Graphics card recommendation
I'm in need of a new graphics card for a new computer, that I hope will run FreeBSD (with a strong preference for AMD64) and compiz-fusion on a dual-monitor, which I believe means the 3D acceleration has to be in good working order. I don't really care whether the graphics driver is binary, or freely-licensed. Has anyone bought a recent graphics card that they know to be working in x64 with 3D acceleration? I've heard Nvidea support is probably better than ATI. Some of the GPU choices I see are like GeForce 9400/9500/9600 GT, GSO, and/or GTX+ series or the GTS/GTX 2** series. Are some of those better-supported than others? I didn't see anything recent on this list or the website, and there wasn't much response on IRC. Recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks! ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Graphics card recommendation
On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:31:00 -0700 free...@t41t.com free...@t41t.com (free...@t41t.com) replied: >I'm in need of a new graphics card for a new computer, that I hope will >run FreeBSD (with a strong preference for AMD64) and compiz-fusion on a >dual-monitor, which I believe means the 3D acceleration has to be in >good working order. I don't really care whether the graphics driver is >binary, or freely-licensed. > >Has anyone bought a recent graphics card that they know to be working >in x64 with 3D acceleration? > >I've heard Nvidea support is probably better than ATI. Some of the GPU >choices I see are like GeForce 9400/9500/9600 GT, GSO, and/or GTX+ >series or the GTS/GTX 2** series. Are some of those better-supported >than others? > >I didn't see anything recent on this list or the website, and there >wasn't much response on IRC. Recommendations would be appreciated. >Thanks! nVidia (AMD64) is not supported in 7.x versions of FreeBSD as far as I know. There was some talk of it being supported in 8.x, but I have not heard from anyone actually doing so. All my machines use nvidea cards, and the lack of support for it in FBSD, even after an extended period of time, is a real PIA. -- Jerry ges...@yahoo.com The bold youth of today is very lonely. Poul Henningsen [1894-1967] ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Graphics card recommendation
> On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:31:00 -0700 > free...@t41t.com free...@t41t.com (free...@t41t.com) replied: > >>I'm in need of a new graphics card for a new computer, that I hope will >>run FreeBSD (with a strong preference for AMD64) and compiz-fusion on a >>dual-monitor, which I believe means the 3D acceleration has to be in >>good working order. I don't really care whether the graphics driver is >>binary, or freely-licensed. >> >>Has anyone bought a recent graphics card that they know to be working >>in x64 with 3D acceleration? >> >>I've heard Nvidea support is probably better than ATI. Some of the GPU >>choices I see are like GeForce 9400/9500/9600 GT, GSO, and/or GTX+ >>series or the GTS/GTX 2** series. Are some of those better-supported >>than others? >> >>I didn't see anything recent on this list or the website, and there >>wasn't much response on IRC. Recommendations would be appreciated. >>Thanks! > > nVidia (AMD64) is not supported in 7.x versions of FreeBSD as far as I > know. There was some talk of it being supported in 8.x, but I have > not heard from anyone actually doing so. All my machines use nvidea > cards, and the lack of support for it in FBSD, even after an extended > period of time, is a real PIA. nVidia support on i386 FreeBSD is not much better. One can use an nVidia card with 7.1 but under 7.2 one hits the dreaded mtrr error. A Google search finds many posts on how to fix this but none of them seem to work. I could be wrong but nVidia does not seem to be very interested in working with the FreeBSD project to address these problems. ATI also seems to have a problem with mtrr under 7.2. I'm still trying to sort this out. I hope 8.0 will address these problems. Josef ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Graphics card recommendation
On Wed, 14 Oct 2009, jgro...@es.net wrote: nVidia support on i386 FreeBSD is not much better. One can use an nVidia card with 7.1 but under 7.2 one hits the dreaded mtrr error. A Google search finds many posts on how to fix this but none of them seem to work. I could be wrong but nVidia does not seem to be very interested in working with the FreeBSD project to address these problems. ATI also seems to have a problem with mtrr under 7.2. I'm still trying to sort this out. I hope 8.0 will address these problems. All of my cards are ATI and I don't know of the "mtrr" problem you're talking about. This X1650 works fine on i386 with both 7-STABLE and 8-STABLE. -Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Graphics card recommendation
> On Wed, 14 Oct 2009, jgro...@es.net wrote: >> nVidia support on i386 FreeBSD is not much better. One can use an nVidia >> card with 7.1 but under 7.2 one hits the dreaded mtrr error. A Google >> search finds many posts on how to fix this but none of them seem to >> work. >> I could be wrong but nVidia does not seem to be very interested in >> working >> with the FreeBSD project to address these problems. ATI also seems to >> have >> a problem with mtrr under 7.2. I'm still trying to sort this out. I hope >> 8.0 will address these problems. > > All of my cards are ATI and I don't know of the "mtrr" problem you're > talking about. This X1650 works fine on i386 with both 7-STABLE and > 8-STABLE. > > -Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA > I am seeing mtrr error using a Diamond Radeon HD4670 on FreeBSD 7.2 Josef ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Graphics card recommendation
jgro...@es.net writes: > I could be wrong but nVidia does not seem to be very interested > in working with the FreeBSD project to address these problems. nVidia has offered what many/most hardware vendors* do not: to write and maintain a driver for their product. However, in order for that driver to be fully functional they want certain improvements in FreeBSD - particularly the virtual memory system. Not an unreasonable request. Some work has been done; there was a post somewhere within the last few months about John Baldwin making improvements. Check the archives of this list for pointers to the list of changes and the status of the work. Robert Huff * - a notable exception being Intel, for their network cards. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Graphics card recommendation
> > jgro...@es.net writes: > >> I could be wrong but nVidia does not seem to be very interested >> in working with the FreeBSD project to address these problems. > > nVidia has offered what many/most hardware vendors* do not: to > write and maintain a driver for their product. > However, in order for that driver to be fully functional they > want certain improvements in FreeBSD - particularly the virtual > memory system. Not an unreasonable request. > Some work has been done; there was a post somewhere within the > last few months about John Baldwin making improvements. > Check the archives of this list for pointers to the list of > changes and the status of the work. > > > Robert Huff > > * - a notable exception being Intel, for their network cards. Thank you. I am happy to be wrong about this. Josef ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Graphics card recommendation
On Wed, 14 Oct 2009, jgro...@es.net wrote: All of my cards are ATI and I don't know of the "mtrr" problem you're talking about. This X1650 works fine on i386 with both 7-STABLE and 8-STABLE. I am seeing mtrr error using a Diamond Radeon HD4670 on FreeBSD 7.2 Really need a lot more specifics. What is the exact error? What doesn't work? Which driver are you using? -Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Graphics card recommendation
On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 10:55:05AM -0600, Warren Block wrote: > On Wed, 14 Oct 2009, jgro...@es.net wrote: > > nVidia support on i386 FreeBSD is not much better. One can use an nVidia > > card with 7.1 but under 7.2 one hits the dreaded mtrr error. A Google > > search finds many posts on how to fix this but none of them seem to work. > > I could be wrong but nVidia does not seem to be very interested in working > > with the FreeBSD project to address these problems. ATI also seems to have > > a problem with mtrr under 7.2. I'm still trying to sort this out. I hope > > 8.0 will address these problems. > > All of my cards are ATI and I don't know of the "mtrr" problem you're > talking about. This X1650 works fine on i386 with both 7-STABLE and > 8-STABLE. Try starting X with DRI, then quit X, and restart X again. If you don't have DRI anymore, chances are you've hit the ominous MTRR problem. At least, that's what I think it is, from what I've gathered from this list. I seem to have this problem with an ATI HD 3200, using the radeonhd driver under RELENG_7. It's pretty annoying, that if X crashes (or you have to stop it for some reason), you only get DRI support again after rebooting. :-( Having said this, IMHO ATI will probably be better supported in the long run on FreeBSD, because they have released the specs of rather recent chipsets, while nVidia has not (AFAIK). > -Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA -cpghost. -- Cordula's Web. http://www.cordula.ws/ ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Graphics card recommendation
On Wed, 14 Oct 2009, cpghost wrote: On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 10:55:05AM -0600, Warren Block wrote: On Wed, 14 Oct 2009, jgro...@es.net wrote: nVidia support on i386 FreeBSD is not much better. One can use an nVidia card with 7.1 but under 7.2 one hits the dreaded mtrr error. A Google search finds many posts on how to fix this but none of them seem to work. I could be wrong but nVidia does not seem to be very interested in working with the FreeBSD project to address these problems. ATI also seems to have a problem with mtrr under 7.2. I'm still trying to sort this out. I hope 8.0 will address these problems. All of my cards are ATI and I don't know of the "mtrr" problem you're talking about. This X1650 works fine on i386 with both 7-STABLE and 8-STABLE. Try starting X with DRI, then quit X, and restart X again. If you don't have DRI anymore, chances are you've hit the ominous MTRR problem. I do that all the time without noticeable problems, but then this particular card is an RV530 or RV560 chipset which has been supported for quite a while. Most or all of the Radeon HD cards are R600 or R700 chipsets, and that's still work in process. I seem to have this problem with an ATI HD 3200, using the radeonhd driver under RELENG_7. It's pretty annoying, that if X crashes (or you have to stop it for some reason), you only get DRI support again after rebooting. :-( Plain radeon driver from xf86-video-ati works best here, although I haven't tried radeonhd for a while. Having said this, IMHO ATI will probably be better supported in the long run on FreeBSD, because they have released the specs of rather recent chipsets, while nVidia has not (AFAIK). Agreed. -Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Graphics card recommendation
On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:55:05 -0600 (MDT), Warren Block wrote: > All of my cards are ATI and I don't know of the "mtrr" problem you're > talking about. This X1650 works fine on i386 with both 7-STABLE and > 8-STABLE. I had an old-fashioned ATI Radeon 9200 RV250 AGP with both a VGA and a VGA-on-DVI monitor. With also old-fashioned XFree86 this setting worked good performance-wise, which was in FreeBSD 5, but I haven't tested this in FreeBSD 7 with Xorg yet because I'm very upset about the speed-loss of "modern" software. :-( Furthermore, I don't have the second 21" CRT anymore, so no dual-head for me at the moment. I am nearly sure that for today's requirements, Intel GPUs seem to be the most fitting ones, but as I don't own any of them, I can't give you clues from a user's point of view. In the past, ATI always was my first choice, but today, I would triple-check anything. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ... ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Graphics card recommendation
On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:59:49 -0400 Jerry wrote: > nVidia (AMD64) is not supported in 7.x versions of FreeBSD as far as I > know. There was some talk of it being supported in 8.x, but I have > not heard from anyone actually doing so. The existing driver is 32 bit and will never run on amd64. What's happened is that 8-current has provided some of the VM features that nVidia regard as prerequisites for a new 64-bit driver. > All my machines use nvidea > cards, and the lack of support for it in FBSD, even after an extended > period of time, is a real PIA. Right, but for most of that time the ball has been in FreeBSD's court. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Graphics card recommendation
On Wed,14-10-2009 [23:48:26], Polytropon wrote: > On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:55:05 -0600 (MDT), Warren Block > wrote: > > All of my cards are ATI and I don't know of the "mtrr" problem you're > > talking about. This X1650 works fine on i386 with both 7-STABLE and > > 8-STABLE. > > I had an old-fashioned ATI Radeon 9200 RV250 AGP with both a VGA > and a VGA-on-DVI monitor. With also old-fashioned XFree86 this > setting worked good performance-wise, which was in FreeBSD 5, > but I haven't tested this in FreeBSD 7 with Xorg yet because > I'm very upset about the speed-loss of "modern" software. :-( > Furthermore, I don't have the second 21" CRT anymore, so no > dual-head for me at the moment. > > I am nearly sure that for today's requirements, Intel GPUs > seem to be the most fitting ones, but as I don't own any of > them, I can't give you clues from a user's point of view. > In the past, ATI always was my first choice, but today, I > would triple-check anything. > Having had a _lot_ of troubles with Intel video recently I'd not recommend using it. Poor performance (both 2D and 3D) and various glitches after several updates of intel-video driver. And still having that bug with broken xv out driver of mplayer. :( -- Best regards, Jeff | "Nobody wants to say how this works. | | Maybe nobody knows ..." | | Xorg.conf(5)| ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"