Best supported GPU?

cvanhan · n00b Joined: 18 Oct 2012 Posts: 3

I'm purchasing a new build and I'm wondering what GPU's are the best supported? I would like some feedback on what you guys think are the least hassle.
P.S. I'm new to Gentoo. Sorry I'm a noob :/

Veldrin · Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2012 9:37 pm Post subject:

Intel - works out of the box, no additional drivers needed.

But then again, the answer is dependent on what you need your GPU for. If you need more (graphic) performance, I'd go with Nvidia, and their binary driver is reasonably well supported in linux, and provide a decent performance.
ATI/AMD are cheaper, and use less power, but their binary driver is horrible (at least the last time i tried).

V.
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cvanhan · n00b Joined: 18 Oct 2012 Posts: 3

Thank you. That's everything I need to know.
-Much appreciated.
Chris

BillWho · Veteran Joined: 03 Mar 2012 Posts: 1600 Location: US

cvanhan,

I've decided to avoid amd since driver support was recently dropped for my card - intel or nvidia for me :wink:

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Hu · Administrator Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 23072

If you plan to use the open drivers, try to avoid nVidia. The Nouveau people are making good progress, but IMO, the open Radeon driver is better than the open Nouveau driver. Generally, the open drivers will not be as featureful as the proprietary drivers, but the open drivers tend to retain support for cards for much longer than the proprietary drivers.

d2_racing · Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 2:06 am Post subject:

I own a brand new Nvidia GTX 670 and I'm using Nouveau without any problem

schorsch_76 · Guru Joined: 19 Jun 2012 Posts: 452

Since 3 or 4 years i use only AMD/ATI and the radeon driver fulfill all my needs. The really new chips like southern island are in development [1] . I would recommend nothern island.

schorsch

[1] http://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature

aCOSwt · Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 8:29 am Post subject:

Stallman's advice : http://cotidianidad.bligoo.com.ve/media/users/15/778719/images/public/133244/richard_stallman_sign_ati.jpg?v=1320242523840 :wink:

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Fitzcarraldo · Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 8:53 am Post subject:

^Well, two can play at that game: Linus Torvalds To Nvidia - "F**k You" :wink:

I have used ATI, Intel and NVIDIA GPUs on different machines and have had trouble in Linux with all three at different points in time. The GPU manufacturer I have used most, though, is AMD and the performance has generally been good. My main laptop has the Mobility Radeon HD 5650 and I'm using the FGLRX driver which works well. My previous main laptop was an Acer TravelMate with an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 and that worked well with the open-source Radeon driver after AMD stopped supporting the FGLRX driver on legacy GPUs.

Many Linux users seem to paint AMD as the bad guys, but xrandr worked with the closed-source ati-drivers since AMD Catalyst 8.9 came out in September 2008 (AMD Catalyst 8.9 Gets WINE Fix, RandR 1.2 Support) unlike the closed-source nvidia-drivers, which only got xrandr support in May 2012 (NVIDIA's 302 Linux Driver Finally Has RandR 1.2/1.3).
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schorsch_76 · Guru Joined: 19 Jun 2012 Posts: 452

Why should AMD/ATI be the bad guy? They open the documentation which nvidia doesn't do. They even support the develpment of the radeon driver directly with developers. Maybe before AMD bought ATI .. ok .. but currently i say AMD are the better guys for our freedom ...

sobhan · n00b Joined: 05 Jul 2012 Posts: 17 Location: Tehran,Iran

it's not the bad guy but people countered lots of problem with it but i never had any problem with it
so i will vote for intel and radeon
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gorkypl · Guru Joined: 04 Oct 2010 Posts: 444 Location: Kraków, PL

Intel has definitely the best support, but their cards are usually not best in performance.

Open radeon drivers are good, and better then open nvidia ones. Binary ATI drivers are worse then NVidia counterparts.

So it all depends on your needs

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DaggyStyle · Watchman Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5941

schorsch_76 · Guru Joined: 19 Jun 2012 Posts: 452

Look here [1]. There is all documentation of the chips. Does Nvidia give them to us? For example the new southern island documentation [2].

[1] http://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature#Documentation
[2] http://developer.amd.com/tools/hc/AMDAPPSDK/assets/AMD_Southern_Islands_Instruction_Set_Architecture.pdf

Gusar · Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:49 am Post subject:

schorsch_76 · Guru Joined: 19 Jun 2012 Posts: 452

Hi Gusar,

do you have a source for it?

Gusar · Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:56 pm Post subject:

schorsch_76 · Guru Joined: 19 Jun 2012 Posts: 452

Hi,

we compare two different tpyes of drivers. The nvidia blob with the radeon open source driver.

The current fglrx is not as bad as it was about 5 years or so. We know the pros and cons of the open and closed drivers. They are nearly the same at nouveau.

Pros of the closed driver:
- recent hardware supported
- best power management
- best 3d support

Cons of the closed driver:
- works not always with the latest xorg
- closed source

Pros of the open driver:
- works always with the newest xorg
- open source
- good 2d performance

Cons of the open driver:
- latest hardware not always supported
- not as good 3d support as the closed driver
- not as good pm support as the closed driver

But that is nearly the same for nvidia and amd.

If i want latest hardware, i would always choose closed driver. If i have older hardware, i would always choose open driver.

The quality of the closed nvidia driver and the closed amd driver maybe they are a little different. Maybe one is a litte better or they are on par.

According to the power management of the open driver: My radeon 5670 laptop uses the same low power with windows 7 and with linux radeon driver at low profile. Both 34W. Both OS at idle.

schorsch

DaggyStyle · Watchman Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5941

schorsch_76 · Guru Joined: 19 Jun 2012 Posts: 452

I made only a comparisson of the closed and the open driver. It depends on your needs if UVD is a really important factor for your decision what GPU hardware vendor you choose. For me, it is not important and the OP did not ask for UVP supported by the GPU. Or did he?

All i did, writing down the pros and cons of the (nvidia|amd) (open|closed) source driver. And yes, both AMD drivers dont support UVD. The only driver which supports that via VDPAU is the closed nvidia driver.

schorsch

DaggyStyle · Watchman Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5941

Gusar · Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:53 am Post subject:

Err, the closed ATI driver supports UVD. Though how well it works is a different thing. I have no idea if and how well xvba-video (allows you to use UVD in vaapi players) works. And the only player that has direct xvba support is a branch of XBMC.

DaggyStyle · Watchman Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5941

Gusar · Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 12:12 pm Post subject:

I didn't say anything about "usable". You claimed it's not supported, which is incorrect. That's all.

DaggyStyle · Watchman Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5941