Choosing a GFX card for new Linux Desktop

[s0rce]

Dear Phoronix Forum Members,

I'm trying to plan a new desktop based on the core i5-2500k. It's mostly for browsing, work (mathematica, inkscape, etc), some virtualization, watching tv/movies and a little bit of gaming (basically only urbanteror). I will probably run Ubuntu or Debian.

I've been reading a lot and I've narrowed down most of the hardware but I'm having a lot of trouble picking a graphics card. I have a Vaio laptop now with a nvidia 9300m gs and I've had trouble with tearing and I defiantly want to get rid of the tearing issue. I'd also like to keep the gfx card around 50-75$ if possible.

I've been pouring over openbenchmark's urban terror stats (looking to get 100+ fps at 1920x1200). It seems there are a few cards that do this.

The old X1800XT on the gallium 3d (is this going to be trick to get working?)
The Radeon 4650/4830 with the catalyst blob drivers

and some nvidia cards like the gt 220 seem possible too.

I was hoping for any suggestions, are the problems with the ATI drivers for linux as bad as I've read, it seems from phoronix and this community that they are getting much much better of late. Any help choosing would be greatly appreciated!

I know this is the AMD/ATI section but if the GT220 would work better please let me know!

Thanks very much,
Lyle

TLDR: please help me choose gfx card for HD movies/urbanterror ~$60!

[Kano]

Why do you want to spend money on a gfx card? When you use U you could use a ppa for latest xorg driver and just install always the latest mainline kernel. For your simple game a H67 board (or later this year Z68) would be enough along with a i5-2600K. You can just not oc the cpu in a H67 board (but with a Z68 you could).

[s0rce]

The results I've seen from the sandybridge graphics (ex. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag..._13lines&num=3) doesn't seem to make it to 100 fps at high res.

Otherwise I would definitely go this route.

Thanks!

[PsynoKhi0]

The old X1800XT on the gallium 3d (is this going to be trick to get working?)
The Radeon 4650/4830 with the catalyst blob drivers

Considering second-hand cards?

If not, in that price range from ATI/AMD you should look for something like the 5570 or 5670.

[s0rce]

The sandybridge graphics don't seem to give the performance I want. I would consider 2nd hard cards. I guess I can check ebay.

[Qaridarium]

The sandybridge graphics don't seem to give the performance I want. I would consider 2nd hard cards. I guess I can check ebay.

if you don't wana use the sandy gpu then buy an fusion Llano quatcore cpu+hd6550 gpu

this one is faster in multitheatet cpu tasks than the dualcore sandy per watt usage and the gpu is more than 3-4 times faster.

no need for an extra graphik card if you use linux.

[s0rce]

if you don't wana use the sandy gpu then buy an fusion Llano quatcore cpu+hd6550 gpu

this one is faster in multitheatet cpu tasks than the dualcore sandy per watt usage and the gpu is more than 3-4 times faster.

no need for an extra graphik card if you use linux.

the core i5-2500 is a quad core processor. According to wikipedia the Llano systems won't be out until Q3 or Q4 2011. The Zacate is just becoming available now. I'd prefer to get this built sooner than that.

I can't really see anything wrong with using the sandybridge with a dedicated gfx card, they sell boards just for that with the P67 chipset.

Thanks,
Lyle

[skeetre]

I was thinking at first when I read this... that yeah, the sandy bridge graphics should be good enough. So... I looked at the phoronix benchmarks with sandy bridge graphics... and they SUCK.

On newegg you can get a radeon hd 5670 for $75, 65 after rebate. The 5670 spanks the 4670, and the 4670 can do well over 100fps for nexuiz.

[Kano]

You usually do not want a new ati card. Compared to nvidia they have got much worse drivers.

[skeetre]

I agree... I prefer Nvidia, but I also wouldn't waste time with a $60 video card

That's not a very new ati card and I tried to find the most performance for the $ for him.