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On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 4:21 PM, Robert Bridge <robert@××××××××.com> wrote: |
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> nVidia at the moment is a bit of a risk, as there is a whole raft of |
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> issues going on with nVidia hardware. If their drivers work, they will |
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> likely give better performance and features than AMDs options, and so |
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> long as the hardware holds up. Read up on nVidia bumps issue for more |
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> information. |
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> |
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> However... AMD have an open-source strategy and an official |
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> open-source driver stack. Their open-source drivers are good, and |
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> getting better, but are not feature complete yet, nor really |
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> competitive for performance in 3D games. I'm not aware of any major |
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> issues surrounding AMD graphics, except the general complaints that |
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> the FOSS drivers aren't yet good enough. |
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> |
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> YMMV, |
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> RobbieAB |
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> |
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> |
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Thanks for the pointer on the nvidia problem. I hadn't heard about that, and: |
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1) I've got a 2 year old out-of-warranty Compaq laptop that's having |
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trouble booting. As best I can tell it's not the disk and it's not |
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memory, so... |
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2) I just put a fanless 9500GT-based card in my wife's new machine |
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Guess I'm right in the thick of it as testing for lead vs eutectic |
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bumps is not something you can figure out with a piece of software... |
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I used to work in the semiconductor industry. The thing I'd worry |
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about is whether the company doing packaging for nvidia, and it's |
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almost certainly not nvidia themselves, have used these same high-lead |
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bumps that they sold nvidia. If they have then anyone's chips could |
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potentially have these same problems. |
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OK, so let's investigate AMD/ATI at bit more. Am I understanding |
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Volker's response that I want to look at the 5000 Series from ATI? |
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http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5000.aspx |
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Looking at NewEgg I think all the 5850 & 5870's are just more |
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expensive than I want to pay. There are some 5730's for around $240, |
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but tax and shipping is going to drive that over $300 which is still |
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pretty step for something I won't use much. |
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As I won't game and sometimes do music (writing, recording, listening, |
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etc.) much I would appreciate quiet (i.e. - fanless) everyday whereas |
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gaming might happen just once in awhile. So far I haven't spotted any |
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5700 or 5800 that are fanless. I do see 5500 and 5600 devices: |
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5570 |
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131349 |
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5670 |
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131348 |
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Prices are acceptable on both of those, although I'm sure the |
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performance is probably lacking a bit. I'll have to look around at |
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relative benchmarks to understand anything about the performance |
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metrics. |
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Thanks, |
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Mark |
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