AMD/ATI or nVidia ?

Makro · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 04 Feb 2010 Posts: 132

Hi guys, I will buy new gpu card but idk what company is better working with linux.Now I have gtx260 and I can play crysis without any problems.but I need better card for 3d modelling programs etc.
in this fight is nvidia gtx580 or amd ati 5970.and second question.can I use SLI/crossfire on linux ?
thank you for reply ;-)

Gusar · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 8:40 pm Post subject:

You can't use SLI with Fermi cards yet. But I'd go with Nvidia anyway. SLI support will come in due time, and in general the Nvidia driver is still better and with less hassles.

Hu · Administrator Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 23075

The answer depends in part on whether you want to run an open driver or a binary blob. If you want to stick with open drivers, you will have better luck with Intel or AMD video cards. The nouveau project is working on getting good open source support for nVidia cards, but is still considered a staging driver at this point. I have no idea which is a better choice if you want to use the binary blob.

ssteinberg · Apprentice Joined: 09 Jul 2010 Posts: 206 Location: Israel

He plans on actually using the card and a 260 isn't enough for him, so it is binary blobs. Definitely nVidia in this case.