[NTLUG:Discuss] video card recommendation

[Steve Baker]

I think you have two practical choices:

* If you absolutely, utterly HAVE to have OpenSourced everything for 
reasons of religion - then ATI.
* If you actually plan on doing 3D graphics then you have to buy nVidia.

There is no inbetween - if you buy ATI (or anything else non-nVidia) 
then your 3D graphics support will be utterly sucky.  If you buy nVidia 
then you have no hope of getting OpenSourced drivers.   nVidia's Linux 
drivers are excellent - rather better than their Windows drivers 
actually - but there is no source code whatever.

It's tough - but that's life as of June 2008.

The new Intel thing (Of Which We Shall Not Speak) is a complete unknown 
(or at least, those who DO know about it aren't allowed to say).  All 
existing generations of Intel graphics are crap at doing 3D - even if 
you did have decent drivers (which you don't).

There is hope for better ATI drivers with full source code - but it's 
not there right now and there are no guarantees.

I buy nVidia and suffer the lack of source code - but I work in 3D 
graphics for a living and I absolutely have to have decent 3D so for me 
they are the only game in town.

    -- Steve.