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Which way to go: NVidia or Ati?

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  • Which way to go: NVidia or Ati?

    I've been wondering what my next purchase should be: A Nvidia Geforce GTX 460 or an ATI Radeon 5850.

    Obviously, my OS of choice is Linux, therefore, I would like to choose a video card that will be well supported for everyday usage *NO gaming* (Like no video problems...)

    I already have an Nvidia 8800 so I know Nvidia's linux support is superb. But will I make a mistake if I go the ATI route? How's the proprietary and Open-source drivers? good enough?

    Thanks!

  • #2
    Originally posted by Mereo View Post
    I've been wondering what my next purchase should be: A Nvidia Geforce GTX 460 or an ATI Radeon 5850.

    Obviously, my OS of choice is Linux, therefore, I would like to choose a video card that will be well supported for everyday usage *NO gaming* (Like no video problems...)

    I already have an Nvidia 8800 so I know Nvidia's linux support is superb. But will I make a mistake if I go the ATI route? How's the proprietary and Open-source drivers? good enough?

    Thanks!
    You might want to read one of the many Nvidia or ATi threads that are already in the forum. Your questions have been answered here many many many times over.

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    • #3
      How important are open source drivers to you?

      For the use case you are describing (stable desktop use, no gaming), the ATi open source drivers are almost there.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by deanjo View Post
        You might want to read one of the many Nvidia or ATi threads that are already in the forum. Your questions have been answered here many many many times over.
        Denjo, I know the Ati and Nvidia have this discussions but I'd have to really dig into them to get an opinion.

        While if I create this thread, the Ati and Nvidia users can discuss their experiences together.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by pingufunkybeat View Post
          How important are open source drivers to you?

          For the use case you are describing (stable desktop use, no gaming), the ATi open source drivers are almost there.
          For me, it doesn't matter if the drivers are Proprietary or Open-Source, as long as it works.

          How's the video playback using compiz (with the Open-source drivers)? no tearing?

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          • #6
            The ATi binary driver has issues with video playback, according to people who use it.

            The OSS driver works perfectly here on HD4000 hardware. The HD5000 hardware support should be at a similar level, but since it was only released very recently, it's not as mature and bug-free as it is on my hardware. It should reach that level soon, though.

            I watch videos using KWin (compositing) and I don't notice any tearing. In general, the 2D performance is superb, but you don't get hardware-assisted video decoding. 3d performance fulfils my needs, which is the occasional game and 3d desktop effects.

            My experience with Nvidia blob is that it is typically stable and performant. But I insisted on free drivers and got a Radeon when my laptop died. Currently, the OSS ATi drivers are as good, or better than the binary Nvidia driver has ever been for me in 2d and video performance. When it comes to 3d, they can't compete, though.

            It might take a bit of extra work to get the Evergreen driver installed at the moment, but it will be completely integrated into all major distributions after a while.

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            • #7
              When you don't plan to play games why don't you use onboard vga?

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Kano View Post
                When you don't plan to play games why don't you use onboard vga?
                I don't play games in "Linux". All my gaming is done in Windows.

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                • #9
                  Well even for win games nvidia is better due to physx support. But get the 1 gb version.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by pingufunkybeat View Post
                    The ATi binary driver has issues with video playback, according to people who use it.

                    The OSS driver works perfectly here on HD4000 hardware. The HD5000 hardware support should be at a similar level, but since it was only released very recently, it's not as mature and bug-free as it is on my hardware. It should reach that level soon, though.
                    I see, I just hope the open-Source drivers support the new 5000 series, if so, I guess I might just switch to ATI.

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