Which Graphics card?

[ralph-1987]

Hello,

I have an old system from 2010 on which I would like to install Linux Mint.

However, I had some trouble with the graphics card it has (Geforce 460), so I eventually gave up.

Now I consider buying a new or used graphics card. Which graphics card will probably work without too many problems? It should have at least the same power as the old card I have in it now.

[rene]

It quite depends on what you want to do with the machine but that GeForce 460 is at about the level of the Radeon HD6850 in the system I'm typing this on and which as far as I'm concerned works great -- although you would need to be aware that e.g. gaming via Steam/Proton, i.e., Windows gaming via VXDK, is not something you can count on.

The Radeon HD5K and HD6K series have been a favourite of mine. They use the old "radeon" driver, are still relatively powerful at least at the high end within those series and have -- outside of that "new gaming" context then -- a high Just Works factor. For as long as it lasts I should at this point add since "radeon" is starting to show signs of old age by now, so FWIW and YMMV...

[Hoser Rob]

I'd go for AMD probably. Nvidia open source driver support is awful

[ThaCrip]

Just about anything fairly modern should be a rather big upgrade over what you got. but you mentioned 2010, which I bought a Radeon 5670 512MB in the year 2010 and that's currently in my backup desktop (ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard, which I had since March 2006. it's basically high end 2005 tech) computer running Mint 21.1-Xfce and, at least for my limited amount of general use with it (as I have not heavily used the system to say with a higher level of confidence), it seems to work well as I don't have any obvious problems with general usage (and I think it works with hardware accelerated video playback to with Celluloid paired with MPV combo which is nice if you want to connect it to a 1080p TV for playing back 720p/1080p x264 (h264) video on).

but given rene's comments , chance are the 5670 I have is reliable/stable for basic use on Mint and it's powered solely from PCI-E slot, which I think is limited to 75 watts MAX power draw. but at a idle I would assume it's much less. so it's not going to require much power for general use.

but when it comes to the whole AMD vs NVIDIA GPU's... I can't comment too much about one being much better than the other, but AMD GPU's seem to have decent support in the Linux kernel. so you just install Mint and use your system, no further action is needed. but with NVIDIA GPU's, you need to install the NVIDIA proprietary driver (through 'Driver Manager') for optimal performance as without that I heard performance (at least gaming performance, drops off a lot) and I am not sure how well the default 'nouveau' driver works down the road when NVIDIA stops supporting GPU's with the proper driver. because while I would assume gaming would be pretty much out, as long as the default nouveau' driver works for general usage, then at least one could continue to use that GPU for the foreseeable future without issues (I never really tested to see how my system is on the default 'nouveau' driver on my 1050 Ti 4GB to see if it's stable or not for general usage like video playback etc). but with that said... I am not sure if AMD or NVIDIA generally has more problems than the other on Linux or not (as I imagine this would be a question for those with a lot of Linux experience over the years).

so if you are asking for a recommendation from me... it's hard to say as I just posted what my experiences are so far. it probably boils down to what you are doing though as if you just want a cheap/reliable GPU for general usage, you can probably get a GPU that's fairly dirt cheap on Ebay etc. but if you want something reasonably good for gaming, then you will obviously need something fairly modern (call it about late 2010's or newer).

p.s. my main PC has a 1050 Ti 4GB, which is 2016 tech and I have had it since July 2017 (got it for $135 which not all that long after prices started to shoot up), and it works fine with the NVIDIA proprietary driver on the games I play through Lutris etc. but if you don't plan on playing games, then odds are you can probably get a really cheap replacement if you just want something for general usage.

[rene]

(and I think [ a Radeon HD 5670 ] works with hardware accelerated video playback to [ .. ])

Now that he mentions it: given that I explicitly recommended Radeon HD5K/6K above I should remark on this current issue: https://lwn.net/Articles/910978/

That is, "hardware accelerated video-playback" in the context of Intel and AMD is on Linux to say VA-API, and Mesa has recently changed the default build of its VA-API interface to no longer supply H.264, H.265 and VC1 hardware-assisted en/decoding. At least Fedora (US) and openSUSE (Germany) already do not supply it OOTB as a matter of software-patent-worries -- even if the actual en/decoding happens on the GPU rather than through Mesa, and even if openSUSE is incorporated in a country where software-patents "do not exist" (as in, they do, even if they shouldn't conceptually).

H.265 is not an issue for old Radeon HD5K/HD6K since it doesn't support it in the first place (too new), and in especially Linux nobody cares about VC1, but H.264, i.e., MPEG4, is the at the moment still by far most widely used video codec. The mentioned hardware accelerated video playback would in a practical sense no more exist on Radeon were Ubuntu or specifically Mint to follow this Mesa change -- which I'm fairly sure it wouldn't, but seeing as how this is a current issue, thought I'd still remark on it.

A note is that this can be seen as part of a push towards the new AV1 codec which is technically better, legally non-problematic, and gaining traction very fast. I.e., this is all less of an issue for new cards that implement hardware-assisted support for AV1, but it is for the recommended Radeon HD5K/HD6K.

Nvidia is for now not (yet) affected by using their own VDPAU rather than VA-API, and although as far as I'm aware Intel would be affected the same as AMD I only ever see AMD mentioned in the context. VA-API is originally from Intel and it might I suppose be the case that they use even less of Mesa in this context... or somethingsomething: too much graphics detail for me.

[Cobrin]

Just retired ole faithful GTX1050 2Gb, it wasn't always a smooth marriage, but in the end it served well getting me through, bitcoin mining, chip shortage, more gpu shortage and covid (pre/post). I've gone a used (mining) Asrock RX 6600 XT 8Gb Challenger.

Already I've noticed a difference, I no longer have to use Driver Manager. It was simply plug and play. Booted into windows11 and uninstalled nvidia drivers and installed AMD Radeon drivers. Doing some testing atm and it's smooth. I'd go AMD if I had known drivers were this easy to deal with in Mint.

[ThaCrip]

Just retired ole faithful GTX1050 2Gb, it wasn't always a smooth marriage, but in the end it served well getting me through[snip]

That 1050 2GB is still a passable gaming GPU. although when I got mine in July 2017 I knew not to get the 2GB VRAM model because that would become a problem before the GPU itself would become outdated. that's why I got the 4GB of VRAM model since by the time 4GB of VRAM becomes a problem, the GPU itself will be outdated. basically 2GB of VRAM cripples the card on some level which with 4GB of RAM it's as good as it can be since you can generally increase graphics with 4GB of VRAM where as on 2GB of VRAM you will have to lower graphics purely on lack of VRAM regardless of the GPU itself is capable of handling higher graphics settings or not.

still, you could probably sell that 1050 2GB GPU for half way decent $ I would imagine because it's still usable for gaming, especially nothing too recent gaming wise, and I would imagine NVIDIA will continue supporting it on Windows and Linux with NVIDIA drivers for years to come. because Mint 21 is supported until April 2027, so it should be covered until at least this time frame. but my guess when Mint 22 is out, which will be supported until April 2029, that will be supported to. but after this, who knows.

p.s. but obviously, I am sure you got a rather big boost to gaming performance switching GPU's (to RX 6600 XT 8GB) like you mentioned. but for me, the limited amount of games I play/replay all work well enough on my current 1050 Ti 4GB which is why I won't be upgrading this for the foreseeable future. I suspect by the time I eventually upgrade, by then I might be better off building a new PC since my current main PC (like basic motherboard) I have had since May 2012 (which makes it hands down the longest I ever owned a main PC at 10 years and 9 months and counting (previous high was 6 years 2 months)) and it's a 3rd gen i5 CPU which while not bad, might be a limiting factor on some level with newer GPU's. because while I am sure my current setup would still see a noticeable frame rate boost with a better GPU, I suspect in the end ill be better off getting a whole new setup before upgrading GPU, unless I can get a noticeable improvement for little money in which case I may still opt for upgrading GPU. it's something ill decide in the future when the time comes. but my guess is ill probably not upgrade the GPU any further unless I can get one for maybe $100 or so tops that's a rather large boost over what I currently have.

[billyswong]

If you don't need any CUDA (or OpenCL) support from GPU, AMD cards are easier to deal with in Linux machines. No need to install driver manually or worry of driver getting out of support.

For gaming or general 3D performance, an RX 550 can already surpass GTX 460 in various benchmarks. I see some people here recommend "HD" series of AMD cards but... unless one can acquire such old card as free gift, buying a more modern card with support of Vulkan and 4K60Hz monitors make more sense to me. RX 550 doesn't need any power cord plugged to the card.

[rene]

I see some people here recommend "HD" series of AMD cards but... unless one can acquire such old card as free gift, buying a more modern card with support of Vulkan and 4K60Hz monitors make more sense to me.

On an otherwise 2010 system?

But, yes, certainly don't pay more then say a tenner for a HD6850

[billyswong]

On an otherwise 2010 system?

But, yes, certainly don't pay more then say a tenner for a HD6850

Well, a discrete display card can be reused in "newer" computers when more essential component of that old machine is broken.