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I want to buy a new pc


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Hi all

 

I need a new pc, and I have some wishes aka dualscreen and a great soundcard with a proper output.

 

Which graphiccard is recommenddable for dualscreens? I prefer a card with Nvidia chipset.

 

Does Mandriva/Linux support any of the Creative soundcards? Or mayby I shall look for a motherboard with a great onboard soundcard, if thats the case which motherboard would yóu recommend?

 

Regards Henrik

Edited by orts
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I recently built a machine myself and I put an Asus motherboard in it. The onboard sound is OK, but I don't do anything special, so it's OK with me. The board is for Intel Processors, as I put a Quad Core 2.4GHz in it. The sound I believe is Intel hda-audio, and so works fine with Linux.

 

For Graphics card, go with NVidia, I usually have NVidia in my machine, but the Asus I decided to go with onboard video, since it's all I need right now, and my Nvidia card was old (TI-4400 with 128MB ram). The Asus board didn't have an AGP slot either, which is another reason why I didn't use my old card and so it's lying free right now and not doing anything. Maybe it'll replace the ATI card in the other desktop I have, since I don't like that one much. Look for a dual-headed NVidia card.

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Nvidia dual headed cards are quite good and easy to set up with Mandriva. Unfortunately kde4 is not so good at the moment. I use dual screen quite a lot to read on one screen while typing on another. As it is kde4 is unable to handle separate screens and can only do cinerama also known as twinview. This is supposed to be getting fixed in a later release.

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If you want the best performance and best performance/$ graphics card nothing can beat the ati HD 4870 X2 atm, comparison to any other cards isn't even fair, it's in a league of its own; google the reviews, it is so powerful the rest system even if you would pick the rest would be the limiting factor...the card is not cheap though, as expensive as nvidia's best but it blows nvidia out of the water; nvidia and kde4 are also a bit problematic still, even with the more powerful cards kde can seem quite sluggish...

 

regarding the soundcard: I wouldnt buy creative x-fi atm since their drivers are problematic and on-board useally is good enough; audigy 2 and 4 are well supported though but not really worth the extra money compared to on board audio, maybe in a few months alsa will support x-fi (in 2009.1)

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If you want the best performance and best performance/$ graphics card nothing can beat the ati HD 4870 X2 atm, comparison to any other cards isn't even fair, it's in a league of its own; google the reviews, it is so powerful the rest system even if you would pick the rest would be the limiting factor...the card is not cheap though, as expensive as nvidia's best but it blows nvidia out of the water; nvidia and kde4 are also a bit problematic still, even with the more powerful cards kde can seem quite sluggish...

 

This is not meant to be a criticism of your post, far from it, I'm just using it as a starting point for my thoughts aboout graphic cards.

I have never understood the craze of the latest 4-5 years of these insanely fast 3D graphic cards, that consume 40>150Watts of electricity (more than my whole PC including 5 hard disks!) and generate more heat than an average kitchen oven.

 

I have an AGP 8x Nvidia FX5200 dual DVI output graphics card (passively cooled with a simple heatsink and consumes no more than 15 Watts), which is ancient by todays standards but is still perfect for desktop use and even Compiz is usable with it (I don't use it but I tried it).

It has plenty 2D power to drive my two 1280x1024 screens via DVI and even glxgears (simple Linux 3D test/benchmark program) still generates a respectable 1160fps (and still 100fps full-screen).

 

The only thing this cards is too slow for, is complex 3D games, so fair enough if you are a gamer you need the latest 3D oven (I mean gfx card) in your PC.

Other than that, the current crop of 3D cards is completely overengineerd for 90-95% of the PC users, which wouldn't be a problem if they didn't generate so much heat and therefore energy wastage and noise from the fans trying to keep them cool.

 

My dream card would be a modern version of the FX5200 updated with the latest HD video decoding completely in hardware (and supported by the Linux drivers!), that's what more people would find useful, rather than over-the-top 3D performance.

 

Therefore if I was you, I would be looking for a PASSIVELY COOLED low end Nvidia card with 2 DVI outputs, rather than worry about the best 3D performance. Even the slowest current card is probably way too fast for you unless you are a gamer.

 

For excellent performance I would rather invest in 2 fast hard disks (WD VelociRaptor) and run them mirrored using Linux md-raid, this will make much more of a practical noticeable performance increase, than a top of the range 3D card.

Edited by tux99
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There's absolutely no point considering ATi cards for usage in Linux. While their hardware is impressive, their proprietary driver was, is and will always be total pants (unless, perhaps, ATi opensources it). The ATi gang has proven innumerable times their total impaotency in building EVEN a half-decent driver with hadrware-acccelerated 3D support. Don't expect miracles- they just don't happen nowadays.

Edited by scarecrow
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There's absolutely no point considering ATi cards for usage in Linux. While their hardware is impressive, their proprietary driver was, is and will always be total pants (unless, perhaps, ATi opensources it). The ATi gang has proven innumerable times their total impaotency in building EVEN a half-decent driver with hadrware-acccelerated 3D support. Don't expect miracles- they just don't happen nowadays.

 

 

 

Maybe that was true a while back but their drivers are atm better than nvidia for kde4 for sure, xvideo works, suspend/hibernate works, switching vt's work...most bugs actually have been fixed in the last 6 months

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Hi All

And thanks for all your answers.

 

If you want the best performance and best performance/$ graphics card nothing can beat the ati HD 4870 X2 atm, comparison to any other cards isn't even fair, it's in a league of its own; google the reviews, it is so powerful the rest system even if you would pick the rest would be the limiting factor...the card is not cheap though, as expensive as nvidia's best but it blows nvidia out of the water; nvidia and kde4 are also a bit problematic still, even with the more powerful cards kde can seem quite sluggish...

 

regarding the soundcard: I wouldnt buy creative x-fi atm since their drivers are problematic and on-board useally is good enough; audigy 2 and 4 are well supported though but not really worth the extra money compared to on board audio, maybe in a few months alsa will support x-fi (in 2009.1)

 

An ATI card is not an option, I have one in my laptop and every time I try to load Compiz I can't login. I don't use Compiz very often, but it's a great thing when you will show of Mandriva for teenagers.

 

When I try to play a game it will not run 2 out of 5 times, because I don't have an 3D performance????????? Something I don't understand, because if I check with this command:

[orts@mfaqAThome ~]$ aticonfig --initial=check
Check: Found fglrx section.
[orts@mfaqAThome ~]$

But no 3D performance, and I can change the setting again and again with no luck, I have to restart the laptop before it works.

 

I have heard about the lack of support for the Creative soundcards, so I'll look for a motherboard with a great onboard soundcard. :D

 

"nvidia and kde4 are also a bit problematic still"

 

whereas everyone's entirely happy with the performance of the latest ATI proprietary driver? :)

 

It's better than before, but it needs some improvement :D

 

I have an AGP 8x Nvidia FX5200 dual DVI output graphics card (passively cooled with a simple heatsink and consumes no more than 15 Watts), which is ancient by todays standards but is still perfect for desktop use and even Compiz is usable with it (I don't use it but I tried it).

It has plenty 2D power to drive my two 1280x1024 screens via DVI and even glxgears (simple Linux 3D test/benchmark program) still generates a respectable 1160fps (and still 100fps full-screen).

 

Therefore if I was you, I would be looking for a PASSIVELY COOLED low end Nvidia card with 2 DVI outputs, rather than worry about the best 3D performance. Even the slowest current card is probably way too fast for you unless you are a gamer.

 

For excellent performance I would rather invest in 2 fast hard disks (WD VelociRaptor) and run them mirrored using Linux md-raid, this will make much more of a practical noticeable performance increase, than a top of the range 3D card.

 

I have the FX 5200 in my stationaire, and I love it, but as you point out it can run the big 3D games, it even have trubles running my daugthers Ratatouille, and thats one of the reasons that I want a new pc.

 

I'll think about your advice regarding both graphiccard and harddrives, but how stable are the VelociRaptor?

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don't know the version.

But updated sunday with this command:

urpmi --auto-update --auto-select

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I have Backports enabled, and then I can find this one

x11-driver-video-ati version 6.9.0

 

In which repo can I find the Ati driver in, Main, Non-free, contrib or PLF?

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Found this one in RPMdrake

x11-driver-video-fglrx - ATI proprietary X.org driver and libraries​ Version 8.552 ??

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