Need advice. Need new card. Linux Mint Old computer.

[jjjesusrocks]

Hello,

I need some advice on what kind of graphics card to get. My old one was an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. I have Linux Mint now & an old computer. I don't need anything special. I don't do any gaming or anything special. The cheaper the better. Is there a brand I should go after? I found some cheap ones on Ebay. Would that be the best route? The cheapest only had 128 MB. If you have some good advice I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Don't go with NVidia, they are poorly supported in Linux. (Google for a video of Linus Torvalds giving Nvidia the middle finger.)

I gave a friend a GT610 card, fairly up to date, he couldn't get it working in Linux Mint 14.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Nvidia has by far the best driver support on Linux, they're just no open source.. Hand and hand as they say.

 

[freshspin]

There's a Hardware compatibility lookup tool available:
http://community.linuxmint.com/hardware

The latest linux mint is code name "Nadia"

Here's a list of what people are reporting worked perfectly for them.
Remember, you get what you pay for, this info is what it is:

Video card AMD radeon HD6670 Nadia Works perfectly
Video card Asus EN9500GT MG Nadia Works perfectly
Video card Asus GeForce GT 220 1GB Nadia Works perfectly
Video card ATI Radeon hd7770 Nadia Works perfectly
Video card EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) Nadia Works perfectly
Video card GeForce GT6600 Nadia Works perfectly
Video card GeForce GTS 250 Nadia Works perfectly
Video card GeForce GTX 550 Ti/PCIe/SSE2 Nadia Works perfectly
Video card Nvidia GeForce 7300 SE/7200 GS Nadia Works perfectly
Video card Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 Nadia Works perfectly
Video card Sapphire X1950 Pro AGP Nadia Works perfectly
Video card Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Ti Nadia Works perfectly


You'll need to do some research on these cards to see if it works for your computer, price etc. Maybe you'll learn some good things in the process.
Go down the list looking for price on ebay or amazon or pick your website
if the price is too high, keep looking,
then make sure it works in your pc.

you might try your local stores as well

 

[Jimzz]

Is this a AGP or PCIe card you need?

If PCIe then get a 6450. Cheap and seems the 6XXX series works based on the list freshspin listed.

If AGP then used is probably going to be your best bet.

 

[SPBHM]

9800PRO is AGP,

Nvidia have better support on linux, some Geforce 6200-7300 AGP should be easy to find?

 

[Stuka87]

Nvidia has by far the best driver support on Linux, they're just no open source.. Hand and hand as they say.

I think just about anybody that uses linux and has tried recent nVidia cards will argue with you

 

[amenx]

Don't go with NVidia, they are poorly supported in Linux. (Google for a video of Linus Torvalds giving Nvidia the middle finger.)

Not so. Torvalds gave the finger to Nvidia simply because they did not give access to their code. As a result, the Nouveau reverse engineered drivers for Nvidia cards may be poor, but not Nvidias closed source drivers which are top notch for Linux.

I gave a friend a GT610 card, fairly up to date, he couldn't get it working in Linux Mint 14.

User error probably. My 660ti works perfectly in Mint 14.

 

[amenx]

Nvidia has by far the best driver support on Linux, they're just no open source.. Hand and hand as they say.

Agreed. Recent driver comparisons for both open and closed source drivers for both Nvidia and AMD in linux:

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amd_nvidia_15way&num=1

 

[VirtualLarry]

Nvidia has by far the best driver support on Linux

LOL. Not true, by a long shot. My friend tried installing NV's proprietary drivers, they suck!

There is a reason Linus was photographed giving NVidia the finger. It's not just because NV hasn't embraced GNU philosophy.

Edit: I had my own issues with an Ubuntu, I think 10.04 install. I installed NV's newest proprietary drivers for Linux at the time, because I needed my install (on a USB flash drive), to work with my desktop machine with a GTX460 in it, as well as my laptop with an 8200M. Well, it gives me driver errors when it boots on the 8200M.

So, while NV's same Windows 7 64-bit drivers will work on both sets of hardware, their Linux drivers do not. It is things like this, that was the reason for Linus to give NV the finger; for not supporting Linux as well as they do Windows.

 

[Ken g6]

I've found nVidia's drivers to be of varying quality. I'm currently running 310.something, and for most purposes it seems to work very well. But I'm on a GTX 460, so YMMV with newer cards.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

lol my friend tried to install AMD drivers on linux and he died bro, they're the worst!

After dropping the F-bomb, Torvalds did temper his comments, saying that Nvidia isn’t the only company that’s not treating Linux as he would like.

 

[Soulkeeper]

I've been very happy with the progress of AMD drivers for linux lately
Both open and proprietary are fairly decent now.
I've used dozens of both nvidia and ati/amd in linux over the past few years.

AGP kinda throws a curve ball into the op's situation tho.

Maybe consider building a new system ?