In fact, my AMD x2 245 with nVidia ( low cost self built) work quite fast when compare with intel core i3 (dell )
This mother board is Biostar MCP6P M2+
http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/con ... p?S_ID=370
Many things are nVidia. Low cost, rather low-end specs, still very responsive for most Linux OS.
See details from lspci below
No trouble to run Mint 9, Mint 10 out of the box.
LMDE ( as well as Debian based distros) also work out of the box, except poor graphic with default driver. Once nVidia driver is installed it is OK.
Also many other linux OS work out of the box, they have no problem with preloaded nVidia driver, like PCLOS, Sabayon, Slackware/Zenwalk/Salix/vector, Fedora, ubuntu, etc.
00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 LPC Bridge (rev a2)
00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP61 SMBus (rev a2)
00:01.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Memory Controller (rev a2)
00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP61 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP61 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:04.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI bridge (rev a1)
00:05.0 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP61 High Definition Audio (rev a2)
00:06.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP61 IDE (rev a2)
00:07.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Ethernet (rev a2)
00:08.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP61 SATA Controller (rev a2)
00:08.1 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP61 SATA Controller (rev a2)
00:09.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:0b.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:0c.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Link Control
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT218 [GeForce 210] (rev a2)
02:00.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)