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Hello all ! 
(btw by highest throughput I am thinking of 3D throughput, i.e. speed, framerates etc).
Right now I'm using an asus M3A78-EM motherboard with an AMD Phenom II x4 CPU and 4GB of memory. The onboard graphics chipset is an ATI Radeon HD 3200 (Max 256MB shared memory). There is a PCIE x16 slot avaliable. I'm running 64 bit slackware (slamd64) and KDE4. Though I guess comparing KDE 4's 3D effects to a 3D game is no good -- it takes a *lot* more gruntwork to have smooth 3D graphics in a game as opposed to desktop 3d effects.
Only snag is that the onboard 3200 seems to be *really* slow. I have 3D working now without problems; 3D effects such as 'wobbly windows' works fine in KDE4, and so do 3D-based programs like second life and even the blender game "Yo frankie!" (2d performance is entirely another kettle of fish.....).
But I am noticing the framerates for these programs is *really* low. The blender game I mentioned if I increase the detail shows signs of struggling - smooth it certianly isn't; at highest detail the framerate is considerably worse. And second life itself can range between 20 and 8 fps - on its *lowest* settings. On its highest, and I understand this is a bit of an exaggeration, but it feels more like raytracing!
A friend of mine using windows and using a Radeon HD 4850 video card (video memory=1GB) (not onboard) on a normal ADSL (as am I) connection was getting 40+fps in second life at the same time in the same place (and with the graphics detail turned up to full; motherboard=M3A78CM, Same amount of memory as me, dual core AMD as opposed to my quad core). So I can deduce it isn't the program that is being slow at drawing/rendering.
(Sidenote: I must admit I have built PCs in the past, I used to even do it for a job in the late 90s/early 2000s. Some of the old QDI motherboards at the time had onboard video and even back then I remember finding the performance of on-board graphics vs. a card was terrible; the on-board video was always slooooooooow -- onboard sound was just as bad back then with lots of 'zipper' interference on the audio. Was hoping video performance would be better now in '09....!).
What I am looking for is a gamers' card, i.e. something that will give good framerates under linux. Snag is I am not sure which to choose - ati or nvidia (or maybe there's some other make out there). Just something that won't show signs of struggling and might have some sort of decent drivers (the ati catalyst drivers work, but only to a point it seems - or at least it seems with my current HD 3200).
My glxgears framerate comes in at around 680-810 fps....
Output of lspci
fgl_glxgears
glxinfo
....though glxgears is no test of 3d performance.
Or maybe I should go for a different motherboard? Though I am guessing most of the mini ATX boards all have on board graphics?
Any recommendations or positive experiences?
thanks
ljones
(btw by highest throughput I am thinking of 3D throughput, i.e. speed, framerates etc).Right now I'm using an asus M3A78-EM motherboard with an AMD Phenom II x4 CPU and 4GB of memory. The onboard graphics chipset is an ATI Radeon HD 3200 (Max 256MB shared memory). There is a PCIE x16 slot avaliable. I'm running 64 bit slackware (slamd64) and KDE4. Though I guess comparing KDE 4's 3D effects to a 3D game is no good -- it takes a *lot* more gruntwork to have smooth 3D graphics in a game as opposed to desktop 3d effects.
Only snag is that the onboard 3200 seems to be *really* slow. I have 3D working now without problems; 3D effects such as 'wobbly windows' works fine in KDE4, and so do 3D-based programs like second life and even the blender game "Yo frankie!" (2d performance is entirely another kettle of fish.....).
But I am noticing the framerates for these programs is *really* low. The blender game I mentioned if I increase the detail shows signs of struggling - smooth it certianly isn't; at highest detail the framerate is considerably worse. And second life itself can range between 20 and 8 fps - on its *lowest* settings. On its highest, and I understand this is a bit of an exaggeration, but it feels more like raytracing!
A friend of mine using windows and using a Radeon HD 4850 video card (video memory=1GB) (not onboard) on a normal ADSL (as am I) connection was getting 40+fps in second life at the same time in the same place (and with the graphics detail turned up to full; motherboard=M3A78CM, Same amount of memory as me, dual core AMD as opposed to my quad core). So I can deduce it isn't the program that is being slow at drawing/rendering.
(Sidenote: I must admit I have built PCs in the past, I used to even do it for a job in the late 90s/early 2000s. Some of the old QDI motherboards at the time had onboard video and even back then I remember finding the performance of on-board graphics vs. a card was terrible; the on-board video was always slooooooooow -- onboard sound was just as bad back then with lots of 'zipper' interference on the audio. Was hoping video performance would be better now in '09....!).
What I am looking for is a gamers' card, i.e. something that will give good framerates under linux. Snag is I am not sure which to choose - ati or nvidia (or maybe there's some other make out there). Just something that won't show signs of struggling and might have some sort of decent drivers (the ati catalyst drivers work, but only to a point it seems - or at least it seems with my current HD 3200).
My glxgears framerate comes in at around 680-810 fps....
Code:
aaaaa@darkstar:~$ glxgears 3486 frames in 5.0 seconds = 696.978 FPS 3968 frames in 5.0 seconds = 793.581 FPS 3845 frames in 5.0 seconds = 768.998 FPS 3907 frames in 5.0 seconds = 780.328 FPS 3943 frames in 5.0 seconds = 788.378 FPS 4017 frames in 5.0 seconds = 803.340 FPS 4058 frames in 5.0 seconds = 810.568 FPS 3897 frames in 5.0 seconds = 779.266 FPS
Code:
root@darkstar:/home/aaaaa# lspci | grep HD 00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) 01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon HD 3200 Graphics
Code:
aaaaa@darkstar:~$ fgl_glxgears Using GLX_SGIX_pbuffer 1807 frames in 5.0 seconds = 361.400 FPS 2084 frames in 5.0 seconds = 416.800 FPS 2111 frames in 5.0 seconds = 422.200 FPS 2116 frames in 5.0 seconds = 423.200 FPS 2097 frames in 5.0 seconds = 419.400 FPS 1882 frames in 5.0 seconds = 376.400 FPS
Code:
glxinfo name of display: :0.0 display: :0 screen: 0 direct rendering: Yes server glx vendor string: ATI server glx version string: 1.4
Or maybe I should go for a different motherboard? Though I am guessing most of the mini ATX boards all have on board graphics?
Any recommendations or positive experiences?
thanks
ljones
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