From owner-freebsd-hardware  Sun Dec  2 19:51:26 2001
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From: "Andrew C. Hornback" <achornback@worldnet.att.net>
To: "Nathan Mace" <nmace85@yahoo.com>,
	"Freebsd-hardware" <freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org>
Subject: RE: good video card?
Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2001 22:46:28 -0500
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG
> [mailto:owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of Nathan Mace
> Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2001 10:12 PM
> To: Freebsd-hardware
> Subject: good video card?
>
> i'm getting a new system for Xmas.  can anyone recommend a good
> video card
> for freebsd?  i'm not into the 3D games that much, but i do love
> having all
> the pretties turned on in X. like transparent everything, animations,
> fade-ins and outs.
>
> can anyone recommend a video card that has active driver
> development under
> freebsd? i know that nVidia has closed source drivers for linux.
> anyone know
> anything about this for freebsd?  what i'd really like is a cheap
> voodoo 5
> card.

	Check xfree.org and the website devoted to whatever window manager you're
planning on running.  They'd be able to give you some caveats.

	I've had pretty good luck with the onboard ATi chipset in my NetServer (and
the Diamond Viper V550 that I've added since 16 Megs is better than 2).  I'm
planning on getting a 3D Labs Oxygen VX1 or GVX1 ($500 difference between
the two, so unless I get a screamin' deal, it'll be the VX1).

	Friend of mine recommends Matrox, as they're one of the best supported
cards as far as XFree goes.

	One thing that I try to keep in mind is to figure out the bare minimum
memory required for the resolution and color depth that I'm going to be
running at, and have at least twice as much memory on the video card for
that static level.  According to my calculations, you'd need 8 Megs of video
memory to run at 1600x1200x24 bits per pixel, so by that "rule of thumb"
you'd want 16 Megs on the video card for that resolution and color depth.
Of course, as always with memory, more is better.

--- Andy
*wonders when we'll start seeing gigabytes on video cards...*


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