What's a good video card for Linux?

Red Squirrel · 01-03-2013, 06:47 PM

I have two Nvidia GTX 560 TI's so I can have support for up to 4 monitors, but I've had nothing but trouble and as suggested to me before I think the cards may be the issue. First issue is I get tons of "crash reported" notices and apps that randomly crap out. This is completely random. It's usually not even an app I'm using that crashes.

The other issue is the inability to get 3 monitors to work properly. Ended up having to use a separate X session for the 3rd one. It's still a bit flaky, as when I reboot all hell breaks loose and I have to reconfigure everything.

Someone recommended FOSS cards (I think it was called that). Not sure what that is or what company I should look into. Would ATI be better? From what I understand Nvidia refuses to help the Linux devs out by giving them code or what not so that may be why the weird issues, is ATI better perhaps?

Very specific card models may be hard to get since I'm in Canada where selection of specifics is usually very limited compared to the states, but I'll take suggestions and go from there.

Idealy, it would be nice to have a single card that can support at least 3 monitors (with VGA/DVI) but that's originally what I had searched for and could not find one.

In fact this video card is even more unstable in Windows than in Linux. Screens randomly turn off and back on, etc... that was actually one of my primary motivations to go with Linux as I originally thought it was a windows issue but upon further research everyone who has this card has this problem. It's never done this in Linux, but I have a whole other set of troubles as mentioned.

So any suggestion for a better card? Idealy I want it to be half decent as far as gaming goes. While I don't game a lot, I still want a card that will support most games like UT3 and Minecraft as well as newer stuff.

HeXen · 01-03-2013, 06:54 PM

Are you really certain it's not a driver issue? If it's more stable in Linux then it's unlikely hardware. Perhaps could be in relation to the motherboard your using or the more likely that perhaps your PSU can't provide stable power to them. Dual cards regardless of model tend to be more problematic overall.

Better to be certain it's the video cards themselves than to buy 2 more and still have the same issue.

Red Squirrel · 01-03-2013, 07:27 PM

Only speculating at this point, but that's the unfortunate part of hardware troubleshooting, it tends to get really expensive. I already tested the ram and tried different ram. PSU is 1000w so I doubt it's that. Though I guess it would not hurt to do a load test to ensure voltages don't drop. Without it connected to the PC of course.

What I'm also hoping is that I can maybe manage to get a card that supports 3 monitors so I can at least get rid of the two video card issue. Would knock 100-200w or so from my rig's power usage as well which I'll save in hydro costs.

HeXen · 01-03-2013, 07:33 PM

I thought most of the modern AMD cards supported 3 monitors called Eyefinity?'

might check into this, i think it's just a single card.
http://www.amd.com/us/products/techn...es/set-up.aspx

Nothinman · 01-06-2013, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Squirrel

I have two Nvidia GTX 560 TI's so I can have support for up to 4 monitors, but I've had nothing but trouble and as suggested to me before I think the cards may be the issue. First issue is I get tons of "crash reported" notices and apps that randomly crap out. This is completely random. It's usually not even an app I'm using that crashes.

The other issue is the inability to get 3 monitors to work properly. Ended up having to use a separate X session for the 3rd one. It's still a bit flaky, as when I reboot all hell breaks loose and I have to reconfigure everything.

Someone recommended FOSS cards (I think it was called that). Not sure what that is or what company I should look into. Would ATI be better? From what I understand Nvidia refuses to help the Linux devs out by giving them code or what not so that may be why the weird issues, is ATI better perhaps?

Very specific card models may be hard to get since I'm in Canada where selection of specifics is usually very limited compared to the states, but I'll take suggestions and go from there.

Idealy, it would be nice to have a single card that can support at least 3 monitors (with VGA/DVI) but that's originally what I had searched for and could not find one.

In fact this video card is even more unstable in Windows than in Linux. Screens randomly turn off and back on, etc... that was actually one of my primary motivations to go with Linux as I originally thought it was a windows issue but upon further research everyone who has this card has this problem. It's never done this in Linux, but I have a whole other set of troubles as mentioned.

So any suggestion for a better card? Idealy I want it to be half decent as far as gaming goes. While I don't game a lot, I still want a card that will support most games like UT3 and Minecraft as well as newer stuff.

I've been using the non-free nVidia drivers since their release. While there have been bumps along the ride, they work extremely well and I don't think I've ever had a userland crash that I could blame on them. Given your posting history I would guess that there's something else going on in your system that's causing your problems.

Kiska · 01-07-2013, 11:38 PM

Hi:

Is your distribution Ubuntu or Debian? If so then try this solution with the proprietary drivers. First enter sudo apt-get update && upgrade then sudo apt-get install nvidia-stable and you good to go should give you driver version 295.33 unless something screws up and it doesn't work then try going to download the drivers from their website then follow the prompts in terminal. Hope that helps.

James aka Kiska aka qingbest

Red Squirrel · 01-08-2013, 12:02 AM

Using Xubuntu, so I imagine it's closer to Ubuntu. Will that still work?

Kiska · 01-08-2013, 04:25 AM

Yes it should since it is still using the Ubuntu engine, except with Ubuntu is has Unity and Xubuntu has KDE. Also you ask if ATi/AMD would work. No they don't unless you do major tweaking with the xorg.conf file. Also I don't use multiple screens so this is the best possible help you can get from me.

Good luck.
James aka Kiska aka qingbest