Are ATI graphics cards any good?

[Steve Reilly]

J. Limon wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 12:46:21AM +0100, Ben Edwards wrote:
>> I have been a nvida user for years and thought I would give ATI a try.
>>  I got myself a 'ATI Technologies Inc Mobility Radeon HD 3450' and so
>> far I am totally underwhelmed.  After upgrading to Ubuntu 9.04 (To
>> ensure I using latest drivers) I had to ssh in and just about managed
>> to get things working  using the binary drivers (the standard config
>> gave me no picture).  Even with these I cant get video out working.
>>
>> >From looking on the net ATI on Linux looks  a bit flaky.  I'me not
>> saying I did not have to mess about a bit with nvidia but I did manage
>> to get video out.  Should I sling the card onto ebay and go back to
>> nvidia or have I missed something.
>>
>> I also got a box with 'ATI Technologies Inc Radeon HD 3200 Graphics'
>> built into the motherboard and I have to turn effects off to get
>> stable video playback.  This box is running 8.10.
>>
>> So ive tried ATI twice and both times not had a very positive experience.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>> Ben
>>
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> 
> Generally speaking, that's like asking the question, "Is Emacs a good editor?".
> 
> The answer is most likely going to be based on opinion. However, I will try to be as objective as possible when I say that nvidia is pretty universally better supported under Linux. There has been a lot of progress in the open source driver, my laptop's ATi chip is now supported for instance. But, I would generally recommend using nvidia over ATi.
> 
+1

from my direct experience, what ive read on blogs, mailing lists, etc,
the general consensus is that nvidia is better supported in linux to
date. If you stick with the intel / nvidia combo your just about
guaranteed to have a positive install.


steve