Video Card for Linux?

[mikeshn]

#1 What Video card is good for Linux ?
#2 What Video card is the top one in quality?

 

[Schadenfroh]

your best bet for a good video card (driver especially) in linux is a nvidia, go for a ti4200, its drivers are the most mature.

 

[ProviaFan]

What kind of quality do you want? If you need good 2D IQ, then you'd better skip nvidia and go straight for a Matrox G550 (note that the 3D performance will be lacking, but Matrox has good support in Linux). If you need good 2D IQ, 3D performance, and dual DVI, you might also want to check out ATI's FireGL Z1 and X1 cards, or nvidia's Quadro4 or FX series.

 

[wicktron]

In Linux, Nvidia is the way to go due to superior driver.

 

[Fallen Kell]

I would have to agree. ATI has yet to really step up and produce a quality linux driver, even through I would recommend ATI over NVidia right now on Windows, for linux the only real answer is NVidia.

 

[chsh1ca]

Please allow me to disagree with the rest of these guys with regards to linux support with ATI cards. XFree86 has supported ATI's cards for some time now, and unless your aim is to game on the system, ATI cards are actually better than nVidia cards in terms of features supported and such.

While it's true that in an official capacity ATI's driver support isn't there, the cards themselves have been supported for some time now through the DRI project. Indeed, quite a few people I know use R9100/8500 cards for dual display purposes. I feel safe in saying having used both a Radeon 64MB VIVO in linux and a GeForce 3 Ti200 that nVidia's linux drivers are somewhat lacking in IQ.

IMO, there's no problem running a Radeon, unless you are afraid of installing the packaged DRI drivers, in which case, a Matrox card (for 2D quality) would probably suit you better.

That being said, if you do intend on gaming, then an nVidia card is the best way to go, no doubt about it.

 

[Ardan]

My father works for Lockheed-Martin in Minnesota, and he's been dealing intimately with linux drivers for about 3 months now (he's worked there for 30 years, though heh) and he would agree to go with an nvidia card for linux. They use the Quadro4 cards simply because of nvidia's support of linux. I asked him why and he explained that when they find an issue with TwinView or anything else (which they have), nvidia immediately jumps on the issue. They went with nVidia because nobody else tended to care that someone found an issue with linux drivers for their product and GeForce4 or Quadro, their 2D quality is not bad at all. My cousin has a Radeon 9500 Pro and when they're nearby, I can't tell the difference. I would have to say nvidia is the way to go for linux, because of my own experiences and from my dad's experience in dealing with their linux developers and just the company in general. I'm not saying that Matrox or ATI don't have good support. I know Matrox does, and ATI is getting there, but I would have to say nvidia. . .especially because their products can be found everywhere 😛.

 

[keitaro]

Originally posted by: jliechty
What kind of quality do you want? If you need good 2D IQ, then you'd better skip nvidia and go straight for a Matrox G550 (note that the 3D performance will be lacking, but Matrox has good support in Linux). If you need good 2D IQ, 3D performance, and dual DVI, you might also want to check out ATI's FireGL Z1 and X1 cards, or nvidia's Quadro4 or FX series.

I've no argument on the fact that Matrox cards have the best 2D image quality in the market. But I disagree with Matrox's Linux support. I know that they have drivers for their cards and that their drivers are partially open-source. But their support for Linux is quite lacking and response isn't the best. When using XFree86 4.2 release at the time, trying to solve a dual-monitor problem on a particular video card was problematic and Matrox themselves weren't very helpful in trying to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. Eventually the problem was fixed but it took the XFree86 team to fix that problem which, incidentally, was a bug in their own code. Also, to note out, Matrox's own driver code is almost no different from the code from XFree86's. It's just changed to utilize a proprietary helper library/driver to enable dual-head on the card.

Lesson I learned from that is to not expect a company to respond quickly even though they are supporting Linux in any way possible. And it seems that both ATi and nVIDIA are the only other companies who do seem to help the open-source community with fixing problems. Now if the XFree86 team can be more open to other matters... but I digress...

 

[Ardan]

Indeed, Matrox no doubt has the best 2D image quality around. I personally am impressed with nvidia's support. An example would be when my father was working hard on a project he brought home but the nvidia linux drivers had an issue with TwinView. They contacted nvidia and told them what they thought it was and they kept talking with the team at nvidia and they had it fixed in no time. Thats pretty good, because wasn't more than two days that this took. Like I said, though, I think it is best to go with the company that offers the best support. Third party support for some cards (i'm not being specific) may tend to be great, but it doesn't compare to a company constantly improving linux drivers for their own cards.