Re: GPU advice for Debian stretch?

I've used the following cards over the years without any issues in my Linux boxes. They are typically higher end (at least at the time the series was relevant) because I buy them for my Windows gaming machine, then when I upgrade the graphic card I put the now old card in my main Linux workstation:

Geforce GTX 680
Radeon HD 6970
Radeon HD 4670

However, Almost any discrete, modern, mainline card (Geforce or ATI) will work. If you want to use proprietary drives then just check the manufacturers website if that particular card has a Linux driver for download. I haven't video card shopped in a bit, but last I checked Geforce typcially provides good drivers for their cards on Linux and FreeBSD. I believe ATI typically works closer with the opensource community and sends their changes to the appropriate groups, but also has drivers available for direct download.

There are also a lot of sites that offer compatibility databases. One of these might be useful to you:

If you are looking for an exact answer of "Card XYZ works in Debian Stretch with package ABC" then I don't have an answer for you. Could you provide a little more detail about your requirements, like what you plan to use the card for. Do you do any video editing, gaming, movie playback, multi-monitor support, etc? Also, what is your price range? Are you sold on using AMD? Any physical size requirements of the card?

Personally, right now, I use Geforce, not because they are necessarily better or worst then ATI, but mostly for their shadow play technology, and I feel their Linux support is better. There was a time when ATI was better at multi-monitor support, but I think Geforce is pretty adequate at the moment for up to 4 monitors.

Anyway, without more information I would recommend one of the following:

Radeon R7 250
Radeon R7 350 or 360
GTX 950 or 960

In my limited searching I also saw the Radeon 7750 come up, but disclaimer, I know nothing about this card, so can't really recommend it. Looked decent though. Once you find a card then perhaps somebody can tell you if that exact card has any issue with Debian Stretch.

Thanks,

Joshua Schaeffer

On Wed, Apr 5, 2017 at 6:51 AM, Martin Read <zen75502@zen.co.uk> wrote:

I'm currently using an AMD "APU" system with integrated Radeon HD6530D graphics (yes, that's a component from 2011; the computer still works fine). This is kind of awkward when considering moving to stretch:

* The DKMS-support package for the fglrx proprietary driver will not be available for stretch.
* The radeon free driver *still* isn't on par with fglrx on my hardware. fglrx gave me OpenGL 4.4; radeon gives me 3.3 and visibly inferior performance.
* The amdgpu free driver (which I'm guessing won't be in stretch except via backports anyway) doesn't support my hardware.

I don't have the money to replace my computer right now, so I'm looking at the number-and-letter soup of PCI Express discrete graphics cards. Any recommendations? Not looking for some all-singing all-dancing thing with seventeen fans, just something that - with the drivers available for stretch - will get me at least as much performance and capability as my current chip achieves with its proprietary driver.