Solved An available graphics card that's known to work, for < $300?

patmaddox

patmaddox

Can anyone tell me the model of a graphics card that I can buy on Amazon for $300 or less that works with FreeBSD 13.1?

(I have spent tons of time researching, ordered three graphics cards... I just need something that will definitely work).
 
Graphics card to do what, specifically?

Play games, watch 4K video, etc? Any particular programs?

I don't have the answer but imagine those who can help might need a bit more information as to what you are looking to achieve.
 
Do you need a dedicated graphics cards for those tasks?

Are the built-in ones not good enough or are you using a CPU without built-in graphics?

I run the same sort of things as you, but just using the Intel 600 graphics (whatever they are) - but on OpenBSD - that’s good enough for your set of requirements (plus the odd game of Doom or Quake).

I think from your other posts you might be looking at AMD CPUs without built-in graphics hence the need for discrete graphics.
 
I did get a CPU with integrated graphics - Intel 10900k. It turns out that, despite my best research effort, it is not yet supported by i915kms.

I really don’t care about a discrete graphics card at all. But, I’m on my second motherboard, have (re-)assembled this machine half a dozen times, have a third graphics card on the way (nvidia this time, fingers crossed!).

The time I’ve spent researching, and assembling, and testing, has been way more costly than the components. So at this point, I just want the fastest path to booting a desktop environment. Which means adding a working graphics card.

Knowing what I know now, I would have gone for a beefier AMD processor. But, pulling out this mobo and CPU and starting all over again is an absolute last resort.
 
patmaddox said:
Can anyone tell me the model of a graphics card that I can buy on Amazon for $300 or less that works with FreeBSD 13.1?

(I have spent tons of time researching, ordered three graphics cards... I just need something that will definitely work).
Click to expand...
Quick search from local computer store website shows that MSI AMD RX 6400 sells for 135 euros. Can be cheaper elsewhere...
 
I have an old cheap Radeon card similar to Alain's, with passive cooling (no noisy fans):
Code: 
    vendor     = 'Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]'
    device     = 'Caicos XTX [Radeon HD 8490 / R5 235X OEM]'
The Xll log recognises the chipset:
Code: 
[873863.069] (--) RADEON(0): Chipset: "CAICOS" (ChipID = 0x6771)
Trouble is that you can't get cheap ATI cards any more, well not new ones. There's plenty of used ones on eBay.

I have never had a problem with a Radeon card (but my sample size is too small to be significant).
 
If you want AMD, RX 550 is around $200, still available on Amazon, and supported by amdgpu no problem. There are vendors that repackaged that old chipset on new boards, like Maxsun... Generally, RX 500 or even 5000 series is your best bet.
 
gpw928 said:
I have an old cheap Radeon card similar to Alain's, with passive cooling (no noisy fans):
Click to expand...
Me too. Mine is an obscure 7470 OEM, where somebody ripped off the fan and attached a passive cooler from an Nvidia 210 instead. I got it for ~15$ on ebay.
It did work with the in-kernel drm2 driver from R.12, and did drive 2560x1440 more or less okay.
So something like that would be the "temporary workaround" solution, if this problem appears to become fixed some time soon.
 
patmaddox said:
It should, but it doesn't.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I really wasn't aware of that. I'm planning to replace my work laptop soon, so I can keep an eye on that...

In my workstation I'm currently using an old ASUS GeForce GT 710 (GT710-4H-SL). This still seems to be the last card with PCIe x1 connector, so for anything newer even if it's just for plain office work you have to waste an x16 (or at least x8) slot...
 
patmaddox said:
It should, but it doesn't.
Click to expand...
That's really unlucky. I just writing this post on a I7 10 gen with Intel integrated graphics.
When I set the machine up I installed drm-510-kmod and the gpu-drm-kmod package separate. Can that make a difference? Don't know.

As for a dedicated card. On my desktop I use a Radeon WX-3200. Works very well with a 2k screen and is very quiet. It has a small
fan but I can not hear it.
 
shkhln said:
Only a couple of years of support left.
Click to expand...

I know, but unless there will be anything new(er) released with PCIe x1 interface, I'll have to stick with that thing...
The PCIE x16 and x8 slots in that workstation are occupied by the NVMe HBA and 10Gbit NIC, so only 2 x1 slots are left.
 
meaw229a said:
As for a dedicated card. On my desktop I use a Radeon WX-3200. Works very well with a 2k screen and is very quiet. It has a small
fan but I can not hear it.
Click to expand...
Lucky... at my place, I either have to get a waterblock or go with integrated... Water-cooled stuff is at least powerful...
 
meaw229a said:
That's really unlucky. I just writing this post on a I7 10 gen with Intel integrated graphics.
When I set the machine up I installed drm-510-kmod and the gpu-drm-kmod package separate. Can that make a difference? Don't know.
Click to expand...

Does your pciconf say that the CPU is a comet lake?
 
drhowarddrfine said:
Find your FreeBSD card and driver from nVidia here. Select FreeBSD as the OS. Have fun. I've been using nVidia graphics for decades.
Click to expand...

While this also still works, nowadays (since several years) you can (and should) just use the nvidia driver from packages/ports. This will also make sure the driver is kept up to date (with pkg upgrade) and it won't break on bigger (release) upgrades which require the driver to be reinstalled and rebuilt locally.
 
I have a working desktop!!!

I installed a GTX 1660. It works with the ports driver. The necessary config for my system is:

Code: 
sysrc kld_list+="nvidia nvidia-modeset"
nvidia-xconfig

Someone mentioned passive cooling and I hadn't thought of that... so I ordered a ZOTAC GeForce GT 730. It uses an older driver (390 I think). But, I'm optimistic now that I have a working desktop! I'll report back with the results.

Thank you everyone for your patience, guidance, and contributions. I am really, really happy to now have my main machine be FreeBSD (I've been working on it in the terminal for the past week, so I know I can work on it - the desktop just makes it that much better!)
 
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