Best video card for Linux?

Aunty Em

Aunty Em

Well-Known Member
I read recently that the Geforce cards are supposed to have better drivers in Linux than the Radeons... is this true? If so which card would you recommend for a 98SE/Linux Mandrake 9.1 duel boot machine with an ABit KT7A Rev 1.0 Mobo with IGHz TBird overclocked @ 1.33.

I tried an ATI Radeon 7500 64MB in it but just get a blank screen... I'm assuming the same conflict between the Via drivers and ATI drivers that I had with my other board... ABit KD7E.

At the moment I have an ATI Rage 128 Pro 32MB card in it... it uses different drivers.
 
I use a Radeon VE and it works fine, but I don't really game (okay, I play tuxracer some). I don't have a via board though.
 
I'm not sure about the new Mandrake, but RH9
does a great job with my ati rad 9000.
But I'm using a p4-2.533 not overclocked.

I have had some luck with AMD systems and Linux,
but have had better luck on intel systems. :nerd:
 
Aunty Em said:
I read recently that the Geforce cards are supposed to have better drivers in Linux than the Radeons... is this true? If so which card would you recommend for a 98SE/Linux Mandrake 9.1 duel boot machine with an ABit KT7A Rev 1.0 Mobo with IGHz TBird overclocked @ 1.33.

I tried an ATI Radeon 7500 64MB in it but just get a blank screen... I'm assuming the same conflict between the Via drivers and ATI drivers that I had with my other board... ABit KD7E.

At the moment I have an ATI Rage 128 Pro 32MB card in it... it uses different drivers.
Click to expand...
Blank screen as in it doesn't post? Or does it not show anything after xwindows loads? All the Rage128 cards I've had required using a specific chipset driver for xwindows. :shrug: Don't know much about Mandrake (only used it for a month or so), but you might have to set it up for a different card before putting it in.
 
I've got a slight problem with my graphics on my thoroughbred. The window leans slightly to the right... yes weird I know. It's become ore pronounced over about 2 - 3 weeks.

I eliminated the monitor and cables as the problem as the ATI rage works fine on the monitor after switching cables. I elliminated the motherboard by swoping over the Rage into it and finding it worked fine. When I tried the 7500 in the thunderbird which is ok with the Rage, I got a blank screen... it stops posting just before it's supposed to start up windows. I thought this was some sort of conflict between the via drivers and the ati drivers... I had it originally on the TBred but by trial and error have sorted it out using the latest drivers after first installing the graphics card with the latest drivers also. In retrospect it could be that there has been a fault on the graphics card from the beginning and it's taken this long to finally show itself.

But I needed to test the card in the TBird so I formated C: reloaded windows, let it use it's own chipset drivers and installed the 7500.... result, same problem... the window leans slightly to the right... maybe a quarter of an inch in total at the top left and bottom right leans about the same to the left. This is in Windows btw... it's dual booted. :shrug:

I'd already made a backup image of C: last night so it just took a few of minutes to reformat again and replace everything when I put the Rage back in. So it looks like I have to replace the graphics card in the TBred first, which is a shame cos I was toying with the idea of getting the Abit KV7 KT600 board if it was the fault of the motherboard... unfortunately both are out of warrenty. I had been hoping to use the 7500 in the Thunderbird. :(

The only good thing about it is that the ATIs all use the same drivers so I should just be able to swop the cards over... I hope!

So now I'm looking at the ATI 9200 either 128MB DDR Or the Lite version or the 64MB version... any advice? I know the Lites are 64bit as opposed to 128 bit, and they are 8X AGP, but that's about all.
 
I've ordered a Sapphire 9200 128MB DDR TV-Out DVI for just over £62 ($102.80) inc. postage. It was actually cheaper than the Lite version... ?( As it's 8x it will go well with the KV7 if/when I get it (yes, I know it's only just a year since I last upgraded, but this will allow me to upgrade to a much faster processor and DDR when I'm ready). I'm well pissed off about the 7500 though... OK, it's 18 months old, but that's the last time I order anything from Hong Kong! :(

So I still have to consider an upgrade for the TBird.
 
yes, I know it's only just a year since I last upgraded
Click to expand...

And your point would be???????

I haven't changed anything but OS's (RH9) in sixth months, and my hands shake when I turn the computer on. :lol:
 
My point is, it's only a year since I started upgrading and I feel like my system's obsolete already... :(

This game is getting expensive... :lol:
 
Aunty Em said:
My point is, it's only a year since I started upgrading and I feel like my system's obsolete already... :(
Click to expand...

welcome to the world of computer hardware :D
 
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