advice on building a high performance linux computer

[Bonnie Dalzell]

it has been over 5 years since I built a system from scratch and the local 
store I used for advice has gone out of business.

one of my college age friends is going to build a computer and asked me 
for tips. he wants to use linux but us interested in gaming.

if you are building a system from scratch and planning to install one 
of the flavors of Ubuntu or the related Mint,  what concerns do you have 
about UEFI? The reading I have done online does not make it clear to me 
whether motherboards and cpus come with this pre configured.

also, what about the availability of video drivers in determining whether 
to chose an nvidia graphics card vs an ATI card?

experience with an msi970 gaming atx amd3 motherboard?

using solid state (ssd) drive rather than traditional disk drive?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                        Bonnie Dalzell, MA
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