upgrading video cards...

[dsr-mzpnVDyJpH4k7aNtvndDlA at public.gmane.org (Dan Ritter)]

On Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 06:55:00PM -0500, Stephen Adler wrote:
> Guys,
> 
> Now that I'm a compiz fanatic... :) I'm thinking of upgrading my video 
> card. Is there any reason I should stick with NVidia? or are the ATI 
> cards just as good or better?

The rundown:

- Intel has the best open drivers, but you can't get their hardware
  unless you buy it on a motherboard, and 3D and video decoding
  performance is there but relatively weak. Good choice for general
  desktops, though.

- Via/S3 have mediocre drivers, poor performance, and a couple
  of aftermarket video cards. Mostly people use this when they
  don't have a choice.

- ATI has proprietary drivers, open drivers, and has opened
  enough info that the open drivers should eventually be great.
  That's not yet the case. The open drivers are currently good
  enough for general desktop use. The proprietary drivers
  support good 3D but not usable video acceleration.

- NVidia has proprietary drivers, open drivers, and has not
  opened much information. On the other hand, the open drivers
  are getting better quickly, and the proprietary drivers have
  good 3D and a newly released video acceleration API which is
  better than anything else available.

-dsr-

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