Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-20 Thread Paul Hartman
On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 11:12 PM, Dale rdalek1...@gmail.com wrote:
 I'm wondering if the card may be getting hot and slowing down because of
 that?  i replaced the heat sink a good while back and I got more than enough
 cooling on the case.  The heat sink has a fan and maybe it is not turning or
 something.  I did blow out the dust a while back and I do have filters over
 the intakes to help some.

Some Nvidia cards can go into a slow-motion mode when they overheat, I
had that happen on mine (it was a 6000 or 7000 series, I think) when
the fan died and I didn't realize it. The slowdown was dramatic in
those cases. It would usually happen if I was playing a game or a
video, suddenly it would go 2 frames per second. I'd stop the
game/video, and even things like opening a window were slow. After a
minute or two, everything would be back to normal speed. Eventually I
learned that the card was protecting itself by switching to an
ultra-slow mode to try to fight the overheating.

nvidia-settings may be able to show you the temperature and speeds on
your card. You might need to add:

Option coolbits 1

to the device section in your xorg.conf to get it to show you some of
those options if they aren't initially visible.



Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-20 Thread Dale

Paul Hartman wrote:

On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 11:12 PM, Dalerdalek1...@gmail.com  wrote:
   

I'm wondering if the card may be getting hot and slowing down because of
that?  i replaced the heat sink a good while back and I got more than enough
cooling on the case.  The heat sink has a fan and maybe it is not turning or
something.  I did blow out the dust a while back and I do have filters over
the intakes to help some.
 

Some Nvidia cards can go into a slow-motion mode when they overheat, I
had that happen on mine (it was a 6000 or 7000 series, I think) when
the fan died and I didn't realize it. The slowdown was dramatic in
those cases. It would usually happen if I was playing a game or a
video, suddenly it would go 2 frames per second. I'd stop the
game/video, and even things like opening a window were slow. After a
minute or two, everything would be back to normal speed. Eventually I
learned that the card was protecting itself by switching to an
ultra-slow mode to try to fight the overheating.

nvidia-settings may be able to show you the temperature and speeds on
your card. You might need to add:

Option coolbits 1

to the device section in your xorg.conf to get it to show you some of
those options if they aren't initially visible.

   


I appear to have another issue to deal with right now.  This is weird.  
When I type in any nvclock command, I get something like this:


r...@smoker / # nvclock -i
*** buffer overflow detected ***: nvclock terminated
=== Backtrace: =
/lib/libc.so.6(__fortify_fail+0x50)[0xb75af850]
/lib/libc.so.6(+0xe18aa)[0xb75ad8aa]
/lib/libc.so.6(+0xe0f78)[0xb75acf78]
/lib/libc.so.6(__overflow+0x4a)[0xb753670a]
/lib/libc.so.6(_IO_vfprintf+0x50b9)[0xb750db39]
/lib/libc.so.6(__vsprintf_chk+0xa7)[0xb75ad027]
/lib/libc.so.6(__sprintf_chk+0x2d)[0xb75acf6d]
nvclock[0x8057317]
[0x30322e34]
=== Memory map: 
08048000-0806 r-xp  08:16 311032 /usr/bin/nvclock
0806-08061000 r--p 00017000 08:16 311032 /usr/bin/nvclock
08061000-08062000 rw-p 00018000 08:16 311032 /usr/bin/nvclock
09369000-0938a000 rw-p  00:00 0  [heap]
b731f000-b733b000 r-xp  08:16 2070143
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.4.3/libgcc_s.so.1
b733b000-b733c000 r--p 0001b000 08:16 2070143
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.4.3/libgcc_s.so.1
b733c000-b733d000 rw-p 0001c000 08:16 2070143
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.4.3/libgcc_s.so.1

b736-b737 rw-s dc30 00:0d 8375   /dev/nvidia0
b737-b747 rw-s dc70 00:0d 8375   /dev/nvidia0
b747-b74a rw-s dc00 00:0d 8375   /dev/nvidia0
b74a-b74a1000 rw-p  00:00 0
b74a1000-b74a5000 r-xp  08:16 242258 /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6.0.0
b74a5000-b74a6000 r--p 3000 08:16 242258 /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6.0.0
b74a6000-b74a7000 rw-p 4000 08:16 242258 /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6.0.0
b74a7000-b74a9000 r-xp  08:16 179499 /usr/lib/libXau.so.6.0.0
b74a9000-b74aa000 r--p 1000 08:16 179499 /usr/lib/libXau.so.6.0.0
b74aa000-b74ab000 rw-p 2000 08:16 179499 /usr/lib/libXau.so.6.0.0
b74ab000-b74ac000 rw-p  00:00 0
b74ac000-b74ae000 r-xp  08:16 3019384/lib/libdl-2.11.2.so
b74ae000-b74af000 r--p 1000 08:16 3019384/lib/libdl-2.11.2.so
b74af000-b74b rw-p 2000 08:16 3019384/lib/libdl-2.11.2.so
b74b-b74ca000 r-xp  08:16 2178229/usr/lib/libxcb.so.1.1.0
b74ca000-b74cb000 r--p 00019000 08:16 2178229/usr/lib/libxcb.so.1.1.0
b74cb000-b74cc000 rw-p 0001a000 08:16 2178229/usr/lib/libxcb.so.1.1.0
b74cc000-b760c000 r-xp  08:16 3018521/lib/libc-2.11.2.so
b760c000-b760e000 r--p 0013f000 08:16 3018521/lib/libc-2.11.2.so
b760e000-b760f000 rw-p 00141000 08:16 3018521/lib/libc-2.11.2.so
b760f000-b7612000 rw-p  00:00 0
b7612000-b762 r-xp  08:16 623393 /usr/lib/libXext.so.6.4.0
b762-b7621000 r--p d000 08:16 623393 /usr/lib/libXext.so.6.4.0
b7621000-b7622000 rw-p e000 08:16 623393 /usr/lib/libXext.so.6.4.0
b7622000-b773e000 r-xp  08:16 2143515/usr/lib/libX11.so.6.3.0
b773e000-b773f000 r--p 0011b000 08:16 2143515/usr/lib/libX11.so.6.3.0
b773f000-b7742000 rw-p 0011c000 08:16 2143515/usr/lib/libX11.so.6.3.0
b774f000-b7751000 rw-s dc68 00:0d 8375   /dev/nvidia0
b7751000-b7761000 rw-s dc61 00:0d 8375   /dev/nvidia0
b7761000-b7763000 rw-s dc601000 00:0d 8375   /dev/nvidia0
b7763000-b7764000 rw-s dc10 00:0d 8375   /dev/nvidia0
b7764000-b7765000 rw-s dc101000 00:0d 8375   /dev/nvidia0
b7765000-b7766000 rw-p  00:00 0
b7766000-b7767000 r-xp  00:00 0  [vdso]
b7767000-b7783000 r-xp  08:16 3019734/lib/ld-2.11.2.so
b7783000-b7784000 r--p 0001b000 08:16 3019734/lib/ld-2.11.2.so
b7784000-b7785000 rw-p 0001c000 08:16 3019734/lib/ld-2.11.2.so
bfe28000-bfe49000 rw-p  00:00 0  [stack]
Aborted
r...@smoker / #


I guess I'll have to take 

Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-20 Thread Paul Hartman
On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 1:25 PM, Dale rdalek1...@gmail.com wrote:
 I appear to have another issue to deal with right now.  This is weird.  When
 I type in any nvclock command, I get something like this:

 r...@smoker / # nvclock -i
 *** buffer overflow detected ***: nvclock terminated

Seems like maybe that is glibc stopping you from running a program
with a (potential) buffer overflow. You can set an environment
variable to make it stop doing that and let you run the program
anyway, assuming you don't want to edit nvclock's source code to fix
the problem. :)

Try:

MALLOC_CHECK_=0 nvclock -i

(man malloc for more info)



Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-20 Thread Dale

Paul Hartman wrote:

MALLOC_CHECK_=0 nvclock -i


It appears that it is more serious than that setting can overcome.  Same 
error as before.  I'm running glibc-2.11.2.  Anyone having a similar 
issue with that version?


Try to fix one thing and find something else broke.  lol

Dale

:-)  :-)



[gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Dale

Hi,

I am thinking of upgrading from a FX-5200 with 128Mb video card to a 
GeForce 6200 with 512MB.  It will be AGP since this is a older rig.  My 
system is something like this:


Mobo:  Abit NF7 2.0
CPU: AMD 2500+  No overclocking
Memory:  2Gbs of 333Mhz.
Monitor:  Gateway 19 running 1280 x 1024

I think my memory is fine, it never uses all of it, or even half of it, 
except for caching stuff.  I may try to get a 3000+ or 3200+ CPU if I 
can run up on a good deal.  I'm thinking of doing the video card first 
because it is cheaper.  I have also noticed that playing movies on here 
is getting a bit slow if I go full screen or close to full screen.   I'm 
bad to download from youtube and then play them locally full screen or 
as close as it will allow.


I do use the nvidia drivers.  Currently:

nvidia-drivers-173.14.25

I'm on that one because I think I need to upgrade my kernel to use the 
latest one that was recently put in the tree.  I'm looking at this card:


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133328

What kind of improvement can I expect from this video card upgrade?  
While I am at it, the CPU upgrade won't make that much difference 
right?  Maybe 20% or so faster or something like that?


Thoughts?  Opinions?

Thanks.

Dale

:-)  :-)



Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Florian Philipp
Am 19.10.2010 09:45, schrieb Dale:
 Hi,
 
 I am thinking of upgrading from a FX-5200 with 128Mb video card to a
 GeForce 6200 with 512MB.  It will be AGP since this is a older rig.  My
 system is something like this:
 
 Mobo:  Abit NF7 2.0
 CPU: AMD 2500+  No overclocking
 Memory:  2Gbs of 333Mhz.
 Monitor:  Gateway 19 running 1280 x 1024
 
 I think my memory is fine, it never uses all of it, or even half of it,
 except for caching stuff.  I may try to get a 3000+ or 3200+ CPU if I
 can run up on a good deal.  I'm thinking of doing the video card first
 because it is cheaper.  I have also noticed that playing movies on here
 is getting a bit slow if I go full screen or close to full screen.   I'm
 bad to download from youtube and then play them locally full screen or
 as close as it will allow.
 
 I do use the nvidia drivers.  Currently:
 
 nvidia-drivers-173.14.25
 
 I'm on that one because I think I need to upgrade my kernel to use the
 latest one that was recently put in the tree.  I'm looking at this card:
 
 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133328
 
 What kind of improvement can I expect from this video card upgrade? 
 While I am at it, the CPU upgrade won't make that much difference
 right?  Maybe 20% or so faster or something like that?
 

Hi Dale,

first and foremost, a newer card will allow you to use the newest driver
series (195.*.*) which is always a good thing ;)

It also gives you more texture units. You can use these to transfer more
work to your GPU (mostly scaling and such). Take a look at `man mplayer`
section '-vo gl' for a list of options.
VLC has similar options, I think. I don't know about gstreamer or xine.

I could be wrong but I don't think that adobe-flash uses these options.
That is probably part of the problem why flash is so much slower on
GNU/Linux than on Windows. If my assumption is true, you are better off
buying a faster CPU.

You could also test how gnash performs. Since it uses ffmpeg (AFAIK) it
might be worth a try.

Please take my advices with a big dose of salt. While I still run an old
desktop with nearly identical specs, I almost never use Youtube and
therefore have no experience with that.

Hope this helps,
Florian Philipp



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Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread David W Noon
On Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:50:02 +0200, Dale wrote about [gentoo-user]
Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB:

I am thinking of upgrading from a FX-5200 with 128Mb video card to a 
GeForce 6200 with 512MB.  It will be AGP since this is a older rig.

From where does one obtain an AGP card these days?  I have 4
motherboards with AGP or AGP Pro slots, and I'm damned if I can find
decent video cards for them.

Monitor:  Gateway 19 running 1280 x 1024

Why do you need a slick card on a monitor of that age, or are you
upgrading the monitor too?

Last week bought a Hanns.G HH251 24 monitor that does Full HD. I plan
to install it today, after I have calculated the mode lines for the
X.Org configuration.  I'll report back when it is running, if anybody is
interested.

Incidentally, is anybody interested in a mode line calculator program?
I'll be writing it later today, and I'll make it open source if there
is any interest.
-- 
Regards,

Dave  [RLU #314465]
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
dwn...@ntlworld.com (David W Noon)
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*


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Description: PGP signature


Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Dale

David W Noon wrote:

On Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:50:02 +0200, Dale wrote about [gentoo-user]
Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB:

   

I am thinking of upgrading from a FX-5200 with 128Mb video card to a
GeForce 6200 with 512MB.  It will be AGP since this is a older rig.
 

 From where does one obtain an AGP card these days?  I have 4
motherboards with AGP or AGP Pro slots, and I'm damned if I can find
decent video cards for them.

   

Monitor:  Gateway 19 running 1280 x 1024
 

Why do you need a slick card on a monitor of that age, or are you
upgrading the monitor too?
   


There is a link in the original message to where I found this one.  They 
had more cords to that are AGP.  I may get a monitor one day but not 
sure what king. I like the CRT's for my puter tho.




Last week bought a Hanns.G HH251 24 monitor that does Full HD. I plan
to install it today, after I have calculated the mode lines for the
X.Org configuration.  I'll report back when it is running, if anybody is
interested.

Incidentally, is anybody interested in a mode line calculator program?
I'll be writing it later today, and I'll make it open source if there
is any interest.
   


Dale

:-)  :-)



Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Dale

Florian Philipp wrote:

Am 19.10.2010 09:45, schrieb Dale:
   

Hi,

I am thinking of upgrading from a FX-5200 with 128Mb video card to a
GeForce 6200 with 512MB.  It will be AGP since this is a older rig.  My
system is something like this:

Mobo:  Abit NF7 2.0
CPU: AMD 2500+  No overclocking
Memory:  2Gbs of 333Mhz.
Monitor:  Gateway 19 running 1280 x 1024

I think my memory is fine, it never uses all of it, or even half of it,
except for caching stuff.  I may try to get a 3000+ or 3200+ CPU if I
can run up on a good deal.  I'm thinking of doing the video card first
because it is cheaper.  I have also noticed that playing movies on here
is getting a bit slow if I go full screen or close to full screen.   I'm
bad to download from youtube and then play them locally full screen or
as close as it will allow.

I do use the nvidia drivers.  Currently:

nvidia-drivers-173.14.25

I'm on that one because I think I need to upgrade my kernel to use the
latest one that was recently put in the tree.  I'm looking at this card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133328

What kind of improvement can I expect from this video card upgrade?
While I am at it, the CPU upgrade won't make that much difference
right?  Maybe 20% or so faster or something like that?

 

Hi Dale,

first and foremost, a newer card will allow you to use the newest driver
series (195.*.*) which is always a good thing ;)

It also gives you more texture units. You can use these to transfer more
work to your GPU (mostly scaling and such). Take a look at `man mplayer`
section '-vo gl' for a list of options.
VLC has similar options, I think. I don't know about gstreamer or xine.

I could be wrong but I don't think that adobe-flash uses these options.
That is probably part of the problem why flash is so much slower on
GNU/Linux than on Windows. If my assumption is true, you are better off
buying a faster CPU.

You could also test how gnash performs. Since it uses ffmpeg (AFAIK) it
might be worth a try.

Please take my advices with a big dose of salt. While I still run an old
desktop with nearly identical specs, I almost never use Youtube and
therefore have no experience with that.

Hope this helps,
Florian Philipp

   


This particular card I think uses the latest 260.* drivers.  That's 
according to the nvidia site but sometimes that is not correct either.


Anyway, I always download the videos off youtube or where ever and then 
watch them with smplayer locally.  It generally works better for the 
most part.  I just have the slow DSL so it skips a bit on some if I 
don't download it first.  I do need a faster CPU but want to get the 
card first.  I do sometimes max out the CPU when watching a video but I 
think most of the time it is the card that is just getting old and needs 
a new one that is a little faster at least.  For the price, I was going 
to get a card that is a good bit faster.


You are right about the flash thingy.  It is a lot slower on this rig.  
It even slows scrolling down the web pages.  It sort of ticks me off 
sometimes.  It is slow on my brothers system to tho.  He has windoze XP 
still.  I'm working on putting Linux on there.


Work on the CPU next I hope.  ;-)

Dale

:-)  :-)



Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread András Csányi
On 19 October 2010 13:38, David W Noon dwn...@ntlworld.com wrote:
 On Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:50:02 +0200, Dale wrote about [gentoo-user]
 Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB:

I am thinking of upgrading from a FX-5200 with 128Mb video card to a
GeForce 6200 with 512MB.  It will be AGP since this is a older rig.

 From where does one obtain an AGP card these days?  I have 4
 motherboards with AGP or AGP Pro slots, and I'm damned if I can find
 decent video cards for them.

A month ago I bought new video card and I was totaly surprised because
the store pricelist were AGP cards. Few year ago I spoke with my
former boss that to buy AGP video card is impossible. It looks like we
were wrong... :)

-- 
- -
--  Csanyi Andras (Sayusi Ando)  -- http://sayusi.hu --
http://facebook.com/andras.csanyi
--  Trust in God and keep your gunpowder dry! - Cromwell



Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Florian Philipp
Am 19.10.2010 14:23, schrieb Dale:
 Florian Philipp wrote:
 Am 19.10.2010 09:45, schrieb Dale:
   
 Hi,

 I am thinking of upgrading from a FX-5200 with 128Mb video card to a
 GeForce 6200 with 512MB.  It will be AGP since this is a older rig.  My
 system is something like this:

 Mobo:  Abit NF7 2.0
 CPU: AMD 2500+  No overclocking
 Memory:  2Gbs of 333Mhz.
 Monitor:  Gateway 19 running 1280 x 1024

 I think my memory is fine, it never uses all of it, or even half of it,
 except for caching stuff.  I may try to get a 3000+ or 3200+ CPU if I
 can run up on a good deal.  I'm thinking of doing the video card first
 because it is cheaper.  I have also noticed that playing movies on here
 is getting a bit slow if I go full screen or close to full screen.   I'm
 bad to download from youtube and then play them locally full screen or
 as close as it will allow.

 I do use the nvidia drivers.  Currently:

 nvidia-drivers-173.14.25

 I'm on that one because I think I need to upgrade my kernel to use the
 latest one that was recently put in the tree.  I'm looking at this card:

 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133328

 What kind of improvement can I expect from this video card upgrade?
 While I am at it, the CPU upgrade won't make that much difference
 right?  Maybe 20% or so faster or something like that?

  
 Hi Dale,

 first and foremost, a newer card will allow you to use the newest driver
 series (195.*.*) which is always a good thing ;)

 It also gives you more texture units. You can use these to transfer more
 work to your GPU (mostly scaling and such). Take a look at `man mplayer`
 section '-vo gl' for a list of options.
 VLC has similar options, I think. I don't know about gstreamer or xine.

 I could be wrong but I don't think that adobe-flash uses these options.
 That is probably part of the problem why flash is so much slower on
 GNU/Linux than on Windows. If my assumption is true, you are better off
 buying a faster CPU.

 You could also test how gnash performs. Since it uses ffmpeg (AFAIK) it
 might be worth a try.

 Please take my advices with a big dose of salt. While I still run an old
 desktop with nearly identical specs, I almost never use Youtube and
 therefore have no experience with that.

 Hope this helps,
 Florian Philipp


 
 This particular card I think uses the latest 260.* drivers.  That's
 according to the nvidia site but sometimes that is not correct either.
 
 Anyway, I always download the videos off youtube or where ever and then
 watch them with smplayer locally.  It generally works better for the
 most part.  I just have the slow DSL so it skips a bit on some if I
 don't download it first.  I do need a faster CPU but want to get the
 card first.  I do sometimes max out the CPU when watching a video but I
 think most of the time it is the card that is just getting old and needs
 a new one that is a little faster at least.  For the price, I was going
 to get a card that is a good bit faster.
 
[...]

Ah, in that case tweaking your mplayer config might really help. Look at
the man page for options (-vo gl:...).

You really have to try every option and sometimes reasonable
combinations. I've found that even if the man page says it is a slow
option, sometimes it's the fastest. As I've said before, you will reach
the maximum number of texture units in your card, therefore certain
options will not work together but the man page tells you how many
texture units each option needs. With that info it should be easy to
tweak your settings.

To get you going, try mplayer -vo gl:yuv=2:lscale=1:cscale=1 file
Don't forget to test it in fullscreen mode.

You can later apply these options either in /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf or
in ~/.mplayer/config like this: vo=gl:yuv=2:lscale=1:cscale=1

Hope this helps,
Florian Philipp



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Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Peter Humphrey
On Tuesday 19 October 2010 12:38:35 David W Noon wrote:

 Incidentally, is anybody interested in a mode line calculator
 program? I'll be writing it later today, and I'll make it open
 source if there is any interest.

Someone posted a link to one of those just the other day.

-- 
Rgds
Peter.  Linux Counter 5290, 1994-04-23.



Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Paul Hartman
On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 8:44 AM, Peter Humphrey
pe...@humphrey.ukfsn.org wrote:
 On Tuesday 19 October 2010 12:38:35 David W Noon wrote:

 Incidentally, is anybody interested in a mode line calculator
 program? I'll be writing it later today, and I'll make it open
 source if there is any interest.

 Someone posted a link to one of those just the other day.

Maybe it was me mentioning x11-apps/amlc

:)



Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Paul Hartman
On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 2:45 AM, Dale rdalek1...@gmail.com wrote:
 I am thinking of upgrading from a FX-5200 with 128Mb video card to a GeForce
 6200 with 512MB.  It will be AGP since this is a older rig.  My system is
 something like this:

 Mobo:  Abit NF7 2.0
 CPU: AMD 2500+  No overclocking
 Memory:  2Gbs of 333Mhz.
 Monitor:  Gateway 19 running 1280 x 1024

Based on the selection at Newegg, I would highly recommend going with
one of the Radeon HD 3650 or 4650 cards which only cost a little more
than the one you're looking at. HD3650 is going to be 5x faster than
GeForce 6200 and HD4650 probably 10x faster.

I think your motherboard supports AGP 8x, and I'm not sure if there
are any power supply considerations or other features (number of DVI
heads, etc) but anyway that's my 2 cents. :)

I am an Nvidia video card guy through and through, but in this case
the AGP Nvidia cards on offer there are ancient and slow compared to
their ATI counterparts.



Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Dale

Paul Hartman wrote:

On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 2:45 AM, Dalerdalek1...@gmail.com  wrote:
   

I am thinking of upgrading from a FX-5200 with 128Mb video card to a GeForce
6200 with 512MB.  It will be AGP since this is a older rig.  My system is
something like this:

Mobo:  Abit NF7 2.0
CPU: AMD 2500+  No overclocking
Memory:  2Gbs of 333Mhz.
Monitor:  Gateway 19 running 1280 x 1024
 

Based on the selection at Newegg, I would highly recommend going with
one of the Radeon HD 3650 or 4650 cards which only cost a little more
than the one you're looking at. HD3650 is going to be 5x faster than
GeForce 6200 and HD4650 probably 10x faster.

I think your motherboard supports AGP 8x, and I'm not sure if there
are any power supply considerations or other features (number of DVI
heads, etc) but anyway that's my 2 cents. :)

I am an Nvidia video card guy through and through, but in this case
the AGP Nvidia cards on offer there are ancient and slow compared to
their ATI counterparts.

   


I'm a nvidia guy.  I'm not big on ATI at all.  Just sort of not my cup 
of tea.  I have read they have better Linux support than a long time ago 
but they came in a little to late for me.


I just wish that thing had a bigger heat sink on it with fans.  I may 
change that thing pretty quick.


Thanks.

Dale

:-)  :-)



Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Paul Hartman
On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 3:27 PM, Dale rdalek1...@gmail.com wrote:
 Paul Hartman wrote:

 On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 2:45 AM, Dalerdalek1...@gmail.com  wrote:


 I am thinking of upgrading from a FX-5200 with 128Mb video card to a
 GeForce
 6200 with 512MB.  It will be AGP since this is a older rig.  My system is
 something like this:

 Mobo:  Abit NF7 2.0
 CPU: AMD 2500+  No overclocking
 Memory:  2Gbs of 333Mhz.
 Monitor:  Gateway 19 running 1280 x 1024


 Based on the selection at Newegg, I would highly recommend going with
 one of the Radeon HD 3650 or 4650 cards which only cost a little more
 than the one you're looking at. HD3650 is going to be 5x faster than
 GeForce 6200 and HD4650 probably 10x faster.

 I think your motherboard supports AGP 8x, and I'm not sure if there
 are any power supply considerations or other features (number of DVI
 heads, etc) but anyway that's my 2 cents. :)

 I am an Nvidia video card guy through and through, but in this case
 the AGP Nvidia cards on offer there are ancient and slow compared to
 their ATI counterparts.



 I'm a nvidia guy.  I'm not big on ATI at all.  Just sort of not my cup of
 tea.  I have read they have better Linux support than a long time ago but
 they came in a little to late for me.

 I just wish that thing had a bigger heat sink on it with fans.  I may change
 that thing pretty quick.

 Thanks.

Okay then :) To return to your original question, I think going from
FX-5200 to Geforce 6200 should probably give you something like 15%
performance improvement. I don't think either card is new enough to be
supported by vdpau so there won't be anything gained there.

6200 uses the current drivers (260.xx) whereas the 5200 is on the
legacy drivers (173.xx), maybe there are additional 3D effects
supported by the newer chipset/drivers. There's a humongous matrix of
nvidia chipset and model numbers somewhere on the internet that
explains the differences but I can't seem to find it at the moment. My
Google-fu is failing me. :)



Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Adam Carter
There's a humongous matrix of

 nvidia chipset and model numbers somewhere on the internet that
 explains the differences but I can't seem to find it at the moment. My
 Google-fu is failing me. :)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_NVIDIA_graphics_processing_units


Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Dale

Paul Hartman wrote:

On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 3:27 PM, Dalerdalek1...@gmail.com  wrote:
   

Paul Hartman wrote:
 

On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 2:45 AM, Dalerdalek1...@gmail.comwrote:

   

I am thinking of upgrading from a FX-5200 with 128Mb video card to a
GeForce
6200 with 512MB.  It will be AGP since this is a older rig.  My system is
something like this:

Mobo:  Abit NF7 2.0
CPU: AMD 2500+  No overclocking
Memory:  2Gbs of 333Mhz.
Monitor:  Gateway 19 running 1280 x 1024

 

Based on the selection at Newegg, I would highly recommend going with
one of the Radeon HD 3650 or 4650 cards which only cost a little more
than the one you're looking at. HD3650 is going to be 5x faster than
GeForce 6200 and HD4650 probably 10x faster.

I think your motherboard supports AGP 8x, and I'm not sure if there
are any power supply considerations or other features (number of DVI
heads, etc) but anyway that's my 2 cents. :)

I am an Nvidia video card guy through and through, but in this case
the AGP Nvidia cards on offer there are ancient and slow compared to
their ATI counterparts.


   

I'm a nvidia guy.  I'm not big on ATI at all.  Just sort of not my cup of
tea.  I have read they have better Linux support than a long time ago but
they came in a little to late for me.

I just wish that thing had a bigger heat sink on it with fans.  I may change
that thing pretty quick.

Thanks.
 

Okay then :) To return to your original question, I think going from
FX-5200 to Geforce 6200 should probably give you something like 15%
performance improvement. I don't think either card is new enough to be
supported by vdpau so there won't be anything gained there.

6200 uses the current drivers (260.xx) whereas the 5200 is on the
legacy drivers (173.xx), maybe there are additional 3D effects
supported by the newer chipset/drivers. There's a humongous matrix of
nvidia chipset and model numbers somewhere on the internet that
explains the differences but I can't seem to find it at the moment. My
Google-fu is failing me. :)


   


One thing I was hoping is that the newer drivers would work better.  I 
would think they only update what they have to for new kernels and 
such.  That is my hope.  It does seem to get slower as time goes on but 
I'm not sure how much that is the drivers and how much that is to do 
with the new KDE4.  I'm sure KDE4 has a good bit to do with it too.


That is about the fastest card I could find that was AGP tho.  I may 
look around and see what else I can find to tho.


Dale

:-)  :-)



Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Dale

Adam Carter wrote:

There's a humongous matrix of

nvidia chipset and model numbers somewhere on the internet that
explains the differences but I can't seem to find it at the moment. My
Google-fu is failing me. :)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_NVIDIA_graphics_processing_units



Nice link.  I didn't even think of looking on that site.  I guess one 
good thing to go by is the processing power and memory.  After all, 
that's what makes it all work faster.  Looks like I'm still getting a 
pretty old card but I don't play any hard core games or anything.  
Playing videos is about as much load as the card will see with me.  I do 
play Kpatience tho.  Love my card games.


Thanks.

Dale

:-)  :-)


Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Dale

Florian Philipp wrote:

Am 19.10.2010 14:23, schrieb Dale:
   

Florian Philipp wrote:
 

Am 19.10.2010 09:45, schrieb Dale:

   

Hi,

I am thinking of upgrading from a FX-5200 with 128Mb video card to a
GeForce 6200 with 512MB.  It will be AGP since this is a older rig.  My
system is something like this:

Mobo:  Abit NF7 2.0
CPU: AMD 2500+  No overclocking
Memory:  2Gbs of 333Mhz.
Monitor:  Gateway 19 running 1280 x 1024

I think my memory is fine, it never uses all of it, or even half of it,
except for caching stuff.  I may try to get a 3000+ or 3200+ CPU if I
can run up on a good deal.  I'm thinking of doing the video card first
because it is cheaper.  I have also noticed that playing movies on here
is getting a bit slow if I go full screen or close to full screen.   I'm
bad to download from youtube and then play them locally full screen or
as close as it will allow.

I do use the nvidia drivers.  Currently:

nvidia-drivers-173.14.25

I'm on that one because I think I need to upgrade my kernel to use the
latest one that was recently put in the tree.  I'm looking at this card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133328

What kind of improvement can I expect from this video card upgrade?
While I am at it, the CPU upgrade won't make that much difference
right?  Maybe 20% or so faster or something like that?


 

Hi Dale,

first and foremost, a newer card will allow you to use the newest driver
series (195.*.*) which is always a good thing ;)

It also gives you more texture units. You can use these to transfer more
work to your GPU (mostly scaling and such). Take a look at `man mplayer`
section '-vo gl' for a list of options.
VLC has similar options, I think. I don't know about gstreamer or xine.

I could be wrong but I don't think that adobe-flash uses these options.
That is probably part of the problem why flash is so much slower on
GNU/Linux than on Windows. If my assumption is true, you are better off
buying a faster CPU.

You could also test how gnash performs. Since it uses ffmpeg (AFAIK) it
might be worth a try.

Please take my advices with a big dose of salt. While I still run an old
desktop with nearly identical specs, I almost never use Youtube and
therefore have no experience with that.

Hope this helps,
Florian Philipp


   

This particular card I think uses the latest 260.* drivers.  That's
according to the nvidia site but sometimes that is not correct either.

Anyway, I always download the videos off youtube or where ever and then
watch them with smplayer locally.  It generally works better for the
most part.  I just have the slow DSL so it skips a bit on some if I
don't download it first.  I do need a faster CPU but want to get the
card first.  I do sometimes max out the CPU when watching a video but I
think most of the time it is the card that is just getting old and needs
a new one that is a little faster at least.  For the price, I was going
to get a card that is a good bit faster.

 

[...]

Ah, in that case tweaking your mplayer config might really help. Look at
the man page for options (-vo gl:...).

You really have to try every option and sometimes reasonable
combinations. I've found that even if the man page says it is a slow
option, sometimes it's the fastest. As I've said before, you will reach
the maximum number of texture units in your card, therefore certain
options will not work together but the man page tells you how many
texture units each option needs. With that info it should be easy to
tweak your settings.

To get you going, try mplayer -vo gl:yuv=2:lscale=1:cscale=1file
Don't forget to test it in fullscreen mode.

You can later apply these options either in /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf or
in ~/.mplayer/config like this: vo=gl:yuv=2:lscale=1:cscale=1

Hope this helps,
Florian Philipp

   


I'll look into that in a bit.  Sort of having a so so day today.  Those 
options may help tho.  I mostly play mp4's tho.  They can be pretty big.


Dale

:-)  :-)



Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Adam Carter
 Nice link.  I didn't even think of looking on that site.  I guess one good
 thing to go by is the processing power and memory.  After all, that's what
 makes it all work faster.  Looks like I'm still getting a pretty old card
 but I don't play any hard core games or anything.  Playing videos is about
 as much load as the card will see with me.  I do play Kpatience tho.  Love
 my card games.


I would have thought you would have no problems at all with your current
system. IIRC I had no problem with full screen SD video using mplayer on a
Athlon 2200 with a crappy integrated 440MX video... what's the CPU
utilization when you're playing the full screen video?

I'm just thinking changing the card might not make any difference.


Re: [gentoo-user] Upgrading from FX-5200 to a GeForce 6200 512MB

2010-10-19 Thread Dale

Adam Carter wrote:


Nice link.  I didn't even think of looking on that site.  I guess
one good thing to go by is the processing power and memory.  After
all, that's what makes it all work faster.  Looks like I'm still
getting a pretty old card but I don't play any hard core games or
anything.  Playing videos is about as much load as the card will
see with me.  I do play Kpatience tho.  Love my card games.


I would have thought you would have no problems at all with your 
current system. IIRC I had no problem with full screen SD video using 
mplayer on a Athlon 2200 with a crappy integrated 440MX video... 
what's the CPU utilization when you're playing the full screen video?


I'm just thinking changing the card might not make any difference.


The CPU is usually at about 40 or 50% or so.  Sometimes it goes higher 
but I can usually watch a video while emerge is running as far as CPU 
time goes, although emerge takes longer that way.


I'm wondering if the card may be getting hot and slowing down because of 
that?  i replaced the heat sink a good while back and I got more than 
enough cooling on the case.  The heat sink has a fan and maybe it is not 
turning or something.  I did blow out the dust a while back and I do 
have filters over the intakes to help some.


Dale

:-)  :-)