PCI and AGP Graphics Card Recommendations Please

[javacontour]

OK, it seems my ATI Radeon 7000 (PCI) in my Dell isn't going to be supported in either Vista or Windows 7.

I'm playing with the Windows 7 beta and to get it to "sorta" work, I tried installing the WinXP driver. That seems to work until I go to shut down and the box blue screens.

I'm not a gamer, so I don't need uber frame rates, I just need a PCI card recommendation that will work well for office type tasks using the following OS's.

WinXP, openSolaris and Windows7 and or Vista.

This one is attached via DVI to my flat panel display.

That's the first recommendation I seek.

The second is for a home-made PC for the kids, running XP and Windows7 beta as well. This box has an AGP port, and again, no gaming, just web surfing, open office. I've not installed openSolaris there, but may later, so anything that works well with all three would be nice.

If you don't have Solaris experience, tell me what is working with Linux and I can see if it's part of Sun's HCL.

I've already searched the Sun parts list and the card I can get for free is, ironically a Radeon 7000, LOL. Too bad I paid for mine as I have dozens of them at work collecting dust, LOL.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ZZman]

Check tigerdirect.com or newegg.com and look at their user reviews.

 

[brianl703]

Good luck. The selection of both PCI and AGP cards is hurtin' these days. I have a Radeon X1650PRO AGP card in two of my boxes. This card has an AGP to PCI-Express bridge chip on it. It works OK and has a DVI output.

I thought it was interesting how Vista doesn't support some network cards, like the Lite-On PNIC. It's not like these cards peform any worse than the RTL8139 based junk...

 

[PandaBear]

Just buy a used one, there is no point buying a new AGP or PCI card.

What is your computer? There are probably way better video card that is AGP or PCIe that has all you need, but obsoleted in 3D performance, and sell for $10-20 used on ebay.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
I've already searched the Sun parts list and the card I can get for free is, ironically a Radeon 7000, LOL. Too bad I paid for mine as I have dozens of them at work collecting dust, LOL.


Is this using a driver in the (open)Solaris kernel? Or a proprietary driver from ATI? Does Solaris have some kinda Linux compatibility layer like FreeBSD? And if so, does that layer "work" in kernel space or just user space?

If you really run into trouble, might it be time for a virtual machine or two if a new new new graphics card is critical?

If it were me, I'd check the Solaris HCL, get the awesomest one you can find and finnigle it to work in Windows.

 

[javacontour]

Wifey just said get a new computer, LOL. I think I'm in love.

I haven't purchased any PC hardware in quite a while, so I don't even know what's going on. I figured PCIe was where it was at. I've used NewEgg before, so I'd go with them if looking for something new.

On to Sun drivers, I don't know who is writing the drivers for Solaris and openSolaris. I know my Toshiba Tecra M5 with nVidia graphics is running some sort of beta driver that I've been using for nearly two years now. (If it works, don't mess with it, right? Changing the drivers for X is often a pain that I don't want to mess with.) I have one of the earlier releases of Solaris 10 running on that as my work laptop.

On to PandaBear's Q's. Frankly, I don't recall what's on the kids computer. I know the Win7 beta just installed the generic SVGA driver.

On my DELL, like I said, I have an ATI Radeon VE 7000, and that's the same chip I can get in my box full of Sun XVR-100 PCI cards that are consumable parts. So nothing great there, but it did make installing openSolaris easy since ATI seems to be well supported in Solaris.

Thanks everyone for the answers. I may just have to buy a new computer and be done with it.

 

[PandaBear]

If you want drivers on Solaris or any other work station, stick with the workstation cards like ATI FireGL or Nvidia Quadro.

If you are buying new stuff, the differences is basically drivers. Pretty much only nVidia and ATI left in the graphics field now.

 

[ZZman]

Why not have some fun and buy a barebones kit and build one?

 

[javacontour]

I get enough of that kind of fun at work. Other than perhaps adding another O/S, I just want my hardware to work now.

 

[BearZDefect]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
If you want drivers on Solaris or any other work station, stick with the workstation cards like ATI FireGL or Nvidia Quadro.

If you are buying new stuff, the differences is basically drivers. Pretty much only nVidia and ATI left in the graphics field now.

When did Intel fall off the graphics field?

Quadro and competition are for 'professional' workstations that render 3D models in real time. Not the kind of thing most users need, and they are expensive.

Just curious.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: BearZDefect

When did Intel fall off the graphics field?

Quadro and competition are for 'professional' workstations that render 3D models in real time. Not the kind of thing most users need, and they are expensive.

Just curious.


They were never on the graphics field, seriously.

The problem is that typical gaming cards don't focus on drivers for non windows. Solaris usually aren't for games and therefore they don't get as much love in drivers development and verification, so professional graphics are pretty much the only stable support for Solaris.

 

[BearZDefect]

Thanks for the explanations, PandaBear.

Intel makes nice, inexpensive, graphics chips for ordinary use. They compare very well against the other manufacturers in this category. You are right, I haven't seen Intel in the high end, whether for games or professional.

I laugh to see all the money in game graphic cards. $300+ for a graphics card alone, with more heatsinks and cooling fans than the rest of the computer combined. Are they so much better than the leading game consoles, which don't cost more than $700 total?

 

[brianl703]

All of the Intel graphics chips I've seen are part of a motherboard chipset, and therefore you will never find them on a PCI/AGP card.

 

[Volvohead]

To the OP, find a used Matrox if running AGP. Simple, very dependable drivers, and still a super 2d picture.

A used G400/550 series or an entry P family card sells for next to nothing these days, and will surf the web just fine.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: BearZDefect
I laugh to see all the money in game graphic cards. $300+ for a graphics card alone, with more heatsinks and cooling fans than the rest of the computer combined. Are they so much better than the leading game consoles, which don't cost more than $700 total?


Computation power wise they are more powerful than the CPU in the typical machines. The typical gaming console use an older version of these graphics cards' processor that are obsoleted by 2 years and have only 1/4 of the processing units.

There were simulation and computation tools that uses GPU for intensive calculations and processing, that easily improve the speed by 3-5x than using the CPU alone.

Game is 10x more demanding than your typical office and internet applications. A retired gaming machine's processing power can easily handle a small server assignment for another 10 years.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Volvohead
To the OP, find a used Matrox if running AGP. Simple, very dependable drivers, and still a super 2d picture.

A used G400/550 series or an entry P family card sells for next to nothing these days, and will surf the web just fine.


How long are they going to keep writing drivers for it? As far as I know they have not developing any drivers for at least a few years.

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear


How long are they going to keep writing drivers for it? As far as I know they have not developing any drivers for at least a few years.


The need for driver updates on these is low. This is very mature hardware and the code is usually bundled into the OS load at this point. That's not to say that the roadmap will not pass it by eventually. But for the few dollars one of these costs, it's a safe pick for pedestrian 2d use in an AGP bus.

In their day, they rendered breathtaking image at the price point.

 

[outrun]

I suggest you go right to Geeks.com or Tigerdirect.com

Skip the PCI interface cards, AGP is multiple times the performance for the same price. Even though AGP is essentially extinct production wise, the drivers will continue to be updated. There are so many smart people with "older" computers who want to keep AGP and some even write the open source drivers.

Performance wise I would say the options are great. What you can get cheap today would unbelievably good years ago.

I recommend a minimum 128MB card. Nvidia and ATI are both great IMO.

 

[javacontour]

Originally Posted By: outrun
I suggest you go right to Geeks.com or Tigerdirect.com

Skip the PCI interface cards, AGP is multiple times the performance for the same price. Even though AGP is essentially extinct production wise, the drivers will continue to be updated. There are so many smart people with "older" computers who want to keep AGP and some even write the open source drivers.

Performance wise I would say the options are great. What you can get cheap today would unbelievably good years ago.

I recommend a minimum 128MB card. Nvidia and ATI are both great IMO.


I would do an AGP card if the DELL had an AGP slot, but it's limited only to PCI, so that's a very real and I thought already stated constraint.

However, I'll probably not do anything with the Dell, as that's a dead end, limited to only 1gb of RAM, and upgrade the kids computer and get me and oilbabe a new one, relegating the DELL to Solaris only.