amd64 platform newbie -- what video card for x11?

[Isaac Mushinsky]

On 3/5/08, Jung-uk Kim <jkim at freebsd.org> wrote:
>
> On Wednesday 05 March 2008 03:52 am, Isaac Mushinsky wrote:
> > On 3/5/08, Peter Jeremy <peterjeremy at optushome.com.au> wrote:
> > > On Tue, Mar 04, 2008 at 10:52:12PM -0500, Isaac Mushinsky wrote:
> > > >1) does the open nv driver work? I do not play games or really
> > > > need 3D acceleration, just want basic 2D and things like
> > > > mplayer to work properly.
> > >
> > > For basic purposes and mplayer, nv should do. It might just soak
> > > up more CPU than a better driver would.
> > >
> > > >2) should I return nvidia card and get something else? Is there
> > > > a better reasonably working card?
> > >
> > > I'll second the ATI suggestion. Note that whilst AMD have
> > > indicated they will open-source the ATI GPU specs, I believe they
> > > have only released specs for a single GPU so far and it will take
> > > some time for the open specs to reach the X.org drivers.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Peter Jeremy
> > > Please excuse any delays as the result of my ISP's inability to
> > > implement an MTA that is either RFC2821-compliant or matches
> > > their claimed behaviour.
> >
> > What current ATI cards have the best support?
>
>
> [Note: moved from amd64 ML.]
>
> Summary:
> http://tirdc.livejournal.com/17521.html
>
> Some corrections:
> http://tirdc.livejournal.com/17750.html
> http://tirdc.livejournal.com/18076.html
>
> Radeon chipset families:
> http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/ATIRadeon
>
> FreeBSD is lagging behind little bit in 3D area because Linux
> developers are constantly breaking DRM for FreeBSD to add new
> features and cards and our in-tree DRM is quite old now. :-(
> So, if you don't care about 3D acceleration ATM, I think you will be
> happy with R5xx family controllers since Xv support has been added in
> the latest driver from git:
>
> http://airlied.livejournal.com/56998.html
> http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7997
>
> I heard AMD/ATI will release R6xx family 3D spec. this month but it
> will take some time to have a working 3D acceleration because the
> programming API is quite different:
>
> http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8148
>
> FYI, open source AMD/ATI drivers are very fast moving targets ATM,
> e.g., mach64 and r128 were splitted up into separate drivers
> (xf86-video-mach64 and xf86-video-r128 respectively) and there are
> two drivers for R5xx/R6xx, i.e., xf86-video-ati and
> xf86-video-radeonhd.
>
> Personally I have RV280, M12 (mobile RV360), and M76 (mobile RV630)
> and I am very happy with all three. :-)
>
>
> Jung-uk Kim




Sorry; replied to you and forgot to post to the list. Is there any
difference between R5xx and RV5xx, or same drivers will work?