From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Feb 3 01:35:59 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1E7FE16A41A for ; Sun, 3 Feb 2008 01:35:59 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from frank@esperance-linux.co.uk) Received: from mailout.zetnet.co.uk (mailout.zetnet.co.uk [194.247.47.231]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A44C313C4CE for ; Sun, 3 Feb 2008 01:35:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from frank@esperance-linux.co.uk) Received: from irwell.zetnet.co.uk ([194.247.47.48] helo=zetnet.co.uk) by mailout.zetnet.co.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1JLTm1-00030w-JZ; Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:35:57 +0000 Received: from melon.esperance-linux.co.uk (54-144.adsl.zetnet.co.uk [194.247.54.144]) by zetnet.co.uk (8.14.1/8.14.1/Debian-9) with ESMTP id m131ZvZo029135; Sun, 3 Feb 2008 01:35:57 GMT Received: by melon.esperance-linux.co.uk (Postfix, from userid 1001) id EEF94FCAC11; Sun, 3 Feb 2008 01:35:51 +0000 (GMT) Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2008 01:35:51 +0000 From: Frank Shute To: Mike Clarke Message-ID: <20080203013551.GB62332@melon.esperance-linux.co.uk> References: <200802022112.28641.jmc-freebsd@milibyte.co.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200802022112.28641.jmc-freebsd@milibyte.co.uk> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.3i X-Face: *}~{PHnDTzvXPe'wl_-f%!@+r5; VLhb':*DsX%wEOPg\fDrXWQJf|2\,92"DdS%63t*BHDyQ|OWo@Gfjcd72eaN!4%NE{0]p)ihQ1MyFNtWL X-Operating-System: FreeBSD 6.3-RELEASE i386 X-Organisation: 'Esperance Linux' X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-3.0 (zetnet.co.uk [194.247.46.1]); Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:35:57 +0000 (GMT) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Nvidia graphics on AMD64 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Frank Shute List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:35:59 -0000 On Sat, Feb 02, 2008 at 09:12:27PM +0000, 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. There are nvidia chipsets such as nforce4 which work with FreeBSD, I don't know about more recent ones but you can have a grovel through here: http://www.freebsd.org/platforms/amd64/motherboards.html > > 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? No. You can use the nv driver: x11-drivers/xf86-video-nv You might want to use i386 if you've got less than 4GB of memory as some applications are only 32 bit such as Flash. > > 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? You'd be ok with nv which builds on i386 or AMD64. There is a proprietory driver which can be used on i386 but not AMD64: x11/nvidia-driver > > ... or should I just keep away from Nvidia and concentrate on something with > ATI graphics? I've just switched from an Nvidia card to ATI onboard and the nvidia card was better. The onboard ATI gives me a rather washed out picture. So my advice would be to avoid onboard graphics and get a cheap nvidia card. You can get them for about 20 quid for a 128MB card. -- Frank Contact info: http://www.esperance-linux.co.uk/misc/contact.html