First, let me explain that I have spent the last couple of days reading numerous threads here and in the AMD/ATI sub forums. I apologize in advance if I missed a thread that would answer my question.
Secondly, it has been years since I researched anything regarding an ATI video card; having forsaken them many moons ago.
I am giving up on NVIDIA, and I need some advice. I am very disappointed in the state of 2D graphics when it comes to NVDIA cards running on Linux. My Thinkpad sub-note (on which I am typing on right now) X41 runs circles around my 7800GTX or my Quadro NVS 285. Alas, Intel does not make any discrete graphics cards. I have been plagued by lagggy window redraws, tearing when switching desktops, and Firefox slowdowns for far too long.
My needs, right now, are for a card that can competently run a high resolution LCD at 1920x1200 in accelerated 2D. Preferably using an open source driver. I don't want to deal with binary blobs any longer.
I am not too concerned with 3D. if I can have open source support to handle the occasional Google Earth, then that would be gravy.
I see that Radeon X1300 PCI Express cards are going for about 20-35 dollars. Will this card handle 1920x1200 competently? I also like the fact that it's a fan-less card.
I keep stressing the resolution 1920x1200 for a reason. Seems that the problems with NVIDIA's 2d drivers are exacerbated with people running higher resolutions. Most don't run monitors in that range, and although they still notice that 2D is somewhat broken, it's *really* noticeable in the higher resolutions.
I run a minimal desktop affair: Debian Sid with Openbox, Firefox, mrxvt terminals. Nothing heavy duty. The machine is Athlon X2 4800+, 2GB Ram, Nvidia Quadro NVS 285 or a 7800GTX.
Another couple of questions I have is: Does the open source driver have 2D parity with the closed ATI driver? Do I use the radeonhd or the ati driver for this particular card?
P.S. I did order a Sapphire Radeon HD 3650 from Newegg last week. It was sent back the following day. The first thing I noticed was that it slightly stretched the POST and BIOS screen so that the text on the the bottom was slightly chopped off. *Not* good for a brand new card. Second, trying the Radeon HD or the ati open source driver, things were not that much better on the desktop. Third, any video clip that I played was corrupted with a gree/purple tint and stretching of the video itself. If I'm gonna pull out my hair trying to get an ATI card working, I'll do it with a cheap used card on eBay and not a brand new $60 card.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. I would love to hear from people running high resolution displays was well!
Nick
Secondly, it has been years since I researched anything regarding an ATI video card; having forsaken them many moons ago.
I am giving up on NVIDIA, and I need some advice. I am very disappointed in the state of 2D graphics when it comes to NVDIA cards running on Linux. My Thinkpad sub-note (on which I am typing on right now) X41 runs circles around my 7800GTX or my Quadro NVS 285. Alas, Intel does not make any discrete graphics cards. I have been plagued by lagggy window redraws, tearing when switching desktops, and Firefox slowdowns for far too long.
My needs, right now, are for a card that can competently run a high resolution LCD at 1920x1200 in accelerated 2D. Preferably using an open source driver. I don't want to deal with binary blobs any longer.
I am not too concerned with 3D. if I can have open source support to handle the occasional Google Earth, then that would be gravy.
I see that Radeon X1300 PCI Express cards are going for about 20-35 dollars. Will this card handle 1920x1200 competently? I also like the fact that it's a fan-less card.
I keep stressing the resolution 1920x1200 for a reason. Seems that the problems with NVIDIA's 2d drivers are exacerbated with people running higher resolutions. Most don't run monitors in that range, and although they still notice that 2D is somewhat broken, it's *really* noticeable in the higher resolutions.
I run a minimal desktop affair: Debian Sid with Openbox, Firefox, mrxvt terminals. Nothing heavy duty. The machine is Athlon X2 4800+, 2GB Ram, Nvidia Quadro NVS 285 or a 7800GTX.
Another couple of questions I have is: Does the open source driver have 2D parity with the closed ATI driver? Do I use the radeonhd or the ati driver for this particular card?
P.S. I did order a Sapphire Radeon HD 3650 from Newegg last week. It was sent back the following day. The first thing I noticed was that it slightly stretched the POST and BIOS screen so that the text on the the bottom was slightly chopped off. *Not* good for a brand new card. Second, trying the Radeon HD or the ati open source driver, things were not that much better on the desktop. Third, any video clip that I played was corrupted with a gree/purple tint and stretching of the video itself. If I'm gonna pull out my hair trying to get an ATI card working, I'll do it with a cheap used card on eBay and not a brand new $60 card.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. I would love to hear from people running high resolution displays was well!
Nick
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