Questions regarding gaming hardware
Reply With QuoteThough the arch is named amd64 does not mean that intel is not using basically the same. That is all the x86 compatible intel CPUs (like the Core2 series) are based using amd64 (as it is named in gentoo) as 64bit arch. Another common name for the arch both AMD and Intel use is x86_64. Still both are basically (binary) compatible as long as you don't use explicit cpu specific optimisations.First i was thinking of an Intel based cpu, but iam interested in running 64-bit linux. Though iam not sure if an amd64 gentoo system will support all the applications i want to run, and no packages in portage seem to support ia64.
On the other hand ia64 is Intels (not so well known) server architecture Itanium. It has some really nice concepts, but it *not* meant for Desktop systems at all.
I got a HD3850 512MB in my system (Gentoo x86 unstable based) and it works really well. No problems with fglrx or anything. I can play etqw in 1920x1200 with high details and the game is 100% fluid. It even is CPU limited, not graphics limited... I bought the card simply to have something for (future?) games (yes, I am a Linux only user!) and to support AMD/ATI for their approach to open specs.If i run an AMD/ATI processor i would like to run an ATI based card. I have been looking at Asus Extreme HD3870 512MB GDDR4. The Nvidia card i have been interested in is: Asus Extreme GeForce 8800GT 1024 MB. Any opinions about those cards running under linux? What about their performance today and in the future?
I have read reviews and tests about both cards and i find them quite equal. I am mostly playing Team Fortress 2, but i would like to be able to play future games too. But iam not gfx junkie ;-)
Today there is only SLI support in linux. But reading some of Michaels post I got the impression that Crossfire might come in the nearer future, too. But in general I don't think that these techniques are (currently)not of too much use since you don't double (not even nearly) performance when using two cards. You only get something like 60% more performance. Maybe in the future when the design of graphics cards goes more in the direction of "many simple chips on one card and the driver organizes what happens" this might change, but ATM it is probably easier to just buy one card and later on, when this card is too slow, sell the old one and buy a new.What do you think about crossfire and/or SLI under linux in the future? How is the support today?
The only area where "more cards are better" is *really* valid is in "stream computing" using the graphics cards to do work with the various stream SDKs.
Hmm, I have no own experience with those board (since I am currently running and Intel based system). But IIRC Asus is basically "reference class" when it comes to AMD based systems. Though I think their reputation is not this good for Intel based systems, there it is more Gigabyte who is in the lead.Does anyone have any good/bad experiences about any ASUS motherboards? I have been looking for reviews at phoronix and found one, but user experiences are always nice! If i go for AMD i will most likely go for: Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe.
Overall: I think when building a complete system today I would go for a phenom based system with an ATI graphics card since there I would get most for my (not too many...) bucks.
Originally Posted by bridgman
