Date: Sun, 03 Feb 2008 00:16:31 +0200 From: Manolis Kiagias <sonicy@otenet.gr> To: Mike Clarke <jmc-freebsd@milibyte.co.uk> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Nvidia graphics on AMD64 Message-ID: <47A4EBBF.3060603@otenet.gr> In-Reply-To: <200802022112.28641.jmc-freebsd@milibyte.co.uk> References: <200802022112.28641.jmc-freebsd@milibyte.co.uk>
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Mike Clarke wrote: > After running a 90 hour portupgrade job on my current Duron 1600 based system > I've persuaded myself that a hardware upgrade is due. > > I'm contemplating building a system around an Athlon 64 X2 4200+ CPU. I'm not > into games and overclocking so a relatively low end motherboard with > integrated graphics should suffice. I've been looking at a few specs, many of > them use Nvidia chipsets and I understand that there isn't a Nvidia graphics > driver for FreeBSD on the AMD64 platform. > > If I choose a Nvidia based motherboard would I have to install the i386 > version of FreeBSD if I wanted to use the onboard graphics, in which case to > what extent would the overall performance suffer? > > My graphics needs are fairly modest, so long as I can use the Gimp to edit > some photos I'm OK, but playing the occasional DVD fairly smoothly would be a > bonus but not essential. Is there any alternative graphics driver which would > meet my needs? > > ... or should I just keep away from Nvidia and concentrate on something with > ATI graphics? > > I had a machine with integrated NVidia graphics running FreeBSD/Amd64 for a few weeks. It was an Athlon X2 4600+ and the onboard graphics was GeForce 7100. Usually the integrated graphics come from the lower-spec graphic chipsets and are well supported by the open source "nv" driver. As long as you don't need fancy 3D effects, the combination works perfectly and is absolutely suitable for a desktop. DVDs were no problem, and the whole feeling was the machine was "flying". (Pitty I had to part with it...) There are lots and lots of cheap 'n' cheerful micro-atx boards to choose from.
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