Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:21:03 +0100 From: Tom Evans <tevans.uk@googlemail.com> To: grarpamp <grarpamp@gmail.com> Cc: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Help picking a video card and other related gear Message-ID: <1239700863.7491.150.camel@strangepork.mintel.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <d2e731a10904092229t44634c47lb9dba52001f08e4c@mail.gmail.com> References: <d2e731a10904092229t44634c47lb9dba52001f08e4c@mail.gmail.com>
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On Fri, 2009-04-10 at 01:29 -0400, grarpamp wrote: > I could use some primary help with video issues. > And secondary help on the motherboard. > I've got seriously old gear and it's upgrade time :) > > I'm currently running 1280x1024 on 21" and I need more desktop. > So I put together some minimum video things: > > Requirements... > 1) Freebsd, amd64 [for zfs and the future of things], xorg > 2) DVI-I or DVI-D dual-link card for those 30" 2560x1600 displays > 3) Well supported, _open_source_, in the tree, video card drivers: > o I don't want to rely on the card vendor to release binary blobs. > o I don't want to end up with a useless video card when > xorg9/freebsd10 come around. > o I don't care about the brand on the box as long as the right chips > are soldered in place. Cheap works if it gets the job done :) > 4) PCIe interface or integrated on motherboard. > > Wants... > 1) Analog RGB output up to 1080p for feeding old school projectors > and backup CRT monitors. I'm betting a single card could provide > it via DVI-I or D-SUB15 with maybe an xorg mode switch? VIVO? > 2) The ability to color calibrate one or both cards via the xorg > driver would be useful. I can spyder it from a windows box so > just having the xorg knobs would suffice. Does anyone do this > under xorg? > 3) A second connector off the same card for feeding a smaller > secondary monitor at the same time. > 4) Some sort of power save mode... LCD off, card idle, etc. > > I'm still shopping for motherboard and chipset. I don't think I'll > find 2560x1600 dvi dual link on an integrated chipset? Thinking > maybe AMD 790GX and AMD SB750 if FreeBSD likes it. > > I might as well go HTPC and stick an HDTV OTA ATSC / QAM tuner in > there. And I'll eventually need to capture NTSC audio/video from > dying analog sources somehow. VOIP/webcam, mplayer, dvd upscaling, > etc. That's all 2D and largely CPU based afaik. > > CPU will likely be... > amd: phenom x3 8450e, athlon x2 5050e or 5600+ > intel: core2 duo e4300, e4400, e4500 > > All the integrated gig network, SATA, and USB must be in the tree > and working well. Boot from USB needs to work. Same with sound. > > Though I'd like to play 3d games on freebsd, that interest does NOT > override the above fulltime workstation requirements. I can always > boot or build a windows toybox for that. So 3d support is only a > bonus. I don't think it even exists open source in tree anyways? > > Just looking for hardware ideas... Thanks. I think what you want is what everyone wants - and I don't think it exists properly yet. I spent the weekend playing around with some very cheap nvidia graphics cards, playing with VDPAU. If you were wanting something very cheap to decode and deinterlace HD MPEG4/AVC/H264, VC-1 or MPEG2, then this is where it is at. With a £30 Geforce 8400 GS, I could decode/deinterlace a 1080i 22 MBps MPEG4 AVC stream, using 3-5% CPU (without acceleration, 70-90% CPU usage and occasionally dropped frames). Playing back 1080p x264 content used 3-5% CPU (without accel, 100% CPU usage, 3-4 dropped frames a second). This was with a 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 7-STABLE and the nvidia 180.44 driver. Obviously, being a nvidia binary blob, there are certain major downsides (no amd64, no source code, no guarentee of support), but to get similar performance from a software decoder would be impossible. Cheers Tom
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