I was thinking of getting an actual graphics card for my system (I am currently using onboard graphics from my mobo) and was wondering what were the primary factors to consider?

I am eyeing the Radeon HD 6990 for 135$ : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102931

I would be doing some lighter gaming, fullscreen minecraft with max graphics, possibly starcraft 2. I would also be running some 3D landscape design software. Any suggestions?

My two cents, but if you're going to be using Linux with this card, go for an Nvidia based one. I'm not too sure the ATI drivers for Linux are up to scratch. Nvidia seem to support Linux well (maybe better than ATI) with regularly updated drivers for Linux for their latest GPUs.

I agree I have always had excelent results with Nvidia and I see lots of posts about problems with ATI .

Indeed the Linux ATI drivers aren't the best, even now.

For the same price I recommend the very nice GeForce 550 Ti:
http://www.geforce.com/Hardware/GPUs...specifications

And, as a counter example, I've had nothing but headaches with the nvidia proprietary drivers, and wouldn't touch them with a 10-foot pole.

Adam

@ the general 'get nVidia' comments- you should have checked bplis* sig. "Asus M5A88-V Evo", thats a 880G chipset board...running a ATI HD 4250 IGP. They have expereince with ATI/AMD GPU drivers of some sort.....

@ rylan76- debatable point, but IMO ATI/AMD support linux better than nVidia. ATI/AMDF have regualr updates to teh closed drivers, just like nVidia. They have also helped with providing documentation to the open source driver devs, and even have people on the ATI/AMD payrol working on the open soruce drivers. nVidia dont have any employees working on the open soruce 'nouveau' project. They also dont help with ducmentation, nouveau has to use all the nasty, hard ways to figure out how to get drivers work (reverse engineering, etc.). The old 'nv' drivers were 'free' but obfuscated, and have been discontuined.

@ H_TeXMeX_H- whens the last time you ran an ATI/AMD card with linux?
GTX550 Ti is outclassed for gaming performance by a HD6790.

@ bplis*- the 6790 is probably overkill for your needs, but its not a bad choice.

I'd suggest a HD6850 though, its got virtually the same power consumption and heat output, and costs about the same as the 6790, and its faster, everywhere.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102908

You are wrong, especially on Linux.

The two cards are very similar in performance and price:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/20715

I cannot say one is better than the other, however on Linux, I would always go for the nvidia one. On Linux, remember that while nvidia vdpau (video accel) works, the same cannot be said for AMD:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XvMC

If you want to play HD videos, and if you want your card to run at max performance and be relatively stable, nvidia is the only real choice on Linux.

@ H_TeXMeX_H- I'm wrong, eh?

The techreport review agree with what I was saying- the GTX 550 is outclassed by the HD6790. 4 tests, where the is a clear 'winner' its the HD6790, by a fair margin. ohh, and as usual techreport is biased- the GTX 550 models they were using were 'factory overclocked', but do they bother to mention it anywhere? Nope.

Theres a whole butt-load of reviews out there, and you can find one that will say almost anything, but the most common point of view on GTX 550 vs HD 6790 is the HD6790 is faster. Have a look at a different review-

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...-460,2917.html

The conclusion toms came to?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...0,2917-16.html

As for 'especially on Linux'.....cow-dough is what I say to you.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...tx_550ti&num=1

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...x_550ti&num=11

That sums it up, prossibly better than I could.

The 6770 is a slightly lower model than the 6790, with slightly faster memory and core speeds (only by a tiny bit though) but the 6790 has tons more memory bandwidth (6770 is 128-bit, 6790 is 256-bit)

You can play HD videos just fine without VDPAU.

A link to wiki about UDV/XvMC doesnt really show that much (though I will admit that last time I tried XvBA was buggier than VDPAU).

So without even answering the 'whens the last time you ran an ATI/AMD card with linux?' question, you are making a blanket statement that you HAVE to use nVidia because ATI/AMD is so bad?

I'll bet you havent used an ATI/AMD card for ages, and are just repeating the common 'for linux, 'nVidia good, ATI/AMD bad' myth.

I wasn't looking at what the reviewers say, I was looking at the numbers, they look to be just about as good at least on Window$ (I mostly consider texture fill rates and memory bandwidths). Even considering the reviews you posted, they are still equal from what I see.

For HD videos, I recommend trying some 1080p videos and then you can say that HD videos play fine without vdpau. It depends, of course, on your card, but it makes a huge difference.

The last time I used an ATI card was many years ago, but I've learned my lesson, because I bought a number of them before that and had major issues with them even on Window$. Maybe you should be asking: When will I buy an ATI card in the future ? Never again.

How about the last time you bought an nvidia card ?

However, I do think you should stop arguing with me, and argue for your own ideas and focus on answering the OP's question.

I think that if you plan on getting the most out of a card on Linux, getting an ATI card is a big mistake. Same goes for Intel cards, but these are always integrated.

You can consider 'mostly texture fill rates and memory bandwidths' if you want, but that is at best a 'guess on spec', and at worst totally misleading. Almost every review I've seen on the HD 6790 or GTX 550 say that the HD 6790 is faster in general. If you think they are equal, that is up to you. Not many, if any, hardware reviews/hardware reviewers would agree with you.

Yeah, I have played 1080p videos without VDPAU- it makes no real difference which card you have if you arent using VDPAU (or a different 'decode video on a GPU' method) because the decoding is up to the CPU. CPU power is the main issue when you are using the CPU to decode HD video.

Not that it has _any_ reference to this topic, but I last bought an nVidia card was few months ago (a GT430 if you really want to know). I've also got an ATI/AMD card as which is a more recent buy than the nVidia card.

So I've run both ATI/AMD and nVidia with linux, on current hardware.

This is an arguement? I thought it was a discussion.....

If you had any current basis for your opinion on ATI/AMD I wouldnt say this, but since you have addmitted you have no experience with current ATI/AMD video hardware your opinion is baseless.

So, to you discussion means focusing on discrediting everything I say and any argument I make ... I've said enough. The OP has what he asked for, he will decide.

No offense, but first you say:

Then you say:

That does make me wonder how you are judging the driver situation from AMD "even now". I would hope you aren't using something as silly as problem reports here from AMD users, because I could just as easily point out all the users on the nvnews linux forum ( http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=14 ) with problems, and conclude that the nvidia drivers are pure crap.

Adam

....

Well, I have contemplated on this for many hours, and concluded that I am stuck in the middle of a fan-war. I will just have to try a card for myself and see what it is like.

even though it isn't really,
[SOLVED]

Just to add my opinion: I run machines with ATI/AMD, Nvidia and Intel graphics chips. I never had any problems with any of them (besides the dreaded Intel 852G, but that is another story). I also thought a while which graphics card will replace my current Nvidia card in my gaming rig and I came to the conclusion that it will be an AMD card. I think it will be the HD 6850. And I think that I will have the same amount of problems with that card as I have with my current Nvidia card: none.

I'm just discreting your opinion on ATI/AMD drivers. You dont seem to have any basis for what you say. I disgree with your HD 6970 is equal to GTX 550 idea.

Well, sorry for any part that I've played in that.

There tends to be a general 'ATI/AMD video sucks for linux' theory on most linux forums. A lot of the time its from what happened 3-4-5 years ago....

Since you are running an ATI/AMD IGP now, you have expereience with arily current ATI/AMD IGPs/GPUs. If its running fine for you, IMO the only reason to avoid a HD 6XXX card is if you want to run the open source drivers, and the distro you want to use doesnt have support for the newer HD 6XXX cards.