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On Friday 10 December 2004 12:28 pm, Ryan Oertel wrote:
> Ok, so I've done a little more research and have studied up on Tom's
> Harware, Nvidia's site and a few others and have discovered a few things.
> My motherboard supports AGP 1x, 2x, 4x and PRO.  What is AGP Pro? It
> appears (from NewEgg.Com) that some cards are 8x only and some are 8x/4x.
> Does that mean that it is compatible with my AGP 4x and my future AGP 8x
> computer?  

AGP PRO is an extension to 4x that provides more power (up to 110W) to the 
card.  There is no performance difference.  An 8x only card won't work with 
your motherboard, and an 8x/4x card will, and will take advantage of your 
future 8x-capable mobo.

> Finally, it also appears that Nvidia does not produce video 
> cards, they produce GPUs which is put onto a video card. 

Exactly - the companies that you purchase NVIDIA gear from are basically 
distributors.

> So, when I stick 
> this card into my linux box, do I look for the nvidia drivers or the PNY
> drivers (for example?)

NVIDIA's drivers.  They're at http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux.html or just 
http://www.nvidia.com/linux.

> What is the difference if PNY, ASUS and AOpen all 
> use the same Nvidia chip?  

They are licensees to NVIDIA's chipset.  NVIDIA doesn't make cards - just the 
chips themselves.  All of the cards are basically the same thing and are 
required to work (usually will work best with) with NVIDIA's reference 
drivers, which on linux is the only thing you can install.

> Would I get the most compatibility picking the
> ASUS since my motherboard is ASUS?

Not necessarily, no.

- -- 
- -dave

Dave Carlson <dave at math.umn.edu>

Systems Administrator
School of Mathematics, University of Minnesota
http://www.math.umn.edu

8 Vincent Hall
Computer Support Requests: 612-625-4895

Cell Phone: 612-747-5415 (personal)
E-mail Pager: 6127475415 at mobile.att.net

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