recommend me a video card

**finer recliner** · March 9th, 2009

Hey guys,

I'm looking to buy a new video card for my desktop, and i need some recommendations!

my requirements:

PCI or AGP interface
compiz support
dual head support (multiple monitors)
cheap! (i'm not looking to do anything graphics intensive like play video games or do video editing...)

thanks in advance

**Fire_Chief** · March 9th, 2009

I'd probably suggest this Sparkle GeForce FX5500 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814187043.

Nvidia works pretty reliably on Ubuntu. The only catch (or bonus depending on your view) is that it does not have a fan on the card.

-Cheers!

**billgoldberg** · March 9th, 2009

Originally Posted by finer recliner

Hey guys,

I'm looking to buy a new video card for my desktop, and i need some recommendations!

my requirements:

PCI or AGP interface
compiz support
dual head support (multiple monitors)
cheap! (i'm not looking to do anything graphics intensive like play video games or do video editing...)

thanks in advance

http://www.newegg.com/product/Produc...=48&Tpk=NVIDIA

All cards in there will support compiz fusion, most should do dual monitors.

Prices start at 30 bucks.

**djsephiroth** · March 9th, 2009

Originally Posted by finer recliner

Hey guys,

I'm looking to buy a new video card for my desktop, and i need some recommendations!

my requirements:

PCI or AGP interface
compiz support
dual head support (multiple monitors)
cheap! (i'm not looking to do anything graphics intensive like play video games or do video editing...)

thanks in advance

Aww, no PCIE? This makes it a bit less fun. EVGA makes very nice nVidia cards. Here's a cheap 8x AGP offering:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130207
This one is a bit more expensive, but they're also not sold out of it (the one above sold out as I typed...): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130465

A PCI offering with more RAM (essential for high resolutions) and a wider RAM interface: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133233

**durand** · March 9th, 2009

Try something like the Nvidia 8300 and above. They will be pretty cheap by now but still good quality.

**finer recliner** · March 16th, 2009

Originally Posted by Fire_Chief

I'd probably suggest this Sparkle GeForce FX5500 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814187043.

Nvidia works pretty reliably on Ubuntu. The only catch (or bonus depending on your view) is that it does not have a fan on the card.

-Cheers!

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, i enduped up going with Fire_Chief's recommendation. It worked with ZERO problems. just had to use ubuntu's Restricted Driver interface to download/enable the nvidia driver. I have a higher resolution, faster processing, faster refresh rate, all with compiz enabled too. thanks!

**coolbrook** · March 16th, 2009

Decent choice. I've had good results with the FX 5200 and the 8400 GS PCI cards. Three cheers for NVIDIA.

**anewguy** · March 16th, 2009

Well, it's too late anyway, but I've had a slightly different experience - I had a FX5200 that I just couldn't get to work in Ubuntu - tried the restricted driver, tried envy, etc.. I have to assume I was doing something wrong, as others reported that card as working great - that's why I bought it. I ended up getting (yikes!) an ATI9250 and it worked right out of the box. Given what most people say about ATI and Ubuntu, I guess I just got lucky!

Dave

**coolbrook** · March 16th, 2009

I've got the Radeon 9250 working too. It does have a slight ghost image, but the truth is that I never thought to install an ATI driver since I'm rarely on that machine. I'll look into it.