Re: In search of a video card
On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 04:10:07PM +0930, Daniel O'Connor wrote: > > Depends how unaccelerated it is. > > VESA is pretty damn slow, but even minimal radeon/radeonhd support is > fast enough for desktop use. VESA doesn't support dual-head, if that's something you're looking for. And I agree that it's particularly slow even in 2d. -- Rick C. Petty ___ freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: In search of a video card
On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 01:42:20PM +0800, Adrian Chadd wrote: > > I've experienced no-acceleration radeon driver "desktop" under Ubuntu > and FreeBSD; let me please point out how sluggish and horribly slow it > is. > > I gave up trying to get accelerated 3d + dualhead support on the > card(s) I was using - apparently the hardware just didn't do a single > viewport span across 2 1280x1024 screens :( > (The max viewport width was 2048 pixels..) With the nvidia driver I've seen great 3d acceleration work on both heads without using twinview (because I want different resolutions on each head). Perhaps the ATI hardware isn't capable of this, but nvidia's cards seem to be. It's too bad the open source drivers haven't made enough progress in this area yet. -- Rick C. Petty ___ freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: In search of a video card
On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 08:06:34PM -0700, Josef Grosch wrote: > > So, can any one recommend a good video card? What I'm looking for is > > * Works with amd64 FreeBSD 7.2 > * DVI > * PCI-E x16 > * 512 MB or more > * Not going to cost an arm and a leg I just bought an nVidia and an ATI on newegg for under $30 each (plus mail-in rebates), buth PCI x16, DVI+VGA, 512MB. I have tried them both on amd64 and this is what I've discovered: - The ATI is quite fast for xvideo (via mplayer) and somewhat fast on 3D, there seems to be some cursor-related artifacts (I've tried a number of cards with the same results). - The nVidia card required Robert Noland's patches applied against RELENG_7, and the latest git checkouts of the nouveau driver and the libdrm code. I forcibly installed xf86-video-nouveau and then "gmake install"'d the nouveau build on top of it. I did the same for libdrm. It was very slow for xvideo (mplayer) and 3D acceleration was nonexistent. I could not get the "nv" driver to work in dual-head mode nor in single-head mode. Nouveau didn't support my onboard card either. Neither of these drivers comes remotely close to the performance of the same cards using the nvidia driver (on i386). I tried ati and nouveau on i386 for comparisons. The nvidia driver did support my onboard video. I ran these tests on a couple of ATI cards and various nvidia cards. It was very frustrating. I'm using the ati/radeon driver currently on amd64 until nvidia finishes their 64-bit driver. YMMV, -- Rick C. Petty ___ freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: In search of a video card
On May 14, 2009, at 1:42, Adrian Chadd wrote: 2009/5/14 Josef Grosch : I don't need 2d & 3d acceleration. I just need a card that will handle WindowMaker on a 24 inch Dell monitor at 1920x1200 and as long as the flesh tones on my JPGs don't suck I'm happy. Thanks for the advice. I guess I'm going to make a trip to Fry's Friday. I've experienced no-acceleration radeon driver "desktop" under Ubuntu and FreeBSD; let me please point out how sluggish and horribly slow it Is. Well, the stock Ubuntu desktop is Gnome, which I find sluggish and horribly slow on amd64 hardware even with Nvidias 2d & 3d acceleration at any size above 1024x768 - at least in it's default config. If all depends on your window manager, config and expectations. http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: In search of a video card
On Wed, 2009-05-13 at 20:06 -0700, Josef Grosch wrote: > I'm in search for a decent video card. I currently have an Nvidia GeForce > 8400 GS. It worked pretty well i386 FreeBSD 6.2. I have upgraded my home > machine and I am running amd64 FreeBSD 7.2 and it just refuses to go into > X. It just hangs. I've been poking around and, based on what I read, some > FreeBSD developers and Nvidia have gotten into a finger pointing contest as > to what is the problem. Its all very nice but doesn't help me much. > > So, can any one recommend a good video card? What I'm looking for is > > * Works with amd64 FreeBSD 7.2 > * DVI > * PCI-E x16 > * 512 MB or more > * Not going to cost an arm and a leg > radeon robert. > > Thanks > > Josef -- Robert Noland FreeBSD signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part
Re: In search of a video card
On Thu, 2009-05-14 at 16:10 +0930, Daniel O'Connor wrote: > On Thu, 14 May 2009, Adrian Chadd wrote: > > 2009/5/14 Josef Grosch : > > > I don't need 2d & 3d acceleration. I just need a card that will > > > handle WindowMaker on a 24 inch Dell monitor at 1920x1200 and as > > > long as the flesh tones on my JPGs don't suck I'm happy. > > > > > > Thanks for the advice. I guess I'm going to make a trip to Fry's > > > Friday. > > > > I've experienced no-acceleration radeon driver "desktop" under Ubuntu > > and FreeBSD; let me please point out how sluggish and horribly slow > > it is. > > Depends how unaccelerated it is. > > VESA is pretty damn slow, but even minimal radeon/radeonhd support is > fast enough for desktop use. > > > I gave up trying to get accelerated 3d + dualhead support on the > > card(s) I was using - apparently the hardware just didn't do a single > > viewport span across 2 1280x1024 screens :( > > (The max viewport width was 2048 pixels..) > > > > 2d acceleration may be a must for that kind of resolution.. > > If you have a fast CPU & decent pipe to video memory it isn't necessary, > but very nice. Folks, 2d (EXA) should work on virtually any radeon with 7.2 or 8.0. 3d is currently works on r500 and below. AMD has released preliminary code for 3d on r600+, which I've been working with lately. It isn't ready yet, but it will be soon. If you only need 2d, then Nvidia is also an option. At least if you are ok with running my patch to enable nouveau drm. I've recently managed to get 3d sortof working on NV50 as well, not sure what kind of timeline that will be though, since it is using gallium and isn't as well tested as the old dri code. robert. -- Robert Noland FreeBSD signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part
Re: In search of a video card
xorquew...@googlemail.com wrote:
Finally settled on a Radeon x1950
I second that. PCIe X1950Pro with 256Mb RAM is best card price/{performance,
stability} - wise you can get right now.
--
./lxnt
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Re: In search of a video card
On 2009-05-13 20:06:34, Josef Grosch wrote: > I'm in search for a decent video card. I had to do the same thing recently. I wanted dual head (2x 1440x800), 3D accelerated, PCI Express, AMD64 capable graphics. Finally settled on a Radeon x1950, specifically the Powercolor x1950. The prices vary wildly, I got mine off ebay for about $80 but I've seen people attempt to charge ~$200. Don't let someone rip you off... So far, the card's been absolutely stable. I have a dual-head setup with two identical monitors and the card gives excellent performance for OpenGL work. Running FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE-amd64. xw ___ freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: In search of a video card
On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 08:06:34PM -0700, Josef Grosch wrote: > > I'm in search for a decent video card. I currently have an Nvidia GeForce > 8400 GS. It worked pretty well i386 FreeBSD 6.2. I have upgraded my home > machine and I am running amd64 FreeBSD 7.2 and it just refuses to go into > X. It just hangs. I've been poking around and, based on what I read, some > FreeBSD developers and Nvidia have gotten into a finger pointing contest as > to what is the problem. Its all very nice but doesn't help me much. > > So, can any one recommend a good video card? What I'm looking for is > > * Works with amd64 FreeBSD 7.2 > * DVI > * PCI-E x16 > * 512 MB or more > * Not going to cost an arm and a leg you can try nouveau driver in the meantime ___ freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: In search of a video card
On Thu, 14 May 2009, Adrian Chadd wrote: > 2009/5/14 Josef Grosch : > > I don't need 2d & 3d acceleration. I just need a card that will > > handle WindowMaker on a 24 inch Dell monitor at 1920x1200 and as > > long as the flesh tones on my JPGs don't suck I'm happy. > > > > Thanks for the advice. I guess I'm going to make a trip to Fry's > > Friday. > > I've experienced no-acceleration radeon driver "desktop" under Ubuntu > and FreeBSD; let me please point out how sluggish and horribly slow > it is. Depends how unaccelerated it is. VESA is pretty damn slow, but even minimal radeon/radeonhd support is fast enough for desktop use. > I gave up trying to get accelerated 3d + dualhead support on the > card(s) I was using - apparently the hardware just didn't do a single > viewport span across 2 1280x1024 screens :( > (The max viewport width was 2048 pixels..) > > 2d acceleration may be a must for that kind of resolution.. If you have a fast CPU & decent pipe to video memory it isn't necessary, but very nice. -- Daniel O'Connor software and network engineer for Genesis Software - http://www.gsoft.com.au "The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from." -- Andrew Tanenbaum GPG Fingerprint - 5596 B766 97C0 0E94 4347 295E E593 DC20 7B3F CE8C signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: In search of a video card
2009/5/14 Josef Grosch : > I don't need 2d & 3d acceleration. I just need a card that will handle > WindowMaker on a 24 inch Dell monitor at 1920x1200 and as long as the flesh > tones on my JPGs don't suck I'm happy. > > Thanks for the advice. I guess I'm going to make a trip to Fry's Friday. I've experienced no-acceleration radeon driver "desktop" under Ubuntu and FreeBSD; let me please point out how sluggish and horribly slow it is. I gave up trying to get accelerated 3d + dualhead support on the card(s) I was using - apparently the hardware just didn't do a single viewport span across 2 1280x1024 screens :( (The max viewport width was 2048 pixels..) 2d acceleration may be a must for that kind of resolution.. YMMV (and obviously, please report back your findings!) adrian ___ freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: In search of a video card
On Wed, 13 May 2009 20:06:34 -0700 Josef Grosch wrote: > > I'm in search for a decent video card. I currently have an Nvidia GeForce > 8400 GS. It worked pretty well i386 FreeBSD 6.2. I have upgraded my home > machine and I am running amd64 FreeBSD 7.2 and it just refuses to go into > X. It just hangs. I've been poking around and, based on what I read, some > FreeBSD developers and Nvidia have gotten into a finger pointing contest as > to what is the problem. Its all very nice but doesn't help me much. > > So, can any one recommend a good video card? What I'm looking for is > > * Works with amd64 FreeBSD 7.2 > * DVI > * PCI-E x16 > * 512 MB or more > * Not going to cost an arm and a leg You forgot the critical information: you didn't define what works for you. In particular, does a card that doesn't do 3d acceleration "work"? How about 2d? The open source Nvidia driver pretty much sucks. Probably because the proprietary Nvidia blob (which you were presumably using on i386) is one of the most functional X video drivers around, so there's not a lot of incentive to work on the open source version. But you can't use the proprietary blob on amd64, so you get the open source driver, and - well you've experienced it. The ATI radeon driver - it's open source, there's no proprietary blob - is actually pretty good. Except that 2d & 3d acceleration support is, um, variable. If you have to have 2d & 3d acceleration, I don't believe you have a good option for FreeBSD on amd64, at least not until the kernel tweaks Nvidia needs are done (there has been some motion on that front recently). But I don't really need it, so I haven't spent any time looking for such a card. If you're ok with solid - if basic - video performance, I'll recommend pretty much any radeon card. I've used a number of them to drive dual 1920x1200 displays on a variety of systems for a couple of years now. Amazon has cards that meet your listed requirements for under US$40. http://www.mired.org/consulting.html Independent Network/Unix/Perforce consultant, email for more information. O< ascii ribbon campaign - stop html mail - www.asciiribbon.org ___ freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: In search of a video card
On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 12:02:03AM -0400, Mike Meyer wrote: > On Wed, 13 May 2009 20:06:34 -0700 > Josef Grosch wrote: > > > > > I'm in search for a decent video card. I currently have an Nvidia GeForce > > 8400 GS. It worked pretty well i386 FreeBSD 6.2. I have upgraded my home > > machine and I am running amd64 FreeBSD 7.2 and it just refuses to go into > > X. It just hangs. I've been poking around and, based on what I read, some > > FreeBSD developers and Nvidia have gotten into a finger pointing contest as > > to what is the problem. Its all very nice but doesn't help me much. > > > > So, can any one recommend a good video card? What I'm looking for is > > > > * Works with amd64 FreeBSD 7.2 > > * DVI > > * PCI-E x16 > > * 512 MB or more > > * Not going to cost an arm and a leg > > You forgot the critical information: you didn't define what works for > you. In particular, does a card that doesn't do 3d acceleration > "work"? How about 2d? > > The open source Nvidia driver pretty much sucks. Probably because the > proprietary Nvidia blob (which you were presumably using on i386) is > one of the most functional X video drivers around, so there's not a > lot of incentive to work on the open source version. But you can't use > the proprietary blob on amd64, so you get the open source driver, and > - well you've experienced it. > > The ATI radeon driver - it's open source, there's no proprietary blob > - is actually pretty good. Except that 2d & 3d acceleration support > is, um, variable. > > If you have to have 2d & 3d acceleration, I don't believe you have a > good option for FreeBSD on amd64, at least not until the kernel tweaks > Nvidia needs are done (there has been some motion on that front > recently). But I don't really need it, so I haven't spent any time > looking for such a card. > > If you're ok with solid - if basic - video performance, I'll recommend > pretty much any radeon card. I've used a number of them to drive dual > 1920x1200 displays on a variety of systems for a couple of years now. > Amazon has cards that meet your listed requirements for under US$40. > > pgpkSGLGLrs5W.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: In search of a video card
On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 10:06 PM, Josef Grosch wrote: > > I'm in search for a decent video card. I currently have an Nvidia GeForce > 8400 GS. It worked pretty well i386 FreeBSD 6.2. I have upgraded my home > machine and I am running amd64 FreeBSD 7.2 and it just refuses to go into > X. It just hangs. I've been poking around and, based on what I read, some > FreeBSD developers and Nvidia have gotten into a finger pointing contest as > to what is the problem. Its all very nice but doesn't help me much. I can shed some light on the amd64 binary nvidia driver issue John Baldwin has implimented the features the Nvidia people need. http://www.freebsd.org/news/status/report-2009-01-2009-03.html#Device-mmap()-Extensions if you read the nvnews fourms Zander made refrence to working on a 64bit driver. Sam Fourman Jr. ___ freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: In search of a video card
On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 10:45:17PM -0500, Sam Fourman Jr. wrote: > On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 10:06 PM, Josef Grosch wrote: > > > > I'm in search for a decent video card. I currently have an Nvidia GeForce > > 8400 GS. It worked pretty well i386 FreeBSD 6.2. I have upgraded my home > > machine and I am running amd64 FreeBSD 7.2 and it just refuses to go into > > X. It just hangs. I've been poking around and, based on what I read, some > > FreeBSD developers and Nvidia have gotten into a finger pointing contest as > > to what is the problem. Its all very nice but doesn't help me much. > > I can shed some light on the amd64 binary nvidia driver issue > John Baldwin has implimented the features the Nvidia people need. > > http://www.freebsd.org/news/status/report-2009-01-2009-03.html#Device-mmap()-Extensions > > if you read the nvnews fourms Zander made refrence to working on a 64bit > driver. > > > Sam Fourman Jr. Great! So there is hope for my Nvidia card. Josef -- Josef Grosch | Another day closer to a | FreeBSD 7.2 jgro...@mooseriver.com | Micro$oft free world | Berkeley, Ca. pgpFBLzVcn0C2.pgp Description: PGP signature
In search of a video card
I'm in search for a decent video card. I currently have an Nvidia GeForce 8400 GS. It worked pretty well i386 FreeBSD 6.2. I have upgraded my home machine and I am running amd64 FreeBSD 7.2 and it just refuses to go into X. It just hangs. I've been poking around and, based on what I read, some FreeBSD developers and Nvidia have gotten into a finger pointing contest as to what is the problem. Its all very nice but doesn't help me much. So, can any one recommend a good video card? What I'm looking for is * Works with amd64 FreeBSD 7.2 * DVI * PCI-E x16 * 512 MB or more * Not going to cost an arm and a leg Thanks Josef -- Josef Grosch | Another day closer to a | FreeBSD 7.2 jgro...@mooseriver.com | Micro$oft free world | Berkeley, Ca. pgp2Kani25kzS.pgp Description: PGP signature
