On Saturday 16 May 2009, Joseph Apuzzo wrote: > Hardware advice, Linux related > > Ok as many of you know I stupidly purchased a Motherboard one night > at 2am, not thinking clearly. > I wound up with the BioStar TF720 A20+ board which has a nVidia > 8100 integrated into the North-Bridge chip. > I have had little to no success in getting Linux to run as > workstation on this MB, it will lockup randomly which X needs to be > re-cycled.
Which drivers did you try? I have to ask, because there are now several versions of the proprietary 'nvidia' driver, as well as the 2D open source 'nv' driver, and they all behave slightly differently. Theoretically for GeForce 8 devices the latest proprietary driver version 180.xx should be the one to use, but the only way to really tell is to read "Appendix A" in the README that comes with the drivers, which lists which specific GeForce devices are supported. > The other problem came when I upgraded to a new Acer > 21.5" LCD ( 1920x1080 ) monitor. Now in any OS mkv and DVD peg the > cpu at 100% and will drop frames ( this on a dule core AMD 2.4Ghz > with 4Gb of memory ). HD video does the same to my Desktop, especially that .mkv test file you gave me on CD -- though I have an older Intel 2.6 GHz P4. So this doesn't surprise me -- I have a sneaking suspicion that the only way to play HD video without bringing a box to its knees is to use an HD accelerator. > Lastly the HDTV tunner card I have ( Linux > only one http://www.pchdtv.com/ which I will eventually give a full > talk on ) can not seem to display at full 1080p, it's shutters > badly now since I can display all the pixels. That could be one of three models -- and here again the card has the host computer do the MPEG2 decoding rather than onboard. > In my case gaming in not an issue, This system is mainly and > foremost my personal "HDTV" and Linux server. > It's second role is family email, word processing and homework > station, video is not critical for it's other uses. > > Thus I don't want to waist the money I put in the MB, it is stable > and other then the Video issues it's fine. > My idea is it shutoff the MB video chip and use a new ATI video > card. This will allow the North-Bridge to map all 4Gb of memory for > the CPU and not have to steal cycles for whatever the hokey 8100 / > nForce720a was doing. Also the ATI is better designed for HD and > can do upscaleing of DVD's on the GPU. So I think the Radeon HD > 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express for about $60 should solve my > issues, since it has the following: > > Selling points: > 1) Support for DVI and HDMI out with native 1920x1080 resolutions > and above. 2) Linux 32 and 64 bit drivers > 3) H.264 rendering ( aka MKV ) acceleration > 4) DVD upscaling on the GPU, no hit to the CPU I think 3) and 4) are the critical pieces. > 5) Uses about 1/2 the wattage of the comparable nVidia GPU > > Downside: > 1) NOT a gamer video card. > 2) ATI does not have the best Linux history, my last ATI card was a > nightmare to get working under Linux and impossible with 64bit > > So comments? My only experience with ATI cards were before the days of 'fglrx' drivers, and my experiences were generally pooor. > Has anyone "turned off" the onboard video chip and added a better > Video card with success? Yes. Usually there's a setting in the BIOS to all disabling the onboard video. > If anyone has experience with modern ATI video cards and Linux I > would love a better recommendation if you can. > Is there any reason to go to the higher HD 4800 class board ( at > double the money ) ? > Or go lower say the HD 4550 for $45 ( still has Linux 32/64 drivers > )? Can't help here -- haven't used any in years. -- Chris -- Chris Knadle [email protected] _______________________________________________ Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium Jun 3 - TBD Jul 1 - TBD Aug 5 - TBD
