Linux gamer graphic card choice ...

spiky25 · 2010-03-06 23:53:41

The deal :

Nvidia aren't cheap but the linux support is right for a long time but without open source drivers just reverse-ingeneered ones ...

Ati have open their heart to open source, are cheap and powerful but they dropped support of many cards and their linux support
was always said to be the worst of all ...

Intel are a no-way case !!! (desktop use but not for gaming ...)

Which card would be better for 100-200$CAN mid-range card, I use mostly www.meilleursprix.ca to check pricing of hardware ...

Skripka · 2010-03-06 23:58:26

Nvidia with the proprietary driver.

ATi have been making crap drivers on all platforms since before Arch even existed.

CountDuckula · 2010-03-07 00:03:40

Nvidia for me too, ran an ATI card under Ubuntu and it was a dog. A 9500/9600GT with 512MB RAM (or more if you wish) is more than enough for linux games I play such as Tremulous etc... and should fit into your budget nicely.

eldalion · 2010-03-07 00:15:07

Linux games don't need much anyway. I'm playing urban terror an a sub £40 card (8400GS) on a 23inch monitor. Invest your money some place else.

But whatever you do, go for NVIDIA.

spiky25 · 2010-03-07 07:26:21

I want to take on some windows games by wine also, what do I need ?

bgalakazam · 2010-03-07 07:30:06

NVIDIA for Linux. I am on the way to sell my ATI HD 4770 since I can't use it with anything without it crashing. I am using an old NVIDIA 7300 LE, works great.

combuster · 2010-03-07 10:35:39

I think we should scratch out the proprietary drivers. When opensource drivers reach maturity - it's going to be clear wich one have the advantage, ATI drivers started first but nouveau dev's are doing a great job and I think when the both drivers are stable enough and like have support for the latest cards (ATI for Cypress/Juniper and nouveau for Fermi ;-)) then we can speak about stability etc.

Themaister · 2010-03-07 16:52:19

If nouveau ever reach the performance of the proprietary drivers with reverse engineering, then that's something for the history books. I still have a 8800GT, and it still rocks.

anonymous_user · 2010-03-07 17:06:22

NVIDIA of course.

combuster · 2010-03-07 17:49:30

@TheMaister

Well we still don't need the performance of proprietary drivers, not until unigine based games for Linux hit the shelves

Snakeye · 2010-03-08 03:10:04

I use the GeForce 9800 GX2 with the proprietary driver. If nouveau ever gets decent 3d performance i'd drop the nvidia driver in a second.

pogeymanz · 2010-03-08 03:52:29

Snakeye wrote:

I use the GeForce 9800 GX2 with the proprietary driver. If nouveau ever gets decent 3d performance i'd drop the nvidia driver in a second.

Same here. I like having Compiz for certain plugins and nouveau is getting close to being able to do Compiz on some cards so fingers are crossed...

spiky25 · 2010-03-09 02:33:53

bgalakazam wrote:

NVIDIA for Linux. I am on the way to sell my ATI HD 4770 since I can't use it with anything without it crashing. I am using an old NVIDIA 7300 LE, works great.

After a comment like that, impossible to take other than Nvidia !!!

Omg !!! 3 years old Nvidia pwn a new budget card from Ati ...

Adriano ML · 2010-03-09 17:10:23

for performance and stability, nvidia proprietary drivers is the way. Nvidia develops it with high performance computing clients in mind, like big studios and research centers. And not only that, but they provide some really great support.

if you don't need performance, like netbooks and simple notebooks, go with intel drivers. They are the most reliable FOSS drivers. But of curse, their IGPs are not know for great performance.

ATI has some good FOSS drivers too, but the performance, even with powerfull GPUs isen't good. Also, Their proprietary offering is not know for stability and bleeding edge.

flamelab · 2010-03-09 17:14:56

Nvidia with proprietary driver :-)

shining · 2010-03-13 22:29:36

ATI because they are less evil (or at least AMD is)

combuster · 2010-03-13 23:13:25

ATI because they are less evil (or at least AMD is)

Coming from nouveau dev this is really unbiased

shining · 2010-03-14 00:47:37

combuster wrote:

ATI because they are less evil (or at least AMD is)
Coming from nouveau dev this is really unbiased

Maybe if I kept working and learning nouveau for 5 more years, I would reach that status, For now I am not even a contributor. Supporter and tester would be more accurate. The learning curve is extreme.

Anyway if I am supporting and giving time to that project , it's because I would like to see and use open source drivers.
Nvidia is doing absolutely nothing/niet/nada/0 in that direction ! It's quite the opposite, there is occasionally the fear of copyright and/or patent problems and all that fun (read pathetic) stuff.

Anyway if you care a bit about opensource, give your money to AMD/ATI and not others

Intel is a strange beast : A dangerous monopoly with anti competitive behavior..
See http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/12/intel.shtm and http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content … plaint.pdf (the story about intel compiler is a real shame)
It does provide open-source graphics driver but the open source linux group seems to lack resources, and the driver is not stable.
It did provide open source drivers, though the new wimax drivers seem to have an important component completely closed (http://www.linuxwimax.org/FAQ#head-29b5 … d1cb454fc3)

Anyway next time I have to spend money on hardware, I will strongly consider amd/ati.
As for nouveau, my 3 old nvidia cards give me plenty of work already !

Firepower · 2010-03-14 01:05:54

Nvidia, definitely.
Not a really new one, mind you, as Nvidia releases Linux drivers significantly behind the Windows ones.
Maybe something like a 8800, 9800 or GTX 260.

combuster · 2010-03-14 09:40:32

@shining

Well, for usual kernel testing and experimenting intel was great. On my Dell Vostro 1310 I can compile whatever kernel branch, X from git and still I don't worry about 3rd party drivers or compatibility. That is something I am now used to.

I wouldn't move from intel igp's on linux - no way, but "recent" work with nouveau and ati opensource drivers gave me the opportunity to test kernel unstable versions even with nvidia/ati - knowing that I will have a X driver available to compile if not packaged already and I wouldn't be held back by latency of proprietary drivers.

As for AMD that will be my choice in the near future, I guess a gpu from the 5xxx (5770 ie) will provide a lot of testing fun since Cypress/Juniper are getting basic KMS support in 2.6.34...

Arch Linux

#1 2010-03-06 23:53:41

Linux gamer graphic card choice ...

#2 2010-03-06 23:58:26

Re: Linux gamer graphic card choice ...

#3 2010-03-07 00:03:40

Re: Linux gamer graphic card choice ...

#4 2010-03-07 00:15:07

Re: Linux gamer graphic card choice ...

#5 2010-03-07 07:26:21

Re: Linux gamer graphic card choice ...

#6 2010-03-07 07:30:06

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#7 2010-03-07 10:35:39

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#8 2010-03-07 16:52:19

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#9 2010-03-07 17:06:22

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#10 2010-03-07 17:49:30

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#13 2010-03-09 02:33:53

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#14 2010-03-09 17:10:23

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