Mailing List Archive: Gentoo: User

Nvidia Video cards query

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gentoo at pusspaws

Sep 9, 2004, 2:45 PM

Post #1 of 4 (61 views)
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Nvidia Video cards query

I have been using a Riva TNT2 32MB Nvidia card for some years, which has
been great & works 100% under Linux.

I am now building a new XP3000+ system so my wifes latest adventure game
'uru' can be run & I am again leaning towards Nvidia (No flame wars
please :-) )

It needs to be ....

*Video Card:* 32 MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 1, 2, 3, 4, or FX; ATI® Radeon™
7000-9800 or better

I am considering buying a "256MB NVidia GeForce FX5500 AGP 8x DDR
128-Bit DVI TV Out" but am unsure how well its Linux support is - can
anyone comment ?

Also ... what is DVI TV Out ? ... Everyone quotes it, but no-one
explains it. I guess it is comaptible with my bog standard TFT monitor ?

Cheers
Dave

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gentoo-user [at] gentoo mailing list

stephonovich at gmail

Sep 9, 2004, 2:52 PM

Post #2 of 4 (60 views)
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Re: Nvidia Video cards query [In reply to]

> I am considering buying a "256MB NVidia GeForce FX5500 AGP > 8x DDR
> 128-Bit DVI TV Out" but am unsure how well its Linux support is - > can anyone comment ?

According to linuxcompatible.org, it works just fine, but needs the
latest drivers to have full graphics support. I'm not sure if portage
would have these, or if you'd have to get seperate binaries, but
regardless, it ought to work. One question, though, why are you
getting a 256MB card? The only games that really will take advantage
of that is Doom III and Half-Life 2, and the 5500 isn't exactly a top
of the line screamer. If you can snag a 128MB, you'd save some money,
and wouldn't lose any performance.

> Also ... what is DVI TV Out ? ... Everyone quotes it, but no-one
> explains it. I guess it is comaptible with my bog standard TFT >monitor ?

It's a method of connecting the card to an HDTV. Nice feature to
have, I suppose.

--
"This is neccesary. This is neccesary. Life feeds on life feeds on life
feeds on life feeds on..."

-Tool, Disgustipated

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gentoo-user [at] gentoo mailing list

gentoo at pusspaws

Sep 9, 2004, 11:12 PM

Post #3 of 4 (59 views)
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Re: Nvidia Video cards query [In reply to]

Stephan Garland wrote:

>>I am considering buying a "256MB NVidia GeForce FX5500 AGP > 8x DDR
>>128-Bit DVI TV Out" but am unsure how well its Linux support is - > can anyone comment ?
>>
>>
>
>According to linuxcompatible.org, it works just fine, but needs the
>latest drivers to have full graphics support. I'm not sure if portage
>would have these, or if you'd have to get seperate binaries, but
>regardless, it ought to work. One question, though, why are you
>getting a 256MB card? The only games that really will take advantage
>of that is Doom III and Half-Life 2, and the 5500 isn't exactly a top
>of the line screamer. If you can snag a 128MB, you'd save some money,
>and wouldn't lose any performance.
>
>
>
>>Also ... what is DVI TV Out ? ... Everyone quotes it, but no-one
>>explains it. I guess it is comaptible with my bog standard TFT >monitor ?
>>
>>
>
>It's a method of connecting the card to an HDTV. Nice feature to
>have, I suppose.
>
>

..HDTV... I've only got a LDVT ;-)

My knoledge about video cards is basic to say the least, I decided on a
figure I could afford, approx ?70 & looked for the highest spec I could
find.

'uru' is a 3D smooth scrolling game, though the minimum spec of 32 MB
NVIDIA? GeForce^(TM) 1, 2, 3, 4, or FX; ATI? Radeon^(TM) 7000-9800 or
better seems pretty low.

I can get a 128MB version for approx ?30, so I may well give it a go ...

Thanks for enlightening me

Cheers
Dave

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gentoo-user [at] gentoo mailing list

linux at cryos

Sep 10, 2004, 3:27 AM

Post #4 of 4 (60 views)
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Re: Nvidia Video cards query [In reply to]

Dave S wrote:

>
> *Video Card:* 32 MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 1, 2, 3, 4, or FX; ATI® Radeon™
> 7000-9800 or better
>
> I am considering buying a "256MB NVidia GeForce FX5500 AGP 8x DDR
> 128-Bit DVI TV Out" but am unsure how well its Linux support is - can
> anyone comment ?

This is a pretty decent card - if you could I would consider trying to
squeeze in a 128MB FX5700LE. I personally use an FX5900XT which is very
nice but out of your price range. There is quite a boost for the FX5700
in performance I believe. Don't waste the money on 256MB on low end
cards, get a 128MB higher end card if possible.

>
> Also ... what is DVI TV Out ? ... Everyone quotes it, but no-one
> explains it. I guess it is comaptible with my bog standard TFT monitor ?

DVI is Digital Video Interface - for connecting to TFTs mainly, although
lots of low end TFTs only have VGA. Most modern cards offer DVI and VGA,
TV out is a totally different feature where the card can output a
standard s-video signal usually. I think DVI can also be used for
connecting to HDTV but is more usually used to connect to TFT screens.

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