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ATI at the Top Graphics Chip Maker for 2004

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-blame-that-pixie-demo dept.

dirutz writes "ATI is at the top according to market share, but nVidia is catching up. Hopefully this competition means lower prices and more goodies."

2 of 323 comments (clear)

  1. I use both ati and nvidia on Linux successfully by FreeUser · · Score: 5, Informative

    However, given their stance on Linux drivers, my next purchase will be Nvidia. I don't like the fact that I can't use my DVI port because ATI doesn't feel like it.

    echo "media-video/ati-drivers" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
    echo "media-video/ati-drivers-extra" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords

    emerge -Du media-video/ati-drivers media-video/ati-drivers-extra

    or do whatever the equivelent is for your distribution to install the ati-drivers version 8.8.25, and run fglrxconfig to configure X accordingly.

    I've got ATI drivers running on a dual DVI card, on multiple heads in one case, and on a single 1920x1200 on another, and have used them in both 64-bit (opteron) and 32-bit (athlon/intel) environments. For ati 9250 and less I use the xfree drivers, for anything above that I use the new binary drivers.

    I've done the same with nvidia cards (although I've yet to find an nvidia card that doesn't flicker incessently at 1920x1200 resolution, despite using the DVI port rather than the analog port -- go figure).

    ATI is now releasing driver updates for Linux every 2 months ... similiar to nvidia. So get either one ... I've used both, and both have their strengths and weaknesses (e.g ATI drivers and celestia have issues and nvidia can't hold a stable image at 1920x1200 under Linux), and now that ATI has finally gotten their act together WRT Linux drivers, they are a viable competitor to nvidia in that market.

    In other words, you can pick whatever card you like the best and expect driver support on Linux for it now, on both 32-bit intel and 64-bit opteron at least. PPC users are stuck with the free drivers (which work fine on my powerbook 17" BTW), and unfortunately other platforms are similarly limited, but for 99.99% of us the support is pretty damn good at this point.

    --
    The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
  2. Nvidia is catching up?! by thehunger · · Score: 5, Informative
    As any Linux users will tell you (and there are supposed to be a few among this crowd), it is ATI that is playing catchup. As far as making Linux drivers available for their products, that is.

    Who cares about market share, monthly volumes and top-of-the-line performance when 90% of the features of an ATI Radeon All-in-Wonder card are NOT available on Linux? It's only a couple a weeks ago the first feature-less driver for the X.org / 2.6 kernel came out!