yonkiman
July 14th, 2008, 04:15 PM
I'm building a new backend (my current one's a bit underpowered whenever it has to do more than one thing at once). After a lot of looking, I'm pretty happy with my MB and CPU choices:
DFI BloodIron P35-T2RL LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz
But I need a new PCIx graphics card since my AGP Nvidia 6200 won't fit.
Out of habit based on the last several years of recommendations, I was going to go nvidia, either the 7x00 or 8x00 series (8400GS 512MB is only $32 at newegg), but two things are making me reconsider:
I've never been able to get the overscan adjusted using my nvidia card and the proprietary nvidia driver. I use the component output (720p), and "TVOverScan" option has never done a thing. I think perhaps it's for svideo and composite only. The driver doesn't seem to accept custom modelines either. The hardware's fine - it was no trouble creating a custom resolution in WinXP with Powerstrip - but there doesn't seem to be any way to do it with the proprietary nvidia driver. So I don't really want to build a new system, buy a new card, and be stuck in this same irritating place.
I read about how AMD/ATI is finally going to properly support linux with decent drivers (http://tinyurl.com/5uwp4c). I know that's not a lot to go on, but what are the odds that nvidia and ATI are both ignoring custom modelines?
So what do you people think?
Should I give more money to nvidia because their drivers are "better" (even though their drivers don't allow me to see the linux taskbar or anything else on the outer 5% of my screen?)?
Or should I roll the dice and give AMTID a chance?
How bad are the ATI drivers currently - will they be adequate given the reasonably high horsepower of my new CPU?
Along those same lines, if I have the CPU power, could I use the open-source nvidia (or ATI) drivers (which presumably don't ignore custom modelines) and get excellent 720p playback?
DFI BloodIron P35-T2RL LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz
But I need a new PCIx graphics card since my AGP Nvidia 6200 won't fit.
Out of habit based on the last several years of recommendations, I was going to go nvidia, either the 7x00 or 8x00 series (8400GS 512MB is only $32 at newegg), but two things are making me reconsider:
I've never been able to get the overscan adjusted using my nvidia card and the proprietary nvidia driver. I use the component output (720p), and "TVOverScan" option has never done a thing. I think perhaps it's for svideo and composite only. The driver doesn't seem to accept custom modelines either. The hardware's fine - it was no trouble creating a custom resolution in WinXP with Powerstrip - but there doesn't seem to be any way to do it with the proprietary nvidia driver. So I don't really want to build a new system, buy a new card, and be stuck in this same irritating place.
I read about how AMD/ATI is finally going to properly support linux with decent drivers (http://tinyurl.com/5uwp4c). I know that's not a lot to go on, but what are the odds that nvidia and ATI are both ignoring custom modelines?
So what do you people think?
Should I give more money to nvidia because their drivers are "better" (even though their drivers don't allow me to see the linux taskbar or anything else on the outer 5% of my screen?)?
Or should I roll the dice and give AMTID a chance?
How bad are the ATI drivers currently - will they be adequate given the reasonably high horsepower of my new CPU?
Along those same lines, if I have the CPU power, could I use the open-source nvidia (or ATI) drivers (which presumably don't ignore custom modelines) and get excellent 720p playback?