Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

Dave W. · 2012-08-29 22:01:53

Hello all.

Yes another one of those questions. Intel(R) HD 3000 or NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 630M. I know that the Intel should be no problem. What about the NVIDIA? I would like to pair one of them with an i5-3210M.

Anyone have any thoughts or warnings?

BTW. I'm a big fan of sgfxi.

big_smile

Thanks,
Dave

VastOne · 2012-08-29 22:04:49

I cannot speak to that specific nVidia card, but I have them installed in hundreds of Linux machines and have no issues.

Dave W. · 2012-08-29 23:12:28

Thanks VastOne. That's good to know.

Anyone have any thoughts on the performance aspect. I'm trying to decide if the extra $50.00 is worth it for the NVIDIA. I think that if I had a choice I would go for the Intel HD 4000 if it was available for that laptop model.

pvsage · 2012-08-30 01:19:59

I'm told the CUDA cores in an nVidia card are great for distributed processing tasks like BOINC; search the forums for {nvidia cuda} for more on this. Apart from needing to install the proprietary drivers via smxi/sgfxi, there supposedly isn't much to it. But I don't have any personal experience (yet) with nVidia GPUs.

I've been told that even the lowest-end nVidia GPUs are far superior to Intel in practically every respect...

Dave W. · 2012-08-30 07:08:34

Thanks pvsage. I read a few articles and you've got me leaning towards the NVidia hardware. Some of the theory has my head ready to explode. lol

My desktop has a NVidia 6150SE. I always install sgfxi on my systems and have used the script quite a lot. It is great for switching between free and nonfree drivers.

Most of importantly, I have it there as a safety blanket, in case I screw something up. big_smile

Anyone have anything else? It is all greatly appreciated!!

pvsage · 2012-08-30 07:41:43

@Dave: I understand mynis01 is a rather ardent supporter of nVidia, specifically for the whole CUDA distributed computing thing. Maybe PM him?

mynis01 · 2012-08-30 07:45:13

The GT 630M is usually found in laptops. Which means if you buy a laptop with that card in it, you are probably also getting the dreaded optimus. TL;DR: Don't buy laptops with anything but intel graphics cards in them unless you know what you are doing.

Edit: The HD 3000-4000 are quite capable cards for your average user. I prefer to use VDPAU accelerated video decoding with mplayer2 when watching movies, but you don't need it at all. Try and find a laptop with an ivy bridge cpu and a HD4000 if you can afford it.

EDIT2: Ok you said i5-3210M so you are DEFINATELY TALKING ABOUT A LAPTOP. DON'T BUY IT IF IT HAS AN NVIDIA VID CARD.

Last edited by mynis01 (2012-08-30 07:50:25)

Dave W. · 2012-08-30 08:02:45

@mynis01. Thanks ! Will definitely heed your warning. The individual in the online chat at HP said that she "thought" that the graphics card was an HD 3000 as a default, but she was unsure. I probably hop back on their site and question them again. Perhaps I can get a definitive answer. I'm in no rush to part with any cash, just to gain some headaches. smile

EDIT: I'm guessing that by your comment about Ivy bridge that the particular processor isn't one. I will investigate that further too. Thanks.

Edit 2: Hmm. This site suggests to me that it is an Ivy bridge processor and paired with an HD 4000. Unless that is just an Ultrabook thing. I need to look into it more.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5872/inte … ook-review

Last edited by Dave W. (2012-08-30 08:17:51)

mynis01 · 2012-08-30 10:34:42

2nd gen sandy bridge = HD 3000
ivy bridge = HD 4000

It's not a pair of chips, the GPU is actually on the CPU die. Ivy bridge is not exclusive to ultra books. The HD 4000 is significantly better than the HD 3000. The difference in CPU performance is negligible, mainly just improved power consumption.

kiiroitori · 2012-08-30 12:22:04

I don't mean to hijack Dave W.'s thead but while we are on the subject of graphic cards... I would love to hear what mynis01 would recommend for a desktop, knowing that I don't do any games at all but encode video sometimes (avchd to dvd) and do a good amount of photography stuff. I am thinking of getting a fanless one but have no clue of the ones to avoid. If you have any pointers that would be much appreciated! If not, please don't mind my question and sorry to Dave W. for slightly hijacking his thread.

mynis01 · 2012-08-30 15:33:50

There still isn't any solid GPU accerlation support for video encoding in Linux ATM AFAIK, just decoding. Luckily optimus on desktops doesn't exist so you don't have to worry. If you have your heart set on something fanless, you could try this card.

Dave W. · 2012-08-30 20:48:23

kiiroitori wrote:

sorry to Dave W. for slightly hijacking his thread.

No problem kiiroitori. I'm happy that someone besides me can get some useful info. smile "You've got to strike when the iron is hot." wink

Thanks mynis01 for the excellent info!!

kiiroitori · 2012-08-30 22:37:06

mynis01, thank you very much for the link and the suggestion, I am very likely to get that particular card!

mynis01 · 2012-08-30 22:47:44

@Dave W.: If you give me a price range I can try and pick out a laptop that has an ivy bridge CPU and a wifi card that isn't a pain.

Dave W. · 2012-08-31 00:12:04

That would be great.

This is what I was considering.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-o … otebook-PC

I was going to upgrade to the 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3210M Processor, stay with the Intel HD, bump to 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive and keep the basic WLAN. I believe it is a centrino, but am not quite sure. It all comes to about 600 bucks. sad Not chump change by any means.

This is for my daughter. She needs Win7, but also messes with linux quite a bit. She will be contributing a chunk.

mynis01 · 2012-08-31 05:29:21

This would be my suggestion here if your trying to get the cheapest laptop with HD 4000 graphics that you can find: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6834246616
One possible problem though: I don't know what wifi chipset it has in it. Usually the specs you find online just say "Wireless B/G/N" or something and don't specify what the actual chip set is. So before you go buy a laptop to run Linux on, make sure you do some research and figure out what kind of wifi it has.

CrunchBang Linux

SEARCH

#1 2012-08-29 22:01:53

Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

#2 2012-08-29 22:04:49

Re: Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

#3 2012-08-29 23:12:28

Re: Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

#4 2012-08-30 01:19:59

Re: Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

#5 2012-08-30 07:08:34

Re: Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

#6 2012-08-30 07:41:43

Re: Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

#7 2012-08-30 07:45:13

Re: Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

#8 2012-08-30 08:02:45

Re: Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

#9 2012-08-30 10:34:42

Re: Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

#10 2012-08-30 12:22:04

Re: Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

#11 2012-08-30 15:33:50

Re: Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

#12 2012-08-30 20:48:23

Re: Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

#13 2012-08-30 22:37:06

Re: Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

#14 2012-08-30 22:47:44

Re: Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

#15 2012-08-31 00:12:04

Re: Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

#16 2012-08-31 05:29:21

Re: Graphics Card suggestion/opinion

Board footer