Which graphics card?

[DogMatix]

Wow! whilst you lot are pulling Graphic Card wheelies. I'm tootling along on my NVIDEA GT210 Moped quite happily. It runs Unity (12.04) fine and my PSU is less than 300W (Although this is less than recommended & I keep meaning to swap it for a 500W I have sitting on a shelf).

I feel inadequate now!

[viperdvman]

I myself am looking to upgrade to an NVidia GTX 560, maybe even the Ti model if I want to push it. Very fast cards, not too expensive, and still fairly new and will last me a good long while

[Statia]

AMD does care about Linux, but with ATI they started not just from behind, but going the wrong direction. They have worked pretty darn hard to turn that around. You should buy what works. But make it a features/cost decision rather than an ATI is horrid decision.

By the time I am going to upgrade (and that might be a while) I will research the current situation of driver support. Maybe I'll swap out my PSU as well, we'll see.

I was having a look at Oil Rush, almost bought it, but their recommended card is a GTX 460 or Radeon HD4850. I'll just wait playing it until I upgrade.

[QIII]

Don't buy the 4800 series. ATI is moving the driver to a legacy branch, which means it probably won't work with the next version of X Server.

This will be ATI's second legacy branch. NVIDIA has three. They both like to push for us to buy new widgets. Now that gets my blood pressure up.

[Statia]

I just enabled controlling my GPU fan speed, by GUI or with a script.
Do ATI drivers allow this kind of control?

[QIII]

Yes, you can control the fan speed.

There is no GUI for Overdrive in Linux, but it exists.

Just for giggles, it might be fun to write a GUI, now that you mention it.

[litiform]

I would just get Intel Integrated. Performance has never been better and Linux support is the best.

I'd stay away from NVIDIA and AMD. I dislike NVIDIA. I like AMD, but drivers seem more problem than integrated.

[Statia]

I am thinking about the GT640 2GB now.
It retails for exactly one cent under my €100 limit and demands a 350W power supply.
Now I just have to wait until I can justify spending a hundred Euros.
Like after landing a job....

EDIT: Thanks everybody for your input!

[kaldor]

I am thinking about the GT640 2GB now.
It retails for exactly one cent under my €100 limit and demands a 350W power supply.
Now I just have to wait until I can justify spending a hundred Euros.
Like after landing a job....

EDIT: Thanks everybody for your input!

The GT 640 won't be *that* much more powerful than your current card. Also, with lower-end cards, the memory is pretty much irrelevant. I'd at least get a GTX 650. Better yet, see if you can find the GTX 650 Ti for a decent price.

If you're not willing to replace the power supply then I'd wait longer and save up until you can get exactly what you want- what's the point in spending 100 euros and then realizing you were looking for something faster?

[vanquishedangel]

It's good to see that the "ATI is no good on Linux" thing persists.

Don't get me wrong. I like NVIDIA products. But the myth that ATI graphics are more problematic than NVIDIA is just that. A myth.

AMD bought ATI quite a while ago. Before AMD bought ATI and turned it around, ATI's reputation was well deserved. But that colors everyone's opinions to this day. It's not the old ATI. It's AMD/ATI.

What I would suggest is this: rather than ask in a forum where you might get a brand-loyalty flame war, go to Phoronix or another website and read reviews of cards in your price range. Pick the one that looks like it best serves your needs. Don't worry about the manufacturer. They are both good. Worry about features and price.

And yes, a better PSU is a must.

Actually it was true til a certain point, but then ati got way better and I have sworn by ati for years. I game on linux and only use ati, their support is way better than it was and I have little to no issue with ati.

That myth come from a time way back when you needed to compile your driver from scratch, when tools like the software center and jockey were non exist-ant so rejoice all of you who don't know that pain!

I would say the psu as well, but you could also check into Lubuntu, that uses less wattage and resources (graphics as well) leaving more for your applications and games.