which graphics card?

[Alex Zbyslaw]

Kep Woof wrote:

> i need to have direct rendering and dual head dvi.  in 2006, decent 3d
> performance doesn't seem unreasonable, even if it is just to run a
> swanky screen saver.  i've got an xfx geforce 6800GT sitting around
> here that i'd like to use, but it seems this is currently impossible
> on amd64.  it seems like a huge waste to run the i386 version on an
> amd64 machine, 

I can't comment on the difference because I didn't bother with amd64 for 
the very reasons you mention.  But, for me, A8V plus single core AMD 
4000 + 6800GT is plain bloody fast.  Most regular work things I run on 
it go faster than a single CPU 2.8Ghz Dell 2850, and though you can beat 
a 6800GT these days, the only way to really *trounce* it is to run two 
graphics cards with SLI and I'm not sure FreeBSD supports that yet.  
It'll certainly run your screen saver :-)  Runs cool too.

There might be better mobos than an A8V these days - I got mine a year 
ago - but pretty much everything on it works.  COM2 needs some kind of 
expansion but I only needed one.

You can always switch to amd64 if NVidia ever do provide drivers.  You 
could also "me too" on their message boards which might make some tiny 
difference.

--Alex