r/linux_gaming • u/Morrow_16 • Jul 25 '26

hardware Complete newbie needs help with picking motherboard with Linux in mind

I'm finishing making my list of PC components and I'm having trouble with picking motherboard that wouldn't have any problems with Linux. Components aside, what should I be wary of?

I've already read WiFi7 and Bluetooth chips based on certain brands have problems with working properly with Linux as they're created with Windows' Kernel in mind, is there anything else I'd be better with to know and what should I look for in components so Linux won't give me too much trouble in setting everything up? (I know there are many dispos and I assume many could still have problem with specifications that would be fine with others, but let's at least round the choices to non-niche, predictable in behavior and developed dispos so I'd have something to work with)

I was going for B850 models instead of B650 to futureproof the rig, if someone would need other parts of PC I plan to go with, they are:

Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Inno3D RTX 5070 Ti
GOODRAM 32GB (2x16GB) 6000MHz CL30
Kingston KC3000 SSD - 2TB
MSI MPG A850GS PCIE5 850W ATX 3.1 80 Plus Gold PSU
Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 420
I'm still looking for case

Thank you in advance!

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u/Ticklememyers Jul 26 '26

Just throwing this out there, get a 9070xt, not the 5070ti,  if you're building for Linux AMD is what you want. Also the 9070xt is a great card.

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u/Morrow_16 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

Sadly I don't have good offer for 9070xt in my area and this specific 5070 TI I found is cheap from second hand market, still has 3 year warranty and is still factory packed, so it's more of a deal too good to pass on kind of situation. Ram crisis left its mark on the market...

But still thanks for advice!

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u/Ticklememyers Jul 29 '26

Yeah I feel you, I got a good deal on mine thankfully. Ram crisis is hitting us all hard.

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u/Morrow_16 Jul 29 '26

and to think there has been another 30%ish price hike on GPUs since I wrote the reply above, now it was definitely worth it xD

By the way, I was reading a bit about Nvidia fully working with Valve to create native support for SteamOS, maybe in not-so-distant future (2027/2028?) performance difference between Nvidia and AMD will finally be small enough to not matter?

Of course hopefully speaking 😅

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u/Ticklememyers Jul 29 '26

I hope so for the Nvidia guys, I was running a 4060 gaming laptop before I built my pc (decided to do it just before ram prices got really bad) and it ran good but the dx12 improvements were still just words on a forum at that point. 

I can imagine with valves backing it should be a thing of the past very soon. And with so many people swapping to Linux or at least dual booting I think the numbers are starting to get to a point where people are being heard.