Linux = ATI or nVidia?

[k0nigen]

which graphics card would be best where Linux is the OS?

I've seen people screaming about ATI lacking support for it but is it only certain cards that one should avoid or is it a general problem across the board?

Cheers

[Lee H]

Nvidia gets the vote from me. Superb linux support covering all types of flavours of linux i.e 32/64 bit and various other flavours .

http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/unix.html

[mike_w]

Sadly, you should go for nVidia if you want to use Linux and your graphics card well. Both drivers are easy to set up, but ATi's performance is somewhat slower.

[directhex]

ati's drivers are still a massive pain in various parts of the anatomy to install, as well as being ~2-3 times slower than the equivalent nvidia and prone to memory leaks and crashes

[mike_w]

ati's drivers are still a massive pain in various parts of the anatomy to install

Not a problem for me - run the file in a terminal, follow the easy instructions, and change /etc/X11/XF86-Config4. Done! It seemed just as easy to the nVidia drivers to me.

[directhex]

Not a problem for me - run the file in a terminal, follow the easy instructions, and change /etc/X11/XF86-Config4. Done! It seemed just as easy to the nVidia drivers to me.

not so easy for amd64 users, as it makes incorrect assumptions about /lib and /lib64

also highly likely to fail - e.g. there are programming errors leading to conflicts with some of the standard libraries in some versions of xorg (such as int10). not to mention the age old AGP GART problems

[Xaneden]

Sadly the Linux graphics card market seems to be solely in Nvidia's pocket, it would definetely be beneficial for ATi to give some level of support for Linux (especially considering their recent drop in expected 4th quarter profits)

[k0nigen]

Cheers guys, nVidia it is then

[mike_w]

not so easy for amd64 users, as it makes incorrect assumptions about /lib and /lib64

also highly likely to fail - e.g. there are programming errors leading to conflicts with some of the standard libraries in some versions of xorg (such as int10). not to mention the age old AGP GART problems

Ah, okay then - I suppose I've been lucky!

[peterb]

I have used a (fairly basic) Radeon board (PCI) quite happily with RH9 distro. It works OK, but I'm not sure it is any faster (or better) than the graphics that is built into the mobo. (Asus terminator system)

[aBuLhAgaG]

Nvidia all the way...

[Garf]

Cant vouch for Nvidia. But for Mandrake and Slackware distro ... they aint lovin' ATI !! Which resulted in me not loving most of the english language !!

[madmonkey]

Nvidia definitely.

[k0nigen]

Resurection

Which specific card & brand (eg. Asus 6600) do you think it would be wise to go for?

Mostly, I'd like to have good video quality and connectivity options (mostly for movies connected to WS TV) and also have the option to do gaming on medium settings if I fancy it (really not too fussed about gaming)

I would also like card to be passively cooled.

I was thinking Gigabyte 6600 SilentPipe, what say thee?

Thank yee very much

[k0nigen]

Jello? Anyone have any thoughts on the above question?

[nev_payne]

Nvidia usually have updates for their Linux/Unix drivers as often as the Windows updates. Typicially any card can be used - the latest 7800 series may have issues to its intfantcy, but the 6*** series shouldn't be a problem. You can always check the details for that on nvidias' website.