[NTLUG:Discuss] need video card advice

[Chris Cox]

ntlug at levelofdetail.com wrote:
> I'm thinking of building a machine with this fancy video card:
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814121201

That's a whole lot of headroom if just for Linux.  The nvidia
drives continue to improve, but aren't as good as Windows yet
in general.

A 7800GT works well and costs a lot less.  Just my opinion.
Since they take a bit less power, it's easier to consider
a dual SLI with the GT as well.

The giveaway box at the NTLUG fair in March has a
BFG 7800GT in it.  I had it hooked up to my 24" 1920x1200
panel... played UT2004... pretty nice.

> 
> I assume that with the 2 DVI ports I can have a dual monitor setup with
> the one card. Is this correct? (duh!) Would there be some reason to go
> with two video cards instead?

You might need two cards if you need 4 DVI... for example driving
one of the 30" monsters from Apple or Dell.  There are a few
dual link dual DVI boards out there though (then you just need
one card... but I HAVE NO idea how these work inside of Linux).
Likewise, you'd need two cards probably for 4 monitors.
Matrox has a 4 headed beast card that works in Linux I believe,
but I've never tried it.

The other reason for two cards would be for SLI (two cards
working together for performance).

In conclusion, probably no need for two cards (unless either
one of the above apply to you).

> 
> This will be for a fresh install - probably Ubuntu or another
> Debian-based distro. I don't know whether distributions generally
> recognize and configure two monitors on installation.
> 
> Where is a good resource for how to have a dual monitor setup in Linux?

The documentation that comes with the Nvidia drivers (which you
will download) should be sufficient.

I found dual monitors to be a pain for gaming (you really need 3
monitors).  If you don't need them for gaming, then you don't need the
high end Nvidia card either.  I much prefer a 24" widescreen panel
over dual montors for gaming.

> 
> Any comments are appreciated.
> 
> Ed