Video cards : need advise on USED cards...

[Vincent Trouilliez]

On Thu, 2005-06-02 at 14:00 -0700, Kreg Schlosser wrote:
> Most new AGP 8x cards will work in you AGP 4x slot. I do not suggest
> getting used hardware. But as some one who sells hardware for a living
> I would be glad to give adivse. I would suggest getting and Nvidia
> card since the 3d drivers are much much better then those for ATI. I
> would suggest something from the Geforce fx 5500 line of cards. You
> get get a band new one for under 60 bucks. It will also give you
> enough performance to play most modern games, even Unreal 2k4 and
> Doom3 (though at the lowest resolutions).
> here is a link to newegg.com prices:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Manufactory=&PropertyCodeValue=679%3A9563&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&description=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&SubCategory=48&Submit=Property

Thanks for the practical info Kreg, that's useful :-)
60 bucks for a new one ? Hmmm, with the dollar being so weak, it will
probably 45 Euros or something, which is okay, iwas the maaaaximum
amount I was wanting to spend.
Why do you advise against used cards ? Are all cards on Ebay
overclocked/fried ?! :o(((
Maybe we should open a "H/W for sale" section in the Ubuntu web forum,
where Ubuntu users can buy working/non defective H/W from other Ubuntu
lovers :o)))
Performance wise, I don't care about all these violent games, the only
game I play is X-Plane (flight-sim, www.x-plane.com), anything else is
useless to me. So as long as X-Plane is happy, I am happy.
Resolution wise, my CRT monitor is set at 1152x864 at 75Hz , so that's all
I need the card to be capable of.
I am bit worried however, that these cards you mention, all seem to have
cooling fans. How noisy are these ? My PC is rather silent so any added
noise is unbearable, unless it is very low and the shape/pattern of the
noise is acceptable (not high-pitched to start with).
Do these cooling fans come on only when required, that is, when
playing ? In this case, that's acceptable.

Last question... a stupid one I feel please forgive me ;o)
I can see ATI cards, but I can't see any Nvidia cards ! Is Nvidia like
XGI ? That is, they only make the graphics chips, but no complete
boards ? I see in your web link to newegg.com , that there are many
manufacturers building boards with Nvidia chips, but for a given Nvidia
chip, how do I know which boards/manufacturers actually work in Ubuntu ?
Just like I have several cheap generic RealTek 8139 LAN cards from
different card manufucturers, with one that works and the other won't, I
assume that out of say, 10 different GeForce FX 5500 based boards, some
board will work, other won't, or not well, and out of those that work,
some will have better performance than others ? Some might stop the fan
when not playing games, and other might keep it making noise all the
time eventhough I am only typing this text in Evolution ?? :-/
This huge choice of board makers really is a nightmare... do you have
any guide lines ? A small selection of manufacturers to recommend ? Some
that I should avoid at all costs ?

Sorry for all the questions !! ;o)


--
Vince