Non-gamer video card recommendation

[ericwsanderson]

Hello! I currently own an ATI NF7-S 2.0 & XP-M 2500+ @ 2.5GHz w/ 128MB Radeon 9250se @ 283MHz/185MHz, 2x 512mb patriot tccd xblk
I'm handing down the system to my father and upgrading to a DFI NF4 Ultra-D & Opteron 146. This will be my first shot at the PCI-E interface.

I'm open to suggestion from those more advanced in the PCI-E bus and video card scene. I've read up on Wikipedia about the Geforce 6 and 8 series, so I do have some background knowledge if you'd like to explain the for/against of your suggestions.

Thanks for your time! Much appreciated

Considerations:

1) I'm not a gamer, and I don't plan to do any gaming in the future. I mainly do software development, watch movies, surf the web, distributed computing projects, and the sort.

2) I run both Windows 2000 & Ubuntu 5.10, so linux compatibilty is a must.

3) I plan on modifying the Ultra-D to SLI for the sake of it, so an SLI compatible card would be nice. I would purchase the second compatible card at a later date when prices drop.

4) I'd be willing to go with a super bottom of the line non-SLI card, if my non-gamer status wouldn't benefit from anything greater than such.

 

[A5]

No gaming at all? I'd recommend a Geforce 6200 then.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130006
$38. There are a couple that are cheaper (~$2), but eVGA offers a lifetime warranty.

Why bother with SLI if you're never going to game?

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: A5
No gaming at all? I'd recommend a Geforce 6200 then.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130006
$38. There are a couple that are cheaper (~$2), but eVGA offers a lifetime warranty.

Why bother with SLI if you're never going to game?

Agreed, though mainly due to Linux being used.

 

[ericwsanderson]

A5:
No gaming planned in the future as I'm pretty busy with university right now. I wanted to consider a low end SLI solution just because the Ultra-D is capable of such w/ quick modification and I would reap some satisfaction out of getting it to work successfully. But like you said, why bother if I don't game? That's a very valid point.

Unfortunately Newegg doesn't ship to Canada
The 6200 looks like a good deal though! Can the turbocache be disabled so that it doesn't eat up my system RAM?

sandorski:
It looks like the newer 80.xx+ Nvidia drivers are compatible with Linux. I don't understand?

 

[openwheelformula1]

not gaming, but HTPC viewing? 7600GS.

not gaming and not HTPCing? Anything with integrated graphic.

Since you don't game, why SLI? It's already a waste of money to SLI, why would you SLI if you don't game? You can get a T-force 6100 or 6150 based motherboard with great overclocking headroom.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: ericwsanderson
A5:
No gaming planned in the future as I'm pretty busy with university right now. I wanted to consider a low end SLI solution just because the Ultra-D is capable of such w/ quick modification and I would reap some satisfaction out of getting it to work successfully. But like you said, why bother if I don't game? That's a very valid point.

Unfortunately Newegg doesn't ship to Canada
The 6200 looks like a good deal though! Can the turbocache be disabled so that it doesn't eat up my system RAM?

sandorski:
It looks like the newer 80.xx+ Nvidia drivers are compatible with Linux. I don't understand?

You misunderstood, for Linux Nvidia is the better choice everytime.