Which graphics card to choose: NVIDIA or ATI
Anyone who has ever built his own PC can probably relate to the infamous question: which brand graphics card will I choose: NVIDIA or ATI. If you are still supporting Bill Gates’ growing bankaccount than the question is less important because both brands (and others) usually have good driver support for Micro$oft. It’s a whole different ballgame when you are building a PC that will run the Linux Operating System. Historically NVIDIA has always been more forthcoming in supporting the Linux marketplace. ATI is playing catchup and just released new drivers that supports X.org used in most current Linux distributions. If you look at the state of the Linux drivers from Nvidia and ATI there is quite a difference. Anandtech tested NVIDIA and ATI graphics cards on Linux and it did not paint a rosy picture for ATI. To be fair, NVIDIA definitely has more work to do also. The big question is how long before both vendors will release Linux drivers that are on par with their Windows counterparts. To give you a bit of insight, read this discussion with some folks from ATI. One hardly gets the feeling that ATI will expand the resources required to quickly put their Linux drivers on par with their Windows drivers. I have tried many ATI Linux drivers for my ATI Radeon 9000 over the years and I could never get them to work right. I know that my next graphics card will be made by NVIDIA. If only to play it safe and finally getting 3D acceleration and a working tv-out. Just like choosing a Nokia phone because you know it works.