Recommend a Linux videocard

sonicbhoc · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:39 am Post subject: Recommend a Linux videocard

I'm building myself a new computer... I want to know the best video card with open-sourced drivers I can get. Open-sourced IS A REQUIREMENT. After seeing the whole "binary driver screws up xorg" thing I don't even want to bother with that crap. Also, I'd rather not have it be an ATI card because they are the last company I want to support.

So, the only criteria is:
Not crappy. It has to be able to do 3D, I want to try XGL and play a few games.
Decent Open-sourced Drivers

Optional:
Not ATI is preferred, but not required.
A place to hook up my GameCube would be nice.
A reasonable price range. Not required. I'm not made of money but I can get some for a good video card.

Headrush · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:56 am Post subject:

You haven't left yourself many options, maybe some of the Intel chipsets.

sonicbhoc · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 4:00 am Post subject:

Edited to attempt to give myself a better chance at finding something.

amp_man · n00b Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Posts: 26 Location: Bangor, ME

look to nvidia. Ati's linux driver is a joke, anyone who does anything with linux should know that. I've got an agp bfg geforce 6800gt oc, and although I do reccommend that chipset, I don't reccommend that company or their "oc" line, this card has been the biggest pain in the arse due to the overclocked ram not being properly cooled (gainward, on the other hand, is an awesome company, have a friend with one of their 5900xts OC'd to Ultra speeds). However, between replacements, this card is just plain awesome, I've been playing NFS: Most wanted with cedega and getting better performance than I do under windows. XGL is also fairly easy to set up, along with Compiz, but note that XGL and cedega don't play nice together, cedega wouldn't recognize my card or use 3d acceleration until I went back to X.org.

sonicbhoc · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:52 pm Post subject:

I wasn't going to use cedega anyway, I don't have any money for that <_<

The card I picked out was:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814125223

I'm thinking about getting 2 and doing SLI with them... not sure if it's worth it, but it'd be fun.

Headrush · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 1:47 pm Post subject:

sonicbhoc · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 1:51 pm Post subject:

Isn't cedega a monthly thing? I don't have a steady income... in fact, I don't have an income at all. My dad is going to buy me a part for every A grade I get in school.

Also, I'd rather just use WINE not cedega. I don't want to give Transgaming any of my money.

Headrush · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 2:14 pm Post subject:

Primozic · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:28 pm Post subject: Re: Recommend a Linux videocard

sonicbhoc · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:46 pm Post subject:

So where can I get a new intel graphics card? I have a Compaq Deskpro EN here that has an Intel 815. It's pretty good.

I have an older ATI card that has the OSS drivers. It is from what I consider the golden age of ATI, where the drivers were at least pretty good.

nVidia is the only vendor who's semi-new cards have even workable drivers. ATI's latest drivers are total crap. However, their old cards are great. Lately, all of ATI's drivers, including the windows ones, suck.

However, now that I think about it, getting the latest and greatest card was just asking for trouble anyway. So, now I'm going to replace the graphics card in my wish list over at Newegg with one that has OSS drivers. I hope they have Intel graphics cards there. I hope they do...

And I prefer WINE over Cedega because Cedega isn't really free in either sense of the word, and WINE is free in both senses. My logic is currently confused in the "Linux and Games and video cards" department because I know so little about it.

UH OH. I just remembered that my motherboard is PCI-Express x16. Not only that, but Intel doesn't have any video cards for sale on Newegg.com. The only graphics cards I can choose from are either ATI's cards, nVidia's cards or this one. And that one doesn't have any OpenGL specs on it.

In other words, due to the lack of research I did, I just effectively killed off my only way to get OSS drivers. Crap.

EDIT: http://www.matrox.com/mga/workstation/3dws/news/features/g550_pcie.cfm HAHAHAHA Yes! now all I have to do is hope it gets on Newegg soon so I can update my wish list.

Primozic · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 4:46 pm Post subject:

sonicbhoc · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:55 pm Post subject:

Well, looking over at the Matrox card in-stock at Newegg, one person even said it blew ATI and nVidia's cards out of the water, and Matrox said that the card has an open-source driver with it. So I'm pretty confident. But what I need to know is where I can buy one... or how to contact the guys that stock newegg to ask them to add this card.

Shade_MDK · n00b Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 18

I myself bought a video card a week ago from Galaxy (you probably never heard about them ...as neither have I) but since I started this reply...I think you shoul go for the new PCI-E video cards...first of all cause is "the future" not only because they are just now, but because they offer a higher performace visible to the naked eye of the simple user... I have a 7300 GT with 128 Mb DDR 3 ~ 100$ and let's just say i was impressed when i first put it in my comp.. it's a fair price for a normal video card...and it has SLI also.. (that means you can have 2 in your PC. And one more thing nvidia has a good support for linux as far as I know .. (last year i played DOOM3 Resuresction on my ti4200 under gentoo linux machine) now i'm awaiting to put a new amd64 release and hope will work fine

..even right now i'm installing gentoo on some PC of a friend of mine.

sonicbhoc · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:33 pm Post subject:

I heard of Galaxy. But, I'd rather stick to open source cards. I'm no zealot or anything, but generally open source stuff gets fixed faster, and I can tinker with it more.

In the whole nVidia vs. ATI battle, it's not so much "picking who's best" as much as it is "picking which sucks the least". ATI's old cards with open source drivers are the better choice in this department, but they don't have any PCI-E offerings. nVidia has SLI and lots of cool stuff, but it's all proprietary, as in "not open sourced." I'd settle for an nVidia card, as they are definitely producing better drivers for both Linux and Windows, but I think Matrox would be the best choice in this instance, considering that it's open source, PCI-E x1 which means it'll work in any PCI-E slot, and Matrox's last card was great as far as I know.

Headrush · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:06 pm Post subject:

drescherjm · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 10:04 pm Post subject:

sonicbhoc · Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 2:14 pm Post subject:

In that case, I'll just go with the nVidia card. Now, my next question is whether I should go for SLI, since my motherboard supports it, and which model of cards to get.

Headrush · Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:31 pm Post subject:

Shade_MDK · n00b Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 18

it's more dust in the eye... as i've read some reviews first you have to have the game support ...if you don't have that ...then you should have at least driver support..for that game...and in the end ...if you don't have either ..you have to tweak yourself the video driver to work for that game you are trying to play. And until a year ago..there was no sli...even almost no PCI-E... but it looks like there will be..

In PC business you have to always think ahead and use the latest..unfortunatelly..
If you try to play a game older than one year I don't think you'll have native sli support ..maybe with some patches.. but if you manage to tweak you cards to work...imagine..FEAR 1600x1200 on a 2m projector on a wall playing..

it's a killer..or maybe doom3 or quake.. or anything you want..