On Fri, 2006-08-25 at 12:13 -0700, Eric "Shubes" wrote: > Kurt Granroth wrote: > > Eric "Shubes" wrote: > >> Ok, I've narrowed it down to eVGA 256-A8-N341-L2 Geforce 6200 256MB > >> 64-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card. Newegg has it for $45.99 after $10 rebate. > >> > >> Two questions: > >> 1) Any gotchas? > >> 2) Will this card be a noticeable improvement? I'm assuming that my > >> onboard will do 1680x1050 wide format. > > > > It all depends on what you are doing. If you are just trying to make > > sure that the video can output to your new viewsonic, then the onboard > > will be more than adequate. If all you are doing is surfing the web, > > doing email, playing older or non-3d games, then the onboard is more > > than up to the task. > > > > If, however, you want to play the latest Quake or Half Life or what have > > you, then your onboard will almost surely not suffice. Likewise, if you > > want to try out the new Xgl OpenGL-enabled X server with compositing, > > then you will likely need a new dedicated 3d card. > > > > Kurt > > > Just wanted to follow up on this for posterity. > > I ended up with the eVGA GeForce 6200 with subject monitor. > > First problem was that my power supply (300w, stated miniumum) didn't have > enough amps on the 12v rail (15a, needed 18a). EVGA technician was extremely > helpful diagnosing this, and I give high marks to everyone on their support > staff that I talked with. I bought a UltraXFinity 500W PS from Fry's ($70 w/ > $50 MIR), and they work fine together. > > Next hurdle was the configuring X. Thanks to Carl's xorg.conf settings, this > was a breeze. Until I discovered that I couldn't adjust the resolution to my > liking. It seemed like it just wouldn't take the specified resolutions. Then > I realized that the specified driver was (the generic) 'vesa'. After > googling a bit, I found that the nvidia driver is named 'nv'. When I changed > that, voila. Everything was worked well. > > This was on FC5. The bottom bar was a little beyond the bottom of the > display, so I selected the "Auto Image Adjust" function on the monitor menu, > and it straightened right up. Cool. > > Then I tried Ubuntu 5.10. Same X config settings I used in FC5. Two problems: > 1) the bottom bar was off the screen, and I couldn't make it right. AIA > monitor function didn't fix it, and there's no manual vertical size > adjustment, only vertical position. This left me at a loss. > 2) the fonts on Ubuntu were very fuzzy. I noticed that Ubunto's X > configuration specifies various font files, while Fedora uses a font server. > Don't know if this changed in Ubuntu 6.06 or not, but I found Ubuntu's fonts > basically unusable at 1680x1050 (the monitor's recommended resolution). > > Then I tried CentOS4.3. No nv driver on this distro. I didn't try to bring > it over from FC5. I was having other thoughts by now. > > I'm wondering at this point, why do I have 3 distros on my desktop machine? > Granted, it's kinda nice to be able to check out other distros' config files > on occasion, but is it worth it? I'm thinking, what's the point? I have > CentOS on my server, so I really don't need it on my desktop any more. I > have Ubuntu on my notebook (as well as CentOS and that other one), so do I > really need it on my desktop machine? > > I've concluded that it's not worth the effort, and that it's just not > productive. I'll leave the free space on my HD, and will probably use it to > try other distros as I get the itch. Otherwise, I'm settling on FC5 for the > time being. > > That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! ;) ---- CentOS for servers Fedora Core for desktops/laptops simple enough Craig --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss