right?

I know a LOT of games aren't on the linux platform, or maybe there is, I just lack the knowledge; but I am looking for a second opinion on this. Should I suck it up and buy Windows 7, or 8.1 they're both at $90 right now, on pcpp anyway, or should I go with linux?

Thank you all for reading this, I appreciate any advice you have; whether it be specs or the OS. I'll be looking up more info on Linux after I post this.

 

[photonboy]

1) Get Windows 8.1, also get Start8 ($5) and configure it to avoid the new interface unless you like it.

2) Install Steam and run games through that (on Windows).

3) Read about Linux, SteamOS at your leisure and then install STEAMOS once it's out of Beta as a Dual-boot option.

There's simply not enough games on Linux yet, and too many great deals on Windows-only Steam games.

I expect STEAMOS to succeed but it will likely take several YEARS to have a library of games that make it worth avoiding Windows.

Also, STEAMOS is a game/media OS so you'd still need a regular Linux or Windows OS and quite frankly I don't like having to REBOOT to play game, then reboot back into my regular OS when done.

STEAMOS for the living room is a different story but I don't want it for my desktop.

(I'm unsure if Steam on Ubuntu would work as well as SteamOS for games so that might be another option at some point when it's working properly.)

 

[Heroesneverquit]

Steam on ubuntu would probably be terrible. I had a linux pc for quite a while. Getting games to work on it was a nightmare. Even making java or flashplayer work will be quite difficult for the average user. The first time I installed flash probably took me 30-1hr just to get it working. It was ridiculous. I can do it just fine now but it does suck. Wine also is pretty bad.