Re: [aclug-L] AGP vs PCI video cards

["Greg House" <ghouse@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>What are peoples thoughts on AGP video cards vs. PCI cards? The
>machine will not be a heavy gaming machine, but I want good support
>for Linux (XFree86) and I want it to perform well with things like the
>GIMP.
>
>Also, do people have a suggested manufacture/chipset with the above in
>mind?

Well...I can't tell you much about what's good AGP-wise, but I can tell you
to avoid the Diamond Speedstar A50 for the time being (SiS 6326 chipset).
Even with the latest XFree86 (3.3.3.1), which supposedly supports it, you
still have to disable all it's hardware acceleration to get it to display
anything correctly.  I expect a little more the 8 bpp from an 8MB 3D video
card.  I'm really unhappy with this thing.

According to the FAQ at www.xfree86.org, the best supported cards are the
ones with the S3 chipsets, followed by the ATIs.  If I were you, I'd do a
quick DejaNews search of comp.os.linux.x for any card you're thinking about
using.  If there are a lot of articles where people describe troubles (with
few or no responses that say things work great...) seriously question your
choice.

I did this before buying the Diamond A50, but incorrectly thought that XF86
3.3.3, with it's increased support for the card, would take care of the
problems.  Nope.

I do have it where it'll display now, but it's still not quite right
(actually, it's very far right...that's the problem...)  I have an S3 card I
was supposed to use in another system that I may try to see if I can swap
into this one if I can't get any better results with it.  I also have an
older STB Velocity 3D PCI card that I could try too.  Also an 8MB card and
there's not much else in this system, so I don't think I'd lose much by
going PCI instead of AGP.  I donno.

Greg

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