Skylake & Newer Could Still See Faster Linux Graphics Performance

[caligula]

All GeForce 1000-series cards use GDDR5, with some using GDDR5X. The DDR used in past budget cards was the older type (DDR2/DDR3) that is no longer an option, as manufacturers have transitioned to making DDR4 for PCs and GDDR5/5X for video cards.

Well, stores still sell 7x0 series cards for HTPC users. 1030 is pretty recent model for fanless HTPC use.

[TheLexMachine]

Well, stores still sell 7x0 series cards for HTPC users. 1030 is pretty recent model for fanless HTPC use.

The 700 and 1000 low-end and mid-range cards are priced about the same, so nobody in their right mind would even consider the remaining stock of the older cards when the newer cards are available and are a more sensible upgrade option due to the latest HDMI and DP to go along with the newer video codecs and APIs.

[caligula]

The 700 and 1000 low-end and mid-range cards are priced about the same, so nobody in their right mind would even consider the remaining stock of the older cards when the newer cards are available and are a more sensible upgrade option due to the latest HDMI and DP to go along with the newer video codecs and APIs.

How about the driver support (nouveau)? 1030 has good support for hw video decoding? Higher TDP might be a problem too.

[starshipeleven]

How about the driver support (nouveau)? 1030 has good support for hw video decoding? Higher TDP might be a problem too.

You can probably guess about 1030 (it runs like crap due to no reclocking because NVIDIA blobs are still missing, and also the hw decoding isn't working).
Afaik the 730 works fine after you extract hw decoding firmware from blob https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/VideoAcceleration/
and it is a GF108 so a NVC0 in this feature list https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/FeatureMatrix/ (still no power management, not good for a fanless card)

With NVIDIA driver both work great afaik (no duh), and we both know most people that buy NVIDIA cards will use the blob, so all things considered (both are bad with noveau AND good with NVIDIA's blob) I echo his "nobody in their right mind would even consider the remaining stock of the older cards".

[TheLexMachine]

How about the driver support (nouveau)? 1030 has good support for hw video decoding? Higher TDP might be a problem too.

Nouveau is nowhere near ready for newer cards and they have done nothing to get NVDECODE - VDPAU is sort-of officially dead, according to an Nvidia developer presentation I found - implemented. Once they get NVDECODE into the drivers, the newer cards will be more appealing to Nouveau junkies, though I couldn't tell you when that will happen. The 1000-series is energy-efficient and has lower power consumption and all that, in comparison to the 700-series, so it's the only way to go, if you are okay with using Nvidia's drivers. If you aren't, then you are stuck with older cards, like the 700-series.

[caligula]

The 1000-series is energy-efficient and has lower power consumption and all that, in comparison to the 700-series, so it's the only way to go, if you are okay with using Nvidia's drivers. If you aren't, then you are stuck with older cards, like the 700-series.

710 has a TDP of 19W while 1030 has 30W. My experience tells that cards with larger TDP always have larger consumption in all situations.

[TheLexMachine]

710 has a TDP of 19W while 1030 has 30W. My experience tells that cards with larger TDP always have larger consumption in all situations.

Comparing the 710 to the 1030 is just nonsense. You have to compare the 730 to the 1030 and if you did, you'd see that the 1030 is more efficient and consumes around the same amount of power with better performance and higher speeds. Unless you're skull-fucking the GPU with some sort of benchmark or gaming process - neither of which anyone with these cards is going to be doing - the TDP means nothing, since cards don't come near it unless pushed. On Windows, the power draw of a 1030 is going to be around 8-18 watts, depending on what you are doing within the boundaries of everyday use. If you locked the card into power-saving, it might be a bit lower. As for whether or not the card will perform the same on Linux, that's up in the air, because we all know that driver updates and other things tend to make real-world performance a bit difficult to pin down on Linux.

[caligula]

Comparing the 710 to the 1030 is just nonsense. You have to compare the 730 to the 1030 and if you did, you'd see that the 1030 is more efficient and consumes around the same amount of power with better performance and higher speeds. Unless you're skull-fucking the GPU with some sort of benchmark or gaming process - neither of which anyone with these cards is going to be doing - the TDP means nothing, since cards don't come near it unless pushed. On Windows, the power draw of a 1030 is going to be around 8-18 watts, depending on what you are doing within the boundaries of everyday use. If you locked the card into power-saving, it might be a bit lower. As for whether or not the card will perform the same on Linux, that's up in the air, because we all know that driver updates and other things tend to make real-world performance a bit difficult to pin down on Linux.

Ok, could be true. I don't have those Geforce cards, but I used to have 770 and 980. Both used aproximately the stated TDP of GT 730 (23W) when idle. Just there sitting and doing nothing in the lowest power saving mode (but with display connected). It's nice to have the power there when you need it, but dunno, maybe a HTPC user with tight power budget would still choose GT 710.

[TheLexMachine]

I don't think there is any real-world scenario with modern hardware - anything from the last 10 years or so - where a user would have to work within a power budget. Certainly not in the HTPC realm where hardware choices are almost always going to be energy-efficient and quiet, except for madVR HTPCs, which operate under different rules and designs than regular HTPCs and they certainly have no power budget because they are supposed to have high-end GPUs, if afforded. If you were using an SFF desktop, there would be a thermal budget, due to airflow and heat retention, but not a power budget, because those systems are always designed with the possibility of low-end video cards being installed.