Let me list my experience so far. That is the experienced regarding fglrx is from some time last summer. What I was using at that time was kde 4.2 on gentoo unstable, amd64. Since last summer I am using the open source driver since that time, the reason being the missing xorg-server 1.7.x support in fglrx. I do track the latest changes. I am even using mesa/xf86-video-ati/libdrm from git. My graphics card is an HD3850 512MB and my CPU is a Core2Quad 9300. Here is my experience:
fglrx:
Native games (ET:QW, Ankh, Ankh2, JackKeane, Sacred: Gold, ...): Flawless experience, games run really fast
2D usage with Desktop effects (kwin): Worked acceptable. I had no real problems with those. It was fast enough for me and my every day usage. There was no DRI2, so you could not move OpenGL windows around nicely. No idea if this has changed so far.
Watching videos: Xv had some tearing in it but VSynced OpenGL was fine as long as I was just using one display. Since I tend to use 2 displays there is tearing on one of the two simple because the screens are not identical. I do mirror the content of my 1920x1200 Desktop display on my 1920x1080 TV.
3D Games in wine: I have no experience with those since if I want to play Windows native games I tend to boot Windows.
open source stack:
Native games: Not all do work due to problems with S3TC (patent encrumbed!) as well as some problems with the ogre engine. It is significantly slower, but eg World of Goo does run perfectly with current mesa. Sacred: Gold is significantly slower but playable since some weeks ago. I have not tried ET:QW yet. Ankh2 and JackKeane do crash at the moment.
2D usage with Desktop effects: Works perfectly. Faster than fglrx and zero problems at all! There is even DRI2, so moving opengl windows around it no problem at all. I am using KMS, so even the plain terminal without xorg does offer a decent resolution.
Watching videos: Xv does work nicely as long as just one screen is involved. When two screens are used and one mirrors the other you will get sync artifacts. I got no problem with software decoding HD videos.
3D Games in wine: I have no experience with those since if I want to play Windows native games I tend to boot Windows.
I got no experiences regarding the nvidia drivers so I don't know if they were better for my usecase or not. I am just very satisfied with what my card does offer me. Yes, I do use the open source driver, because it does "just work". I don't know if I would buy an ATI card for playing with wine though.
In general my experience with fglrx was that it does work rather good. From what I heard the driver has significantly improved over the last year, so it would probably be even better now. Though you have to know how to install it best and personally I'd recommend to always do it via your package manager (if possible) or you might end screwed in the end.
So for my usecase with "no WINE usage" I'd always buy another ATI card. Regarding WINE: I'd have a look at the appdb and check if the games I play are listed and if problems with ATI are mentioned. If not: order an ATI card, test if it *does* work for you and the games you play and if it does not send it back to the shop asking for an nvidia card.
fglrx:
Native games (ET:QW, Ankh, Ankh2, JackKeane, Sacred: Gold, ...): Flawless experience, games run really fast
2D usage with Desktop effects (kwin): Worked acceptable. I had no real problems with those. It was fast enough for me and my every day usage. There was no DRI2, so you could not move OpenGL windows around nicely. No idea if this has changed so far.
Watching videos: Xv had some tearing in it but VSynced OpenGL was fine as long as I was just using one display. Since I tend to use 2 displays there is tearing on one of the two simple because the screens are not identical. I do mirror the content of my 1920x1200 Desktop display on my 1920x1080 TV.
3D Games in wine: I have no experience with those since if I want to play Windows native games I tend to boot Windows.
open source stack:
Native games: Not all do work due to problems with S3TC (patent encrumbed!) as well as some problems with the ogre engine. It is significantly slower, but eg World of Goo does run perfectly with current mesa. Sacred: Gold is significantly slower but playable since some weeks ago. I have not tried ET:QW yet. Ankh2 and JackKeane do crash at the moment.
2D usage with Desktop effects: Works perfectly. Faster than fglrx and zero problems at all! There is even DRI2, so moving opengl windows around it no problem at all. I am using KMS, so even the plain terminal without xorg does offer a decent resolution.
Watching videos: Xv does work nicely as long as just one screen is involved. When two screens are used and one mirrors the other you will get sync artifacts. I got no problem with software decoding HD videos.
3D Games in wine: I have no experience with those since if I want to play Windows native games I tend to boot Windows.
I got no experiences regarding the nvidia drivers so I don't know if they were better for my usecase or not. I am just very satisfied with what my card does offer me. Yes, I do use the open source driver, because it does "just work". I don't know if I would buy an ATI card for playing with wine though.
In general my experience with fglrx was that it does work rather good. From what I heard the driver has significantly improved over the last year, so it would probably be even better now. Though you have to know how to install it best and personally I'd recommend to always do it via your package manager (if possible) or you might end screwed in the end.
So for my usecase with "no WINE usage" I'd always buy another ATI card. Regarding WINE: I'd have a look at the appdb and check if the games I play are listed and if problems with ATI are mentioned. If not: order an ATI card, test if it *does* work for you and the games you play and if it does not send it back to the shop asking for an nvidia card.
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