Greetings.
I am tired of this ATI x1600 card giving me problems, I swore it was the ATI drivers, but after upgrading to a HD3870 in my main rig, I now know it’s the x1600.
I’m looking for a decent card to replace the x1600, that will give me the ability to run desktop effects in openSUSE 11 KDE 4.1. I tried this with the x1600 and the results were not satisfactory, very slow with “Low” settings.
Granted, I could never get the ATI drivers to install properly with this card, which is why I’m replacing.
Any suggestions? I’m not going to be playing games, just a decent performer for a second machine that is my multimedia box.
–Kp
Most Nvidia cards should do the job & the drivers are a doddle to install
Andy
For quite some time nvidia cards have been preferred in linux land over ATI because of nvidia’s much better driver support. Recently I’ve seen a number of posts elsewhere praising the recent ATI drivers, so maybe things have changed with the AMD acquisition. At the same time, over on the nvidia forums nvidia is getting beat over the head about 2D issues in the current linux drivers; there was a beta driver (gratefully not included with openSUSE) widely distributed that’s been pulled back. Also, some complaints re the most recent new editions in the 8000 and 9000 series; but there, the linux driver support is also very new, so all this should shake out. So just maybe nvidia and ATI aren’t so far apart as they were not long ago.
Having said that, if you’re looking for a good all-around performer that’s rock solid and reasonable $, the nvidia 7600GT is a great choice. I use it on my primary workstation, and it’s been faultless. It also overclocks like a champ, so you can get much higher perf for the money.
Some good advice there for you so far.
Prior to my current Nvidia I used a 7 series. Perfect.
Current 8500GT: Needed a manual install in Suse 10.3 for some reason, but worked fine. Now in Suse 11 - Perfect.
Just stay away fom the latest and greatest - bells and whistles GPU’s.
Mingus hit the nail on the head
a good all-around performer that’s rock solid and reasonable $
Thanx. I did get my x1600 to finally load the drivers, but it was a PITA, and I honestly don’t think it’s the drivers, but this card, as I’ve always had problems to get the drivers and this card to work the first time within linux.
I was considering getting a nvidia 8500 GT, as New Egg has them for the $50 price range, which is all I really want to spend on a card for this machine since it is not my main rig. I will check into the 7 series as well if they are rock solid and a great price.
I am looking for something that can handle the desktop effects in KDE4.1. I do like eye candy on this machine. 
–k
@kevinpo -
I just posted a reply to you on another thread As I mention there, the eye-candy whether kwin or compiz-fusion works great on my 7600 GT. I have it overclocked and it’s running at 58C in ambient 26C (bloody hot here now); these GPU’s have much higher heat tolerance than the CPU so you can clock 'em up.
Jeez, I didn’t know the prices on these cards had come down so far; $50 for an 8500 GT?! - that’s a steal, assuming it’s from a decent card manufacturer; I’ve used MSI and EVGA for nvidia and both have been solid.