What is the best hardware?? (Sound + Video)

[ThantiKTiger]

I'm building a new Linux-only machine, and I'm trying to get the best performance out of it. More than likely its gonna be a 1.4g AMD Athlon, but I need to know,

what sound card wont lock up linux (my current one has a prob w/ that.),
what is the best 3D card to use (OpenGL!)

And I also need just some general recommendations...

[mdwatts]

Soundblaster Live and a nVidia Geforce 2/3/4.

[Timothy L. Miller]

Soundblaster Audigy (even though drivers are, last I looked, still only 1/2 completed, was enough to get it to work) and GeForce 4 TI.

[bwkaz]

My Yamaha ymfxxx chip sound card works perfectly. It's not the greatest, it doesn't have 3D sound, it's not an SB Live, but it was only $20 and it all works.

I, too, would go with a GeForce video card (strangely enough, I used to recommend ATI (after what nVidia did to 3dfx), but the drivers for ATI's aren't great, and the RV2LE card (7500LE chipset) that I got from Powercolor was running TuxRacer at like 25fps, so I'm back in nVidia's camp now).

[chikn]

S3 Virge GX and soundblaster 16. Guarunteed compatible :p

[ThantiKTiger]

Alrighty then...GEForce 2/3/4 it is...now to choose which one will suit my money/performance needs...mainly I just wanna run HL under WINE at at least 50fps.

Sound...well...I dont like soundblasters...dont know why, just have a thing against 'em.

I think I'll see what other responses there are to that subject...but a few questions. How well are the GEForce boards supported? Performance under Linux?

p.s. Thanks!

[Choozo]

I'm running a Matrox G400 MAX and SB 1024 Live! here on my Abit KT7A-RAID board. The Matrox card performs like a champ after a bit of fighting with the mga drivers, but there are some minor annoyances with the SB 1024 Live! card. This is apparently related to a bug in the VIA chipset discussed in another thread here. (http://www.linuxnewbie.org/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=007616)

Cheers :)

[Timothy L. Miller]

Due to the fact that all GeForce boards run the EXACT same drivers, they are supported quite well. You won't have any 3d until you install them though, unlike ATI, distros don't ship with Nvidia 3d drivers (proprietary drivers). They are, however, high quality.
As far as which board, forget the GeForce 2 & 3. The GeForce 4 TI4200 outperforms a GeForce 3 TI500 for less money, and the GeForce 4 MX420 outperforms a GeForce2 MX for about the same amount...
If you want great graphics, TI4600 (~$350), TI4400 (~$230)(This is what I have on my one computer, overclocked from 275/550 to 300/590).
If price is more of a concern, TI4200 (~$175), MX440 (~$120), or even MX420 (<$100). Don't bother looking at the MX460, it's about the same price as a TI4200, but without the performance.

[otheos]

Ati Radeon 7500, open source drivers (Ati supports the Xfree project so it's a good idea to support them) and great performance. Did I say cheap? $70

CMI8738 based (Maxi sound Muse from Hercules) card or similar (Cirrus Logic or Yamaha). OEM for less than $20 and works beautifully. SB is overpriced and overhyped. Did I say notorious for PCI hogging and many many bugs and conflicts? Stay away.

[Molecule Man]

If you are only getting 25 fps with a Radeon, you have some serious buggering of your XFree86 setup.

Set your XF86Config for the ati driver and you are all set.

For sound, get most anything but a Philips. The cmedia and Cirrus Logic chipsets can be found pretty cheap and sound fine. Often they are integrated on the motherboard.

[bwkaz]

Originally posted by Molecule Man:
<STRONG>If you are only getting 25 fps with a Radeon, you have some serious buggering of your XFree86 setup.

Set your XF86Config for the ati driver and you are all set.</STRONG>

No, it was serious buggering of the video card.

I put the Radeon 7500 (an RV2S; mine was an RV2LE) that was in my family's computer in, with no configuration changes whatsoever, and I got framerates comparable to my GF2 (60-75 fps).

Since I changed nothing software-wise, it must have been the hardware, right?

Oh well, doesn't matter anymore. FTI (the people I bought it from) took it back for in-store credit, and I'm getting a GF4 4200 shipped now. It does cost a bit more (like $100 more...), but it's all good.