[olug] [OT] Video Card Recommendation

[Dan Linder]

On Tuesday 24 November 2009 07:36:32 am Dave Thacker wrote:
> It's almost time to order my workstation replacement.  I've got all the
> components picked out except a Video Card.    I haven't ever purchased
> one new, so I've got no feel for what's good or bad.
>
> My requirements
> -Nvidia chip set

On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 3:40 PM, Luke-Jr <luke at dashjr.org> wrote:
> You just eliminated good Linux support...

On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 20:28, Adam Lassek <adam at doubleprime.net> wrote:
> NVIDIA cards work just fine in Linux, I've had an excellent experience. The
> only problem I can recall is purchasing an 8800GTS just after they came out,
> and it took a few months for the drivers to stabilize.

Remeber, Luke only uses RMS approved FOSS hardware.  Actually, I
believe if it were possible to melt the silicon and print the circuit
mask at home he'd be doing that...using the "Open Graphics Project"
schematic and chip masks http://wiki.opengraphics.org/tiki-index.php
:-)

For us mere mortals, I vote with my pocket book when possible.  I know
that AIT has traditionally had a more open software support
infrastructure but not a high level of additional support outside of
supplying the community with the basic set of specificatinos.  NVidia
only releases binary drivers that are written and released by their
internal programmers.  While this isn't open, it does show that they
are actually putting their own money in to Linux - in essence they are
voting with their money too.

I haven't really had any technical problems with NVidia or ATI video
cards.  Before you hit the "confirm" button when buying either type
on-line, double check that the X11 drivers support the chipset on the
card you're buying.  I was click-happy and purchased an NVidia card a
few years back that was bleeding-edge.  The outcome was that I was
using this hot new video card in SVGA mode at 1280x1024 for about 6
weeks. :-(

For what it's worth, my eVGA GeForce 8600 has been a champ - it's
about 2.0 years old so definately not cutting edge.  My experence with
the eVGA brand of cards (NVidia only though) has been excellent.  And
my purchases are usually through NewEgg.com.

Dan

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