From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Tue May 18 16:12:15 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 446A316A52B for ; Tue, 18 May 2004 16:12:12 -0700 (PDT) Received: from cmsrelay03.mx.net (cmsrelay03.mx.net [165.212.11.112]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 7F4D443E1F for ; Tue, 18 May 2004 14:26:53 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from noackjr@alumni.rice.edu) Received: from cmsapps02.cms.usa.net (165.212.11.138) by cmsoutbound.mx.net with SMTP; 18 May 2004 20:18:43 -0000 Received: from optimator.noacks.org [70.240.201.34] by cmsapps02.cms.usa.net (ASMTP/noackjr@usa.net) via mtad (C8.MAIN.3.13N) with ESMTP id 169ieRusp0443M38; Tue, 18 May 2004 20:18:41 GMT X-USANET-Auth: 70.240.201.34 AUTH noackjr@usa.net optimator.noacks.org Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by optimator.noacks.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 04B9A616D; Tue, 18 May 2004 15:18:41 -0500 (CDT) Received: from optimator.noacks.org ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (optimator.noacks.org [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id 30244-03; Tue, 18 May 2004 15:18:39 -0500 (CDT) Received: from [192.168.1.10] (compgeek [192.168.1.10]) by optimator.noacks.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CC3CA6167; Tue, 18 May 2004 15:18:39 -0500 (CDT) Message-ID: <40AA6F9E.1040004@alumni.rice.edu> Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 15:18:38 -0500 From: Jon Noack User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 0.6 (Windows/20040502) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: eqe-support@cox.net References: <20040518012922.IPHP7895.lakermmtao10.cox.net@smtp.central.cox.net> In-Reply-To: <20040518012922.IPHP7895.lakermmtao10.cox.net@smtp.central.cox.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new at noacks.org cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: best video card for bsds X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: noackjr@alumni.rice.edu List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 23:12:16 -0000 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