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Best Card for Linux Server

Z

zainali

Gawd
Joined
Aug 8, 2006
Messages
770
i need to build a server for a lab and an doing preliminary research for a video card.
will have kind of xeon processor and 64gb ram.

it will need to support 10-20 concurrent users using their machines to vnc in.
any tips/suggestions where to start.
 
If you want hardware acceleration for the least amount of headache, you have three choices:

1) Nvidia
2) Nvidia
3) Nvidia

AMD has always had awful Linux driver support, and has no driver support for older cards.
 
the server graphics card is not used for remote x-sessions.
so you only need something for the console terminal, which probably means nothing?
 
sovs said:
the server graphics card is not used for remote x-sessions.
so you only need something for the console terminal, which probably means nothing?
Click to expand...

This, I'm no server guy, but if the GPU is not doing any number crunching and it's not driving any video,you can likely get by with the absolute minimum.
 
sovs said:
the server graphics card is not used for remote x-sessions.
so you only need something for the console terminal, which probably means nothing?
Click to expand...

so i guess the intel one should be enough then, right?
 
Assuming the Xeon CPU or the motherboard has a GPU, on board should be fine for this purpose.
 
zainali said:
thanks everyone. ill try it without a dedicated card.
Click to expand...

Xeons don't have integrated video controllers, so you're stuck with whatever terrible video chip the motherboard manufacturer throws on.

These days it's usually one of the following:

1) ATI ES1000
This is essentially a die shrunk Rage XL from 1997. This chip is awful for anything other than a text terminal and has zero hardware acceleration, which means you can't use Gnome or KDE and will have to use LXDE, XFCE or another lightweight window manager. Even these will be choppy and slow.

2) Matrox G200eW (there's also a Nuvoton variant which is essentially the same.)
This is a die shrunk Matrox G200 from 1998. You're essentially in the same boat with this chip too because no hardware acceleration.

If you don't want your VNC clients to die from lag, you'll need a discrete GPU.
 
the amd open source driver is fine. Their propritary catalyst driver has issues and you will probably not want to use it if you want to run newer kernels.
 
An AMD 54xx or 64xx would fit the bill nicely. Even if you don't run an X server directly, KMS will give you good terminal resolution and retain fast scrolling. These can be had for ~$19AR these days.
 
Get a GCN based radeon. The open source driver is pretty good now and not having to reinstall drivers every time you update is awesome.
 
My recommendation, based on experience with modern distro's, is a passively cooled Nvidia GT610.

This card was made for Linux - And it's cheap as chips.

[Edit] Accidently entered Nvidia 210....
 
I use a GT640 for my triple head Linux box. But OP's needs sound like a real server -- no card required.
 
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