What kind of graphics card?

[Brian Pitts]

Eric Weir wrote:
> This is a version of a post to the Ubuntu forums. I thought I'd check 
> here, too. As some of you know, from earlier posts here and at the last 
> installfest, I've got an excruciatingly slow system. It seems to be 
> getting worse. I used to notice it primarily with Mozilla applications, 
> but today it was affecting even system applications, e.g., my file manager.
> 
> E.g.s of what's happening: trying to respond to a request on the Ubuntu 
> forum earlier this afternoon, it was taking a second or two for each 
> character I typed to show up. I couldn't tell what I was doing. Another: 
> say I've got Thunderbird running, I switch to an empty desktop, then 
> switch back: it literally takes 20 seconds for the screen to fill out 
> Thunderbird. It's unusable.
> 
> I'm going to try one last thing : a new graphics card.

Can you point to the forum threads that explain the other things you 
have tried? Is there somewhere you've posted details about your running 
system? E.G. the output of "uptime", "free", and "dmesg" when you 
experience the lag, x's log file, etc.

IF you need a video card, I have two recommendations. Go with an ATI 
card for better free software drivers, and get one with at least a 
128-bit memory interface.

If you need an AGP card, you can probably find one card from the R200 or 
R300 series for cheap. These are great because the open-source drivers 
are mature and support 3D. Model numbers are 8500 - 9250 for R200, and 
9500 - 9800, X300 - X600, X1050 for R300. For example, here [0] is a 
fanless Radeon X1050 with 256MB of memory and D-SUB/DVI/HDTV out for $36 
(no rebates).

If you need a cheap PCI-E card, I think one on the mid-range R500 series 
is a good choice. For example, here [1] is a fanless Radeon X1550 with 
512MB of memory and D-SUB/DVI/HDTV out for $32 ($47 before rebate).

[0] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161183
[1] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102080

I hope that helps.

-Brian