AMD Catalyst 8.12 Linux Driver

[Janusz11]

I'm starting to seriously think about buying a Nvidia to replace my HD3870. I still cannot start another X-session (e.g switch user) without a total and unrecoverable freeze of the system. This is bad!

Can anyone recommend me a Nvidia card thats about the same as my HD3870 and that is fanless? I have a PowerColor HD3870 SCS3 now.

Well, I can't recommend you a fanless video card but wanted to say that I just did that: I've replaced my PowerColor Radeon HD4870 with a BFG GeForce GTX260 OC Maxcore- and, boy, I'm so glad I did! All my problems are gone!

Installing the latest driver was as easy as pie. No freakin' error messages, no editing of files, no nothin'. Just run the script and that's it. Finally, I can use modelines again in xorg.conf and easily chose my favourite resolution. The picture is way more stable, no flickering in console mode that hurts the eyes. This card is also more quiet than the Radeon but at the same time doesn't even get close as hot as the latter. And its a fantastic performer! The terminal pops up in a blink of an eye with full compiz-effects enabled! Everything is smooth as glass. But the best thing is: I can finally watch movies on my box again! No flickering, no picture corruptions, no slow downs, no stutter, no programs that freeze anymore when switching to full screen- it simply w o r k s!

(plus: I get BSD support)

I'm all settled now and one thing is for sure: for me it will be always nVidia in the future now.

[energyman]

strange, I can logout just fine with ctrl-alt-delete without any freeze.

[LenS]

Video Card Comparisons

I'm starting to seriously think about buying a Nvidia to replace my HD3870. I still cannot start another X-session (e.g switch user) without a total and unrecoverable freeze of the system. This is bad!

Can anyone recommend me a Nvidia card thats about the same as my HD3870 and that is fanless? I have a PowerColor HD3870 SCS3 now.

Hi, Odur,

Tom's Hardware has the best comparisons I've seen. Check out:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,1987-6.html

There's several cards equilivant to or close to your 3870. The specials on Newegg and others would be one way to pick one.

Len

[energyman]

never ever trust tomshardware.
before they start a test, the 'victor' is set in stone. And then they tweak everything to fit.

btw, with nvidias severe problems at the moment, I wouldn't buy nvidia...

[LenS]

never ever trust tomshardware.
before they start a test, the 'victor' is set in stone. And then they tweak everything to fit.

btw, with nvidias severe problems at the moment, I wouldn't buy nvidia...

Interesting. I've never heard that before. Occasional complaints about test parameters, but mostly compliments, and they do post all the components and test methodology. They do pretty extensive tests too. If you know of any other comparisons I'd like to check them out too. What kind of tweaking do they do to bias the tests?

As far as their chip failure problems go, that is a serious consideration. From what I've read it seems to be a problem with the materials used in making the chips and is most apparent in laptops. The constant thermal cycling with being turned on, off, hibernate to save battery power also heats and cools the chips repeatedly. This repeated thermal expansion several times a day is causing the high failure rate. Desktops which are usually left on all day and even days or weeks at a time do not have the same failure rate and their chips last much longer. All their newly manufactured chips have been redesigned with different materials and do not have that problem.

Unfortunately they didn't recall any defective chips, so if you buy one now you have no way of knowing if it's a new fabrication or not. Odur has several hundred dollars invested in a computer which doesn't do what he wants it to. If he can fix that with a $50 to $75 video card that should last a year or more in a desktop that's a choice he has to make.

[RealNC]

never ever trust tomshardware.
before they start a test, the 'victor' is set in stone. And then they tweak everything to fit.

I don't see how we should "trust" tom's anyway since they only test Windows drivers.

btw, with nvidias severe problems at the moment, I wouldn't buy nvidia...

What problems? In the drivers? They work nice and are superior to Catalyst. That's what I call a good product. Catalyst is a bad product.

[LenS]

I don't see how we should "trust" tom's anyway since they only test Windows drivers.


What problems? In the drivers? They work nice and are superior to Catalyst. That's what I call a good product. Catalyst is a bad product.

You're right Tom's only tests windows drivers, but the question here is comparative chip capabilities (frame rates, etc.). If anything, given the superiority of Nvidia Linux drivers a Nvidia chip with slightly lower ratings with windows drivers might prove faster than an ATI chip when both are using linux drivers.

I'm surprised you haven't heard about Nvidia's problems. It been all over the tech news. The Inquirer broke the story last summer I believe, though many others have contributed. This is part one of 3 part story about what they discovered with links to 2 & 3:

Source: Why Nvidia's chips are defective- The Inquirer
Address : <http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/378/1004378/why-nvidia-chips-defective>Why Nvidia's chips are defective
Part One A long and complex story

[energyman]

the story continues:

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/052/1050052/nvidia-chips-show-underfill-problems

leave it to nvidia to fix a problem in the worst possible way.

[RealNC]

I have an ATI, but all NVidia cards of my friends are living a long and happy life. Not a single one has "bumped" out (ah ah ah).

[russell_h]

Has anyone written a utility to make nvidia cards fail? Something that puts them at high load on and off repeatedly. Want to make sure this one fails before the warranty runs out on my laptop.