Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 15:18:38 -0500 From: Jon Noack <noackjr@alumni.rice.edu> To: eqe-support@cox.net Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: best video card for bsds Message-ID: <40AA6F9E.1040004@alumni.rice.edu> In-Reply-To: <20040518012922.IPHP7895.lakermmtao10.cox.net@smtp.central.cox.net> References: <20040518012922.IPHP7895.lakermmtao10.cox.net@smtp.central.cox.net>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 5/17/2004 8:29 PM, eqe-support@cox.net wrote: > I wanted some thoughts on what is the best video card out for > freebsd. Not just the hardware but who supports freebsd the best by > providing the best drivers. thx in advance As far as I know, only nVidia offers third-party accelerated drivers for FreeBSD. That said, there are still a few things that need to be done on our end (like TLS) before they will be up-to-par. ATI Radeon cards up to the 9200 have accelerated support built-in to the X server (whether it be XFree86 or X.org). Radeon cards after the 9200 have unaccelerated support in the X server. Once 5.3 rolls around (with TLS), the nVidia cards will probably be the best choice. For now, however, a Radeon 9200 or lower will probably give you the best experience. Alternatively, you could buy an nVidia card and use the unaccelerated drivers that come with X until 5.3 comes around. When I say 'accelerated' I mostly mean 3D. Accelerated drivers often improve 2D performance as well, but for the vast majority of cases the 2D speed of the unaccelerated drivers is sufficient. Note that I am only considering ATI and nVidia cards as they are by far the most popular. Others (like Matrox) also offer excellent X support but are more niche products. Jon
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?40AA6F9E.1040004>