amd64 platform newbie -- what video card for x11?

[Isaac Mushinsky]

On Tuesday 04 March 2008 23:58:51 Yuri Pankov wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 04, 2008 at 11:47:22PM -0500, Isaac Mushinsky wrote:
> > On Tuesday 04 March 2008 23:20:58 Yuri Pankov wrote:
> > > On Tue, Mar 04, 2008 at 10:52:12PM -0500, Isaac Mushinsky wrote:
> > > > After using a FreeBSD/i386 for many years, I am getting new Intel x64
> > > > hardware now (Core 2 Quad, Abit IP35-Pro, would like as much RAM as
> > > > possible). I would like to run amd64.
> > > >
> > > > Since nvidia drivers always worked for me, I ordered one of their
> > > > later cards (8500GT), only to find out now that nvidia drivers are
> > > > not there for amd64.
> > > >
> > > > So my 2 questions are:
> > > >
> > > > 1) does the open nv driver work? I do not play games or really need
> > > > 3D acceleration, just want basic 2D and things like mplayer to work
> > > > properly.
> > >
> > > xf86-video-nv works for me with 8600GT, but sad thing is that nv driver
> > > doesn't support XVideo extension on all 8xxx cards. Please check
> > > http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11586 for more details.
> > >
> > > > 2) should I return nvidia card and get something else? Is there a
> > > > better reasonably working card?
> > > >
> > > > Thanks.
> > >
> > > HTH,
> > > Yuri
> >
> > 1. So a GeForce 7xxx card will work well with xv and the open source
> > driver?
>
> It should, no 3d of course, but at least 6800GT worked well for me with nv
> driver. As for 8500GT - missing xv extension may or may not be a
> showstopper (but as you mentioned mplayer, it will :-().
>
> > 2. What other cards work on amd64 with minimum caveats?
>
> Never tried anything else, guess I've got too much patience waiting for
> official amd64 NVIDIA drivers.
>
> > 3. By the way, any problems with flash plugin (I mean flash7, not the
> > infamous flash9 headache)?
>
> Just install www/linux-flashplugin7 with nspluginwrapper option selected
> and follow steps outlined in pkg-message. Works in native FF, at least.
>
> > Perhaps this belongs to general freebsd-questions, sorry if I am
> > bothering core amd64 developers with mundane desktop user questions.
>
> Yuri

I have no particular allegiance to mplayer, does xine or any other stable 
player work without this feature? The machine is by far the most powerful 
beast I ever had, so I hope it will be able to show basic video without fancy 
acceleration features. Still, I've used mplayer for years, it would be sad to 
give it up. So I won't mind getting a 7xxx. There is no difference as far as 
I am concerned.

You seem to be patient indeed, is there any indication that nvidia will ever 
release an amd64 driver? Google shows years of empty rallying and petitions. 
Very much like the adobe/flash9 situation. It seems that ATI cards have 
better support now.