cheap 3D graphics card

[Andrew Swinn]

 > Matthew Hannigan wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 25, 2006 at 12:08:00PM +1100, Mark M Lambert wrote:
>> Hi folks,
>>
>> I want to get a cheap 3D graphics card, something under $250. The 
>> current issue of Atomic magazine has a comparison of 12 cards under 
>> $500, but doesn't say if the drivers for Linux are crap or not. Anyone 
>> got any suggestions?
> 
> As others have written, you probably need a proprietry driver
> to get really good 3d.  Depends what you want it for though,
> I've heard the latest intels are not that bad.

Now if I am being advised correctly, Intel only make embedded graphics 
devices at present. ie onboard, so if you want that route you are going 
to be looking at a whole mainboard. There have been lots of users asking 
about good graphics cards etc and Intel always comes up. Hope they plan 
on releasing some good standalone cards in the very near future. :) 
(please, someone correct me if I am wrong).

I recently aquired a new graphics card and I spent a total of $79.90 on 
it. Its an NVidia GeForce FX 5200 with 128MB. I am not really a gamer 
and I dont plan on running Vista, I dont even run XP.

I do run Blender for 3D rendering and it handles it beautifully 'if' I 
have the NVidia binary drivers installed. I don't like having these 
drivers installed but I like my Blender goodness. Although I am not 
really a gamer I have had Nexiuz firing away on this card quite nicely. 
Personally I'd rather drop the extra money on another 512MB/1GB Ram 
these days.

Regards,

Andrew Swinn (Phlosten)