[nflug] Hardware questions

[Sam Stern]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: nflug-bounces at nflug.org 
> [mailto:nflug-bounces at nflug.org] On Behalf Of Jason O'Bara
> Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 9:13 PM
> To: nflug at nflug.org
> Subject: [nflug] Hardware questions
> 
> I was looking at a new Dell machine for home, and a few of the specs 
> made me wonder:
> 
> 1) A dual-core processor is seen under Linux as two physical 
> ones, correct?

Correct. They are logically two separate processors on the same die which
may share some internal electronics.

> 2) Hyper-threading only works in Window$, correct?

Incorrect. It should be perceived as two processors. I know this works in
Suse 9.3 (2.6.5 ?? I forget exactly now) and Suse 10 (2.6.13).

> 3) is there any difference between these two video cards? 
> Dell sees it 
> as a $281 difference. I am not much of a gamer these days, and I just 
> want something decent.
> 
> 128MB PCIe x16 ATI FireGL V3100, Dual Monitor VGA or DVI/VGA Capable
> 
>  
> 
> 128MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro FX 1400, Dual Monitor DVI or VGA Capable
> 

The comparative differences between Video cards in the same class are fairly
subjective. I do not know the Workstation class very well as the workstation
class cards I know about are all very high end. That said, I can provide
some wisdom that might be useful to you.

The ATI FireGL and Nvidia Quadro cards are "Workstation" cards. Their
drivers are specially tailored to the professional CAD, DTP and Vidiographer
set. Even under Linux, these cards will not provide the same level of
performance to the end user consumer that their consumer class cards will
provide. As an example , My old Nvidia 128 MB Quadro2 AGP 4x PRO (a variant
on AGP 4x bus) the card could not effectively render Linux OpenGL screen
savers or games like "Super Methane Brothers" nearly as well or as fast as a
Geforce2 AGP 4x 64mb did. There is still allot of debate which works better
in general Linux: Workstation cards or consumer cards. If you are not
watching for performance I would spend less and get a consumer card.

If you are not a "twitch" gamer, CAD artist, DTP Maven, photo artist, or a
video creator, buy the cheaper of the two. Or Better yet, go to
http://www.newegg.com or http://www.monarchcomputer.com and buy a nice,
comfortable consumer card for what ever your price point is. There are allot
of nice cards for $100 to $180 out there. I personally like to choose NVIDIA
over ati as their drivers seem more mature and seem bundled with more
distros than ATI (which has a long history of neglecting Linux). I also like
to set the budget first and then buy however much video card I can afford,
rather than the reverse.

If you are a DTP or photo person you should be certain that the card and
monitor can match the Pantone colors you need. If you are a CAD person or do
allot of Video Encoding, check the benchmarks carefully. If you play "twitch
games" at resolutions above 1024x768 or play online games, then NEITHER card
will be acceptable. You should buy an ATI X1600 (or higher) or a GT6800 (or
higher instead). Either of these gamer cards will set you back about $180
give or take. The cards you have selected have drivers "Balanced" for "work"
class OpenGL and DX usages and may not perform well in "Game Class" OpenGL
or DX.



Good luck!


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