Hi all!

I'm buying a new video card for my computer and i'm thinking of going with a radeon x1950 pro (my current one is an X550 - Asus manufacturer)

What's the status with linux support for this one ? If it's difficult to set up, i'm open to other suggestions (within the same price range ofcourse)...

However have in mind that i'm inclined towards ATI (Btw, I've read tons of reviews and tests and found that this particular model blows every other card out of the water (except for high end DX10 cards) - gaming, decoders, taking the load from the CPU...you name it)

So, should i go with this one or is there a better choice ?
Thanks in advance!

nvidia are your best bet at the moment as they supply proprietary Linux drivers. I have seen talk of AMD starting open source drivers for ATI stuff, but I doubt that'll be any time in the near future.

I heard that they released the 2d drivers a couple of days ago...

You said nvidia...which model ?

I wasn't aware they'd released 2D drivers, I guess they could be closed source ones I wasn't aware of (which is what nvidia supply).

It looks like that ATI card is quite a high-end one, so I think the nvidia equivalent would be an 8600 chipset model. Which one depends how much you can afford. I have an 8600M GT on my laptop and it's very, very good indeed. Very fast and a great image.

I think the general rule is go for as much and as fast graphics memory as you can. It's hard to say exactly which one as I don't know your interface, preferred outputs and budget. The are lots of 8600 based cards out there ranging from just under £100 to over £200.

It's interesting that you've seen lots of reviews about how good the Radeon device is, I have one on my work laptop which works very well under Windows, but when I boot it to Linux it's pretty poor in comparison - especially when driving an external monitor.

This post is maybe relevant:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...6/#post2910434

I can't find any Linux drivers for the ATI card with a quick search! The ATI website only seems to talk about Vista. I suspect that if you're wanting to do things liking gaming and fast stuff you're probably best off with something that has proper drivers. For example, the nvidia cards can look very good with the open source drivers but, for example, fail if you want to play Second Life.

Hope that helps, not sure it does really.

If you want to run Linux and you like to have good graphic experience, then never choose ATI (at least at the moment).

Yes yes, i know, never choose ati, they have horrible linux support....

I misread that article about amd drivers, they released the specs for Rv630 chipset here: www.x.org/docs/AMD/

I could get the nvidia 8600 gt for the same money, but it is significantly slower than the x1950 pro (for one it has a 128-bit acces to memory vs the x1950's 256-bit)

So, if i go with the nvidia now, will i regret it a couple of months from now when amd's linux support finally starts drastically improving as they promise ?

P.S. DiBosco : I don't want to spend more than £100 and my interface is PCI x16

Oh, and i read the tons of reviews of that card's performance under Windows (gaming and video)...

Someone once said to me (I believe it is a Buddhist thing):

Maybe you had some experiences with ATI that lead you have certain trust, belief or even faith that they will provide us with a good driver. However, as an ATI user who waited almost 2 years for a proper driver (that allows me to enjoy all the fancy stuff I saw with Compiz/Beryl, where users of NVIDIA and Intel have been enjoying for months), the feeling is very bitter. Not to mention to amount of time in hacking the xorg.conf as well as reading many on line guides on ATI setup just to get my graphics working - which only to reinforce my opinion that getting ATI to work with Linux, at this current situation will be a bad choice.

Yes, AMD had released spec regarding ATI cards. Yes, there seems to be tangible and real attention given my AMD to resolve bad driver situation for Linux. However, that has yet to materialized. What we see here are hopes and promises, which may worth something to you, but may be worthless to others. Only time will tell, how the situation will be.

I am not saying you should not be prepared or hopeful for the future. I am just saying, you may need to be more realistic about it.

Anyway, why not wait for a few more weeks? It is my understanding there will be new driver release soon, which will support AIGLX and Composite. Maybe you would like to wait and see how things would turn out, and make the choice after.

Just my < 0.2 cents opinion...

Hmm, thanks for that reply

I guess i am fighting not to buy nvidia 8600 because it is overpriced (since a x1950 costs even less but is more powerful)

I didn't know new amd/ati drivers are coming out, but if it is as you say it is, it couldn't be that much better, i mean they can't catch up to nvidia all of a sudden, right ?

I will probably go with the nvidia 8600 gt then...

I just know that if I buy an 8600 now it's price will be cut soon after or ati will release better drivers for linux (maybe even both)...

I got this info from Phoronix. Someone in the that forum seems have a great deal of insights into the working of AMD/ATI development.

Well, I won't put such high expectation. If it can really support AIGLX and Composite, I will be more than happy.

All depends on your needs, do some research on the topic.

Bit harsh; it's quite bewildering what's out there and it's always good to ask for help and advice on what people have really managed to achieve with Linux and drivers. You could argue he is doing research by asking us! ;-)

Thanks for the replies ppl, i just ordered a xfx 8600gt....

...Not OCed or with more than 256MB RAM I hope.
You were right btw, looks like you may have wanted to wait for the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8800#8800_GT

After my 6600(not GT), I'm glad I paid just a little more for the 8800GTS 320, as it's considerably more bang (~3x) for a few more bucks (<80% more) compared to the 8600GT/GTS, which should now be squeezed down in price as the reasonable midrange mainstream card is finally released. Depends on your resolution and gaming needs, most games are fine at 30-60fps.

Well, it's the XFX 8600 gt 'XXX' Edition (is slightly overclocked)

(The greatest gripe i have with it is the lack of HDCP, but since i don't own a HDTV or a HD drive, that doesn't matter that much to me at the moment)

How much will the 8800 gt cost ?

Never base a buying decision on a promise. Get whatever works best now.