What's a good cheap business video card that works well with Linux?

newer
Re: [SLE] find: . changed during...

older
SCSI Controller Configuration Error

Preston Crawford

1 Feb 2005 1 Feb '05

17:56

I've been having a problem for some time with my video display. I used to think it was related to SuSE, but a while back I installed Windows and my machine did the same thing. Basically what it does is it subtly turns a little darker for a brief second then goes back to normal. It happens randomly and it's extremely annoying. I have an NEC CRT 17" monitor. Only like a year and a half old. It's getting really old, though, and I'm not sure what to do. Part of me wants to replace the monitor. But then another part of me says that it could be the video card (ATI Radeon 7000). I once tried to install Fedora Core 3 and it wouldn't install. ALWAYS got hung up on configuring X. That seems like a video card problem, doesn't it? Anyway, after writing this out (I also posted to the newsgroup) I removed the Radeon 7000 and let the on-board video take over. No flickers so far. Very strange. Assuming the video card is at fault and not the monitor could the problem be that the video card is too "strong" for the monitor? I know that may sound stupid, but I'm green when it comes to issues like this with hardware. If it's just a bum card (I've never heard of video cards just going bad, so that's why I'm perplexed) what's a good low-end business video card that will drive my monitor at 1024x768 at a refresh rate of 85? Preston

Show replies by date

Hans du Plooy

1 Feb 1 Feb

18:05

New subject: [SLE] What's a good cheap business video card that works well with Linux?

On Tuesday 01 February 2005 19:56, Preston Crawford wrote:

...

what's a good low-end business video card that will drive my monitor at 1024x768 at a refresh rate of 85? Depends on what your needs are? If the onboard works good enough (anything semi recent with at least 8mb videoram can do 1024x768@85hz), stick to it. If you just want something that can give you hardware overlay (to watch movies), and basic hardware 3D (not a too bad idea as graphics used in desktop looks gets heavier) go for a low end Radeon, like the one you have - but buy a decent board, Gigabyte or something. I made the mistake of buying a card from PowerColor. Once you get it going you can see the chip is good, but the card's firmware is crap and it gives me all sorts of hassles. Anyways, the 7500 is still available, and natively supported by Xfree and X.Org with all it's features.

Alternatively a low end nVidia card - TNT2 or GeForce2 or GeForce4MX (which is really nothing but a rebadged Geforce2MX). You'll need to load the nVidia driver, but that's a pretty smooth operation these days... -- Kind regards Hans du Plooy Newington Consulting Services hansdp at newingtoncs dot co dot za

Fred A. Miller

23:38

New subject: [SLE] What's a good cheap business video card that works well with Linux?

On Tue February 1 2005 12:56 pm, Preston Crawford wrote:

...

I've been having a problem for some time with my video display. I used to think it was related to SuSE, but a while back I installed Windows and my machine did the same thing. Basically what it does is it subtly turns a little darker for a brief second then goes back to normal. It happens randomly and it's extremely annoying. I have an NEC CRT 17" monitor. Only like a year and a half old. It's getting really old, though, and I'm not sure what to do.

[snip] This is NOT the video card causing this problem, but 99% of the time the fly back transformer in the monitor is getting ready to take a dump. Fred -- The only bug free software from MickySoft is still shrink-wrapped in their warehouse..."

Preston Crawford

2 Feb 2 Feb

00:05

New subject: [SLE] What's a good cheap business video card that works well with Linux?

On Tue, 1 Feb 2005, Fred A. Miller wrote:

...

On Tue February 1 2005 12:56 pm, Preston Crawford wrote:

...
I've been having a problem for some time with my video display. I used to think it was related to SuSE, but a while back I installed Windows and my machine did the same thing. Basically what it does is it subtly turns a little darker for a brief second then goes back to normal. It happens randomly and it's extremely annoying. I have an NEC CRT 17" monitor. Only like a year and a half old. It's getting really old, though, and I'm not sure what to do.

[snip]

This is NOT the video card causing this problem, but 99% of the time the fly back transformer in the monitor is getting ready to take a dump.

Fred

The puzzling thing is that it doesn't exhibit this problem with my on-board video card. Preston

Randall R Schulz

00:24

New subject: [SLE] What's a good cheap business video card that works well with Linux?

Preston, On Tuesday 01 February 2005 16:05, Preston Crawford wrote:

...

On Tue, 1 Feb 2005, Fred A. Miller wrote:

...
On Tue February 1 2005 12:56 pm, Preston Crawford wrote:

...
I've been having a problem for some time with my video display. I used to think it was related to SuSE, but a while back I installed Windows and my machine did the same thing. Basically what it does is it subtly turns a little darker for a brief second then goes back to normal. It happens randomly and it's extremely annoying. I have an NEC CRT 17" monitor. Only like a year and a half old. It's getting really old, though, and I'm not sure what to do.

[snip]

This is NOT the video card causing this problem, but 99% of the time the fly back transformer in the monitor is getting ready to take a dump.

Fred

The puzzling thing is that it doesn't exhibit this problem with my on-board video card.

That could simply be because when driven by that video circuitry the frequencies and timings are different and they do not produce the same electrodynamic stresses on the the monitor's inductive components (the flyback transformer, e.g.). Are all the basic sweep paremeters the same between the two graphics adaptors? That is, the horizontal and vertical resolution and, very importantly, the vertical refresh rate.

...

Preston

Randall Schulz

Preston Crawford

16:14

New subject: [SLE] What's a good cheap business video card that works well with Linux?

On Tue, 2005-02-01 at 16:24 -0800, Randall R Schulz wrote:

...

...
The puzzling thing is that it doesn't exhibit this problem with my on-board video card.

That could simply be because when driven by that video circuitry the frequencies and timings are different and they do not produce the same electrodynamic stresses on the the monitor's inductive components (the flyback transformer, e.g.).

Are all the basic sweep paremeters the same between the two graphics adaptors? That is, the horizontal and vertical resolution and, very importantly, the vertical refresh rate.

Well, I can't speak to what the two different video cards are doing in terms of what their output is. However, when I setup each via Sax, I make sure to put the EXACT values from the manual for the monitor, including horizontal and vertical resolutions, etc. The funny thing is tonight I gave the Radeon 7000 another shot. Someone mentioned that it could just be seated wrong. So I put it in and made sure it was seated properly, just in case something got jarred when I installed it last. So far no problems. I'll keep you guys posted. Preston

mikus＠bga.com

19:14

New subject: [SLE] What's a good cheap business video card that works well

On Wed, 02 Feb 2005 08:14:34 -0800 Preston Crawford wrote:

...

Well, I can't speak to what the two different video cards are doing in terms of what their output is. However, when I setup each via Sax, I make sure to put the EXACT values from the manual for the monitor, including horizontal and vertical resolutions, etc.

I've seen the video software use "standardized" dimensions for actual screen size. This may be a "placebo effect", but it seemed to me that the picture was "crisper" when I told SaX the exact screen dimensions (in millimeters) from the manual. mikus

Preston Crawford

3 Feb 3 Feb

16:00

New subject: [SLE] What's a good cheap business video card that works well

On Wed, 2005-02-02 at 13:14 -0600, Mikus Grinbergs wrote:

...

On Wed, 02 Feb 2005 08:14:34 -0800 Preston Crawford wrote:

...
Well, I can't speak to what the two different video cards are doing in terms of what their output is. However, when I setup each via Sax, I make sure to put the EXACT values from the manual for the monitor, including horizontal and vertical resolutions, etc.

I've seen the video software use "standardized" dimensions for actual screen size. This may be a "placebo effect", but it seemed to me that the picture was "crisper" when I told SaX the exact screen dimensions (in millimeters) from the manual.

I agree. I ALWAYS tell SaX the exact screen dimensions from the manual. Preston

Fred A. Miller

2 Feb 2 Feb

14:32

New subject: [SLE] What's a good cheap business video card that works well with Linux?

On Tue February 1 2005 7:05 pm, Preston Crawford wrote:

...

...
This is NOT the video card causing this problem, but 99% of the time the fly back transformer in the monitor is getting ready to take a dump.

Fred

The puzzling thing is that it doesn't exhibit this problem with my on-board video card.

Then, I could be wrong and it is something wrong with the card. You also may want to MAKE CERTAIN of the refresh rates that are set in sax2, that they are EXACT for that monitor. Fred -- The only bug free software from MickySoft is still shrink-wrapped in their warehouse..."

Preston Crawford

16:16

New subject: [SLE] What's a good cheap business video card that works well with Linux?

On Wed, 2005-02-02 at 09:32 -0500, Fred A. Miller wrote:

...

On Tue February 1 2005 7:05 pm, Preston Crawford wrote:

...
...
This is NOT the video card causing this problem, but 99% of the time the fly back transformer in the monitor is getting ready to take a dump.

Fred

The puzzling thing is that it doesn't exhibit this problem with my on-board video card.

Then, I could be wrong and it is something wrong with the card. You also may want to MAKE CERTAIN of the refresh rates that are set in sax2, that they are EXACT for that monitor.

They are exact. I have an NEC FE771SB that wasn't recognized until THIS version of X. So I've been hand-entering the numbers for about 3 versions of Linux. So I definitely know how to do that and how to do it exactly. But as I said in another post, I tried reseating the Radeon last night and it hasn't given me a problem yet. I'll let it run for a few days and see if the problem creeps in again. Could it be something as simple as it not being seated quite right? Preston

Brad Bourn

16:21

New subject: [SLE] What's a good cheap business video card that works well with Linux?

Stick with nVidia. you won't be sorry. B-) On Wednesday 02 February 2005 09:16 am, Preston Crawford wrote:

...

On Wed, 2005-02-02 at 09:32 -0500, Fred A. Miller wrote:

...
On Tue February 1 2005 7:05 pm, Preston Crawford wrote:

...
...
This is NOT the video card causing this problem, but 99% of the time the fly back transformer in the monitor is getting ready to take a dump.

Fred

The puzzling thing is that it doesn't exhibit this problem with my on-board video card.

Then, I could be wrong and it is something wrong with the card. You also may want to MAKE CERTAIN of the refresh rates that are set in sax2, that they are EXACT for that monitor.

They are exact. I have an NEC FE771SB that wasn't recognized until THIS version of X. So I've been hand-entering the numbers for about 3 versions of Linux. So I definitely know how to do that and how to do it exactly.

But as I said in another post, I tried reseating the Radeon last night and it hasn't given me a problem yet. I'll let it run for a few days and see if the problem creeps in again. Could it be something as simple as it not being seated quite right?

Preston

Stan Glasoe

23:58

New subject: [SLE] What's a good cheap business video card that works well with Linux?

On Wednesday 02 February 2005 10:16 am, Preston Crawford wrote:

...

But as I said in another post, I tried reseating the Radeon last night and it hasn't given me a problem yet. I'll let it run for a few days and see if the problem creeps in again. Could it be something as simple as it not being seated quite right?

Preston

Yes. Seating of all components is critical. Some systems seem to need a thorough re-seating of everything every x amount of time. Depending on how often the system is running and how often it is off and cools down will affect the expansion/contraction of the metal and can cause any connection to loosen over time. Cables, cards, CPUs, memory, etc may work loose and cause all kinds of fun troubleshooting adventures and hilarity. Sounds like you may have just experienced one! Stan

Preston Crawford

3 Feb 3 Feb

15:58

New subject: [SLE] What's a good cheap business video card that works well with Linux?

On Wed, 2005-02-02 at 17:58 -0600, Stan Glasoe wrote:

...

On Wednesday 02 February 2005 10:16 am, Preston Crawford wrote:

...
But as I said in another post, I tried reseating the Radeon last night and it hasn't given me a problem yet. I'll let it run for a few days and see if the problem creeps in again. Could it be something as simple as it not being seated quite right?

Preston

Yes. Seating of all components is critical. Some systems seem to need a thorough re-seating of everything every x amount of time. Depending on how often the system is running and how often it is off and cools down will affect the expansion/contraction of the metal and can cause any connection to loosen over time. Cables, cards, CPUs, memory, etc may work loose and cause all kinds of fun troubleshooting adventures and hilarity. Sounds like you may have just experienced one!

Hopefully that's all it was. So far, so good. I would generally assume that poorly seated hardware just wouldn't work. That's why I didn't even think to check that. Preston

Stan Glasoe

17:57

New subject: [SLE] What's a good cheap business video card that works well with Linux?

On Thursday 03 February 2005 9:58 am, Preston Crawford wrote:

...

Hopefully that's all it was. So far, so good. I would generally assume that poorly seated hardware just wouldn't work. That's why I didn't even think to check that.

Preston

Poorly seated hardware isn't a binary issue. Think static sparks instead on some of the connections creating intermittent contact. Some pins/traces may connect and provide just enough power/logic to let a device appear to operate while some other pins/traces aren't functioning at spec. Your video card may not have had enough power or logic signals for that one area of the screen display/color. Almost the same thing can happen if the monitor's cable isn't seated properly in the video card. I was going to suggest checking that just before you reseated your card. Stan

7029

Age (days ago)

7031

Last active (days ago)

List overview

Download

13 comments

7 participants

participants (7)

Brad Bourn
Fred A. Miller
Hans du Plooy
mikus＠bga.com
Preston Crawford
Randall R Schulz
Stan Glasoe