A cheap(er) ATI card for Linux?

[celafon]

Hi.

First of all - I did try to search for the thing I am asking about, but more often I got a 10-20 page long posts regarding the cards I was trying to find something about...

Now to the questions.

I would like to get a new card for my rather old PC. The graphics card uses AGP slot. I am using 2 monitors and both are 1680x1050 (that is why I need a new card BTW, the second one does not work in native resolution due to current card's limitations).

So I was thinking I could get one of those Radeon HD2400 or 2600 as it looks they have 400MHz ramdac - so able to handle both screens.

Now the questions:
1) Is this going to work in GNU/Linux?
2) Is dual monitor configuration working for those cards in GNU/Linux?
3) If it will work - are there any obvious drawbacks/limitations?
4) Or should I stick to nvidia?
5) Or should I choose a different ATI model?

Sorry for (maybe) obvious questions but I just could not get simple answers for them...

Thanks!

[Spitfire]

I use a HD2600xt on my primary box and it works fine.

- dual screen is working out of the box with catalyst 9.1 (maybe earlier catalyst releases too)
- removing dual screen works only with reinstall of driver (you may have a exteme large desktop area which goes on after your display is over) (this may or may not affect you and may also be an issue of Xorg or whatever, I am not sure)
- video playback works with desktop effects enabled in 9.1, without desktop effects it works since long time.
- wine doesn't work too bad, but some games simply won't work and there is no workaround. As you say you're using old boxes that should not affect you.
- doom 3 native runs perfect for hours, so the fglrx/wine issue is only occuring with wine indeed.

Nevertheless I am not sure if there is a hd2600xt with AGP?!

EDIT: Oh, and my dual head desktop was 3840x1200 on 2 24" TFTs, which worked with the HD2600XT.

[celafon]

Nevertheless I am not sure if there is a hd2600xt with AGP?!

There is

Thanks for your reply - it looks that I will try it and we'll see how it works in practice

Cheers,
Bartek

P.S. It's a girl! So now it will be 3:1 in our house :] (sorry for off topic, I really shouldn't be posting after few pints...)

[Kano]

You can be sure that you don't want that AGP card...

[celafon]

You can be sure that you don't want that AGP card...

Could you elaborate?

[Kano]

Those cards often only work with some kernel + driver config - nothing you want to use.

[#cruncher]

ATI/LInux

Hi.

First of all - I did try to search for the thing I am asking about, but more often I got a 10-20 page long posts regarding the cards I was trying to find something about...

Now to the questions.

I would like to get a new card for my rather old PC. The graphics card uses AGP slot. I am using 2 monitors and both are 1680x1050 (that is why I need a new card BTW, the second one does not work in native resolution due to current card's limitations).

So I was thinking I could get one of those Radeon HD2400 or 2600 as it looks they have 400MHz ramdac - so able to handle both screens.

Now the questions:
1) Is this going to work in GNU/Linux?
2) Is dual monitor configuration working for those cards in GNU/Linux?
3) If it will work - are there any obvious drawbacks/limitations?
4) Or should I stick to nvidia?
5) Or should I choose a different ATI model?

Sorry for (maybe) obvious questions but I just could not get simple answers for them...

Thanks!

I have been using ATI 9550xl (256MB), ATI x1650 (521MB) for quite some time on OpenSuSE 9 through 10.3 with ATI drivers. Getting the aticonfig'd file in /etc/X11/xorg.conf set right is usually the trick. A few times, the driver did not work against a kernel update that happened. I was able to reinstall the older driver and use it until kernel/driver caught up with each other. Been using dual monitors since 2001 in these configurations, with 1600x1200 on each screen. A smaller memory card may give trouble for large resolution, but I was able to hit 1600x1200 comfortably. They were all AGP.

Regards

[tuxdriver]

Get the 2600 Pro instead.It's cheaper,much cooler and uses less power.

The only possible downside is that it's very hard to find one with 2 DVI outputs.
The reference model comes with DVI (dual link), VGA and TV out.
(If you use CRT or LCD monitors with analog input there's no problem)

Even 'ancient' Radeon 8500 cards with 64MB VRAM can drive very high resolution monitors (2048x1536) or 3200x1200 multimonitor setups without any slowdown (it also has a dual 400 MHz RAMDAC). The 2600 Pro is more than enough.

[Spitfire]

XT > PRO! And they are not expensive in any way. I got a Sapphire GDDR4 version which is as cheap as 60EUR/80US$ + it has the 2 DVI-outs.

[Spitfire]

XT > PRO! And they are not expensive in any way. I got a Sapphire GDDR4 version which is as cheap as 60EUR/80US$ + it has the 2 DVI-outs.

WTF is phoronix down now?