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Paul Hartman posted on Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:27:31 -0500 as excerpted: |
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> I have an old Pentium 4 box which has a PCI-E video card. If a computer |
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> is so old it doesn't even have PCI-E, its owner probably wouldn't expect |
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> 3D desktop effects to work so well in the first place. |
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I'd contest that. Of course, if the video is that age too, yes. |
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However, reasonably decent video is still available on AGP. I'm planning |
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on updating to a Radeon x1950, top of the r5xx chip line, and not too |
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shabby ATM, tho it'll be old by the time I'm done with it. |
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The biggest problem is that such chips were generally already designed |
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for PCI-E, and require a bridge chip to AGP, which adds significantly to |
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the price while not exactly decreasing latency or increasing |
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performance... The Radeon x1950 I'm looking at still runs $150, for |
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instance, tho the performance is probably comparable to that of a more |
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modern $50-$100 PCI-E card. |
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That x1950 won't run the latest fancy games at the highest framerate, |
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sure, but I'm not generally into such things anyway, and it should be |
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more than adequate for OpenGL desktop effects, even across the two |
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1920x1200 DVI screen's I'll be plugging into it (that's the largest |
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resolution DVI-D single-link is supposed to be able to serve, BTW, which |
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is why there's a cutoff there), and even across the two 2560x1600 (each |
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requiring dual-link DVI-D) I'd love to upgrade to at some point... |
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And since I'm already running dual dual-core Opteron 290s (top of their |
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line 2.8 GHz), with 8 gigs of RAM on an extremely well supported by both |
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manufacturer and Linux Tyan mobo, with 4-way SATA based kernel/md RAID, I |
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figure the base system should be good for a few more years yet. I just |
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need to upgrade the graphics from the now aging Radeon 9200 I'm running |
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now. |
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When I upgrade again after that, I expect it to be to by then a single- |
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chip oct-core or the like, maybe doubling the RAM to 16 gig, maybe a |
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couple terabytes SSD storage, who /knows/ what graphics, for, by then, |
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maybe $500. But that's several years away yet, tho it's coming. |
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OTOH, maybe I'll go netbook for my main system by then, as by then, what |
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compares to today's netbooks should be quad-core, 4-8 gig RAM, terabyte |
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SSD, on its own, which would be pretty much a side-grade, only by then in |
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today's netbook size and cost. =:^) If it has a place for a nice big |
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2560x1600 monitor, with of course external keyboard and mouse for heavy @ |
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home use, that'd just about do it. |
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-- |
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Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. |
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"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- |
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and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman |
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