On 30/11/2013 00:55, Mick wrote: > On Friday 29 Nov 2013 21:34:04 Dale wrote: >> Chris Stankevitz wrote: >>> On Fri, Nov 29, 2013 at 11:43 AM, Mick <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> I'm reading all these messages about Nvidia driver versions causing >>>> problems and I'm wondering if for my next box I should just stick with >>>> radeon, which has not really given me any trouble for as long as I can >>>> remember. >>> >>> Mick, >>> >>> I've been running nvidia-drivers on my Gentoo laptop for three years >>> and have two major problems: >>> >>> 1. Any particular nvidia driver version is only compatible with only >>> certain kernel versions. This condition is due to the way the NVIDIA >>> driver works. Gentoo portage was just not designed to handle such a >>> rule "package x requires kernel y" so it is left to us users to deal >>> with via masks. For some reason (?) I only had to deal with this rule >>> during the period ~July 2013 - October 2013. >>> >>> 2. The latest stable version of the nvidia drivers do not allow >>> gnome-terminal windows to close. This problem too just started >>> happening after years of trouble-free gnome-terminal closing. >>> >>> It is frustrating... but I'm stuck with NVIDIA-drivers because I use >>> CUDA. If 1) this sort of thing bothers you and 2) radeon doesn't have >>> similar problems, then by all means please switch to radeon and let us >>> know how it goes! >>> >>> PS: Installing the CUDA runtime and SDK is easier on Gentoo than on >>> any other linux distro. >>> >>> Chris >> >> I to have been using Nvidia video cards for years with little problem. >> Lately tho, my motto has started showing. If it ain't working, switch >> to something else. I like Nvidia cards but if they won't work right, >> that's a problem. >> >> Mick, if you switch, let us know how it went. I know at one time Radeon >> cards were a nightmare. That was a while back tho. No clue on current >> things although I hear about less problems too. >> >> Dale > > Sorry, I seem to not have made myself clear: I always have owned ati-radeon > cards, for reasons of pure coincidence I guess. I remember having some > problems with the (very) early radeon driver but for the best part of 10 > years > now and multiple PCs I have not really had any problems. I don't play games > and do not use blender or any 3D intensive software. Friends who play games > swear by NVidia and won't use anything else. > > I am about to build a new rig and have been flirting with the idea of going > NVidia this time. I'm not sure CUDA will make a noticeable difference (will > it? on a quad core CPU?) so if I go for NVidia it will be because it is a > new > thing for me to try. However, with all these reports of problems here and in > other forums I am having second thoughts ... >
CUDA isn't a magic drop-in replacement for a CPU with added go-fast stripes. Code is written to use CUDA. if not, it can't use it. Your question should be "Do you intend to use software that is written for and will benefit from CUDA"? -- Alan McKinnon [email protected]
