Hi, could I get some recommendations for a cheap Nvidia video card? I have a 6200LE right now and would like to improve on it.
Thanks!
So for around $100 (+/- 20), depending on where you buy it, in US Dollars, I would look at the GTS 450 as a mid-priced, works well with nVIDIA driver video card. Here are some links that might be helpful …
Review: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 1GB Single & SLI Review
Price Compare: nvidia gts 450 price - Google Search
Fry’s nVIDIA 450 Card: FRYS.com
(Compare a nvidia 8300 to a 450): GeForce 8300 GS (OEM) vs GeForce GTS 450 1GB – Performance Comparison Benchmarks @ Hardware Compare
AND, if you stay with nVIDIA, other things you can use:
Installing the nVIDIA Video Driver the Hard Way - Blogs - openSUSE Forums
LNVHW - Load NVIDIA (driver the) Hard Way from runlevel 3 - Version 1.45 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums
S.A.N.D.I. - SuSE Automated NVIDIA Driver Installer - Version 1.46 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums
And if you prefer to try the latest kernel and its built in nVIDIA driver called nouveau, which you might want to try out first, before loading the proprietary video driver:
S.A.K.C. - SUSE Automated Kernel Compiler - Version 2.71 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums
S.G.T.B. - SuSE Git Kernel Tarball Creator - Version 1.80 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums
I like to throw out a lot of stuff and see if any thing sticks … lol!
Thank You,
Great, thank you so much. I was looking at the GT 430 which is about $60. Any thoughts on that one?
So, first and foremost, you got to buy what you can afford and so don’t let anyone else get you to spend money you do not have! Now, that being said and which is very true, if you can afford $40 more (or so) Dollars, plus tax, I would make the stretch.
Here is a link to compare the two: GeForce GT 430 vs GeForce GTS 450 1GB – Performance Comparison Benchmarks @ Hardware Compare
The 450 is at least twice as fast (or more) and its only issue is it uses more power, when running at its max. When you buy a video card, its got to be for the long haul. If you can go the extra distances, then do so. If you can’t, the 430 will still be a faster video card than what you are using now.
What ever you decide to do, you must let us know of your success!
Thank You,
OK, I sure will. I can get the 430 for $49 from NewEgg with a $10 rebate, so for $40 I’ll be better off than I am now. I’m pretty sure this old card is the bottleneck in my system.
On Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:06:02 +0530, oboedad55
<oboedad55@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>
> jdmcdaniel3;2459320 Wrote:
>> So, first and foremost, you got to buy what you can afford and so don’t
>> let anyone else get you to spend money you do not have! Now, that being
>> said and which is very true, if you can afford $40 more (or so) Dollars,
>> plus tax, I would make the stretch.
>>
>> Here is a link to compare the two: ‘GeForce GT 430 vs GeForce GTS 450
>> 1GB – Performance Comparison Benchmarks @ Hardware Compare’
>> (http://www.hwcompare.com/7729/geforce-gt-430-vs-geforce-gts-450-1gb/)
>>
>> The 450 is at least twice as fast (or more) and its only issue is it
>> uses more power, when running at its max. When you buy a video card,
>> its got to be for the long haul. If you can go the extra distances,
>> then do so. If you can’t, the 430 will still be a faster video card
>> than what you are using now.
>>
>> What ever you decide to do, you must let us know of your success!
>>
>> Thank You,
>
> OK, I sure will. I can get the 430 for $49 from NewEgg with a $10
> rebate, so for $40 I’ll be better off than I am now. I’m pretty sure
> this old card is the bottleneck in my system.
>
FWIW, i am using GT 430 without any problems since a couple of months. but
i’m not into 3D games (except foo billard once in a while); might be
different if my teenage kids were still at home.
i don’t observe any bottlenecks, slow-down, or other symptoms that would
call for a better video card. full-screen flash, videos, DVD all work
without problems. (i don’t have any high-definition videos at the moment,
so can’t say how that would work.)
–
phani.
James, I found a slightly used Gigabyte GTS450 on Amazon for $71 so I grabbed it. I’ll let you know how it pans out. Thanks again!
That is good news. Please let us know how it is working for you.
Thank You,
Wow, I just compared the 8400 GS which I think is better than my 6200 LE, to the GTS 450. The 450 blows it away, from 380% texel and pixel rate to 800% faster in memory bandwidth. It’s coming tomorrow and I’m looking forward to slapping it in. Woohoo!
Just a couple of things. nVIDIA cards often need the nomodeset command to work and if you were loading the legacy nVIDIA driver, you would want to uninstall it first. Make sure to check out my links on loading the driver the hard way.
Thank You,
Thanks James, I was using the current driver, 295.40 so it should be plug and play? The only time I’ve had to use nomodeset was with the nouveau driver, but if things don’t work I’ll try it.
So, I have swapped out one nVIDIA video card for another without reloading the driver if they used the same version, but it does not hurt to reload the same nVIDIA driver again either, just to make sure it knows about the video card change.
Thank You,
OK, thanks. If Amazon can get their act together I’ll get the card tomorrow. I’ll let you know what happens.
I purchased an Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS 512MB. Priced between $60 - $70.
Now how long ago was that Romanator? I have had 8600 and 8800’s and they worked very well and coat a lot more when they were new, that is for sure, but they were released around 2007 as I recall while the 450’s came out in 2010. I still have and use an nVIDIA 450 in my HTPC rig and so I would just go for something newer. Of course, nVIDIA just popped out the 680 recently and it will be a while before I have anything in the 600 range I would guess. My main system uses a 560 right now and it seems to work well. Since I constantly play with nVIDIA drivers, bash utilties to load them as well as kernels, I am trying to stay on the same page as nVIDIA, but it is not easy to do so. I can not even imagine someone who buys two 680’s and runs them together for $1000, plus tax for just video cards, but as we know, many people have a lot more (money) than us.
Of course, not having enough (money) has not always stopped me (from buying another computer part) as that is why they made the credit cards. lol!
I might also add that we really do want to hear from everyone as to their card purchases as it is invaluable to know what the trends may be with Linux. So what video card do you use right now Romanator?
Thank You,
Believe it or not. I’m still using the 8600 GTS 512 MB. My rig is still using the Q6600 Quad which is still a pretty fast CPU.
However, I’m looking for something newer.
I’m considering purchasing one of the newer Ivy-Bridge CPUs with Asus mobo. But I’m not ready to buy a graphics card that’s $1000. 
Well I have owned both before and as I remember, I gave the Intel Q6600 to my daughter who is still using it today. I have also been think about the latest Intel chipset, but I have a Intel i7 2600K right now and its the fastest CPU I have ever owned. I can get full a kernel compile done in just 8 minutes and its hard to belkieve I can do any better right now. What is for sure, if you go with the latest Intel CPU, you got to let us know how well that it works for you.
Thank You,
Well James, no love with the new card. 
Got it plugged in and powered up but the best it can do is give me weird screen arttifacts even with the post-up. Got my crummy 6200 back in but very disappointed. Any ideas? Maybe my power supply is insufficient? Says it needs a 400 watt, which is what I have. Plugged in a 460 but no different. Maybe the card is bad?
Well, my suggestion, if you have not done so it to install/reinstall the latest nVIDIA driver the hard way, making sure that nomodeset is being used in your grub menu.lst file and to blacklist nouveau, which my following bash script will do for you automatically.
LNVHW - Load NVIDIA (driver the) Hard Way from runlevel 3 - Version 1.45 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums
If the driver loads without error, it should work. There is a small chance about low power from your power supply, but again, the video card will actually report a power problem during the Power On Self Test of your PC. There is a chance the card could be defective, but I don’t know much about the one you purchased.
Thank You,
James, the problem is that everything is so distorted even before the OS starts up I can’t see what’s going on. Since installing drivers is simple in Arch I uninstalled the Nvidia driver there and reinstalled it but no luck. I can’t even get to KDM, I just get to a command prompt. Even the post-up screen is shaky and full of weird colors. I’ll try it once more but there’s no complaint about low power. It was used…