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Best Supported Video Card For Linux/XFree86?
Crixus asks: "I'm about to build a dual CPU box on which to run Linux. Currently, what is the best supported video card under the latest Xfree86 releases. Which card(s) can I buy that would be obvious 'can't go wrong' choices?" This question pops in to the submissions bin quite a bit, even though we have discussed this issue several times in the past. However times change, and as the years pass the technologies change. What does this year offer in the way of compatible video cards for XFree and Linux? Those of you who have this question might also want to check out AnandTech's October Video Card Comparison.
It does depend a lot on what you're doing. If you
want a nice card for driving big monitors, and getting work done, along with the occasional 3D game, I'd say go with a Matrox G400. They're really nice, well supported, and for all the features that work now and will work someday (DVD), they're a good deal. I'd stay away from the 450s for now, just because they're still rather new, and from the reviews I've seen they only really beat the 400 in price. I've had a Millennium 1, 2, G100, G200 and now a G400 and all
have worked wonderfully under linux.
I've been running a multihead system (Riva 128 AGP & Voodoo 3000 PCI) for a while and I really like it. I was suprised when the two cards came up togethor without any real effort (XFree86 -configure rocks BTW), however, when I recompiled my 2.2.x kernel to include support for SMP the machine would lock about half the time I tried to start X for the first time since the machine had been rebooted. After I got X started it was no problem until the next reboot. I suspect there's some sort of problem in the int10 code for softbooting the second monitor with SMP. Oh well. I just upgraded to debian woody and compiled a 2.4 test kernel and the problem seems to be fixed, I havn't had any problems softbooting the second card since.
Just my two cents, someone else might find them interesting or useful.
I came. I saw. I coded.
Don't do this, because there are no X drivers for it. Well, technically, there are drivers for it, but unfortunately some scumbag company called Xi Technologies is selling the thing for 80 bucks. EIGHTY BUCKS.
Third party Radeon drivers for linux are expected Q1 2001, but I suppose we shall see. Also, as an added bonus, ATI has a java applet on their page that happily crashes linux netscape after a couple of page views.
ATI may be willing to part with design specs for driver development, but I'm not exactly sure if that necessarily makes them linux friendly.
Be aware.
Speaking from experience here. I have a GeForce 2 GTS.
nVidia's linux drivers are very fast. maybe the timedemos show better scores in Windows, but subjectively, playing Q3 in linux is smoother. I haven't played in W2K though. Maybe it has to do with 9x's sucky multi-tasking.
The only problem is that these fast drivers are closed-source. The only thing that ever crashes my system is X. They don't always wake up after apm puts the graphics card to sleep. The machine is completely hung and only a hard-reset will do. Whenever I recompile my kernel and forget to recompile the nVidia kernel module, my graphics card locks up hard and there's no way to get it back. I have to "use the force" and switch to a virtual terminal and login as root and reboot without being able to see what I'm typing. These are exactly the kind of annoying things that would have been fixed in open source drivers by now.
I understand why nVidia has closed source drivers. They have other people's IP in them and they have fancy tech in there that would give an edge to the competition (at least that's what they believe and we don't have the evidence to determine otherwise). Their drivers are fast, but they are closed source and that is a serious downside to consider.
To make a long story short, if 3D gaming on an x86 under linux is your highest priority, get an nVidia card from a good manufacturer that is based on the reference design.
If stability is more important than 3D performance, get something else.
Although, I guess now with XFree86 4.0.2 you could have the best of both worlds. Use the open source drivers that come with XFree86 normally, but switch to the nVidia drivers when you want good 3D. GF2 and MX weren't supported in 4.0.1.
If you want a CRISP and sharp 2D display and reasonably fast 3D, go with the Matrox G200. You can get these used for next to nothing. I recently got an 8 meg AGP for $20.
The G400 is a step up. It has much better 3D performance than the G200. Matrox 3D is not industry top-of-the-line at current. But like the G200, the G400 has the sharpest display in the business. It also has dual head support, either on the card or as a cheap add-on option, depending on the model. Dual head is great if you can find a second, cheap monitor. Like the G200, you can find G400s cheap. I've seen them go for $60-80 for the 16 meg single head version.
The G450 is pretty much the G400, except that multi-head is the only version sold, and the second display shares the same fast RAMDAC as the first display, meaning you could run two very sharp displays in the 2048x1536 range. (The second display on the G400 multi-head loses significant clarity or refresh rate (your choice) above 1600x1200.) There are, however, some issues with drivers for the second head destabilizing the system. (Hopefully someone knows more about when this may be resolved?)
If you want FAST FAST FAST 3D above all else, are willing to sacrifice a bit of crispness at the higher resolutions, and aren't militant about demanding open source drivers, have a listen to the nvidia and ATI advocates. Both are excellent cards, though ATI's driver support is currently a little behind nvidia's.
Visit us at #nvidia on irc.openprojects.net and we'll try to help you out.
-- iCEBaLM
While I'd definitely go for a Geforce2 if they had open source drivers, I'll never buy one of their cards while I have to rely on them for a binary module. My Matrox G400 at home is very nice, and if I needed a little more I'd go for a G450. You won't get the FPS of the Geforce but you won't have to worry about Matrox deciding to stop supporting Linux either.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
The GeForce 2MX is pretty damn sweet under xfree86, although I believe my shady motherboards APM was causing crashes.
I had instability nightmares for ages with my TNT2U on an AMD 750 chipset mobo, until I turned off the NVidia AGP support... After about six hours of coding (and maybe a couple of sessions of Quake III Arena :-) ) I suddenly realized that it hadn't crashed at all. Since then I have had only two crashes in four months, which is pitiful for a Linux machine but much better than a crash every two hours or so before the change.
Scan your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file for the Section "Screen" ... EndSection. Add the following line
It isn't guaranteed to fix every NVidia crash, but I've had reports from a few people that this fix has radically improved stability. Especially if you happen to have an Aureal Vortex soundcard in your system.
Cheers,
Toby Haynes
Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
Hope this will help you. I'm not a guru or so, I followed the instructions and (after some searching and trying) I made it work.
I use Peanut Linux 8.1 (it is some small slackware derivate, methinks) with KDE (no Gnome, sorry).
Good luck!
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)