[arch-general] New 64 bit computer

[David C. Rankin]

Baho Utot wrote:
> I am gathering info on this new system
> 
> I just bought a new computer ($550USD complete) as I wanted to go 64 bit
> 
> Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P motherboard
> AMD Phenom II X4 810 AM3 socket 2.6G
> 8GB High performance DDR3 ram
> Radeon HD 4670
> 
> Will arch 64 install and run on this?
> With little trouble? :)
> 
> I am concerned with the ATI video card, 
> Any problems with this card?
> 
> What can I expect running Arch 64 on the system?
> 
> Now I can make many more errors only twice as fast :)
> 
> 

Baho,

	Arch will run quite nicely with the box (very quickly I might add). Your
problem, as you have already identified, may be the ATI card. To get optimal
performance out of your graphics subsystem, you will need to run ATI's
proprietary fglrx driver. The proprietary driver is not only better from a
performance standpoint, but also has cooling advantages as well. (selective
powerdown of unused portions of the graphics chipset) On a desktop, the cooling
issues are not as acute as with a laptop, but it is still something to consider.

	Here is the rub. Currently while your new graphics card is a card supported by
the ATI Linux driver -- Arch isn't. (ATI should support Arch -- but nobody has
kissed ATI in the right place yet) The ATI Linux driver supports the following
distros:

Debian
Fedora
Mandriva
RedFlag  (where the heck did this come from??)
RedHat
Slackware
SuSE
Ubuntu

	Unless you run one of the above, the chances are very slim that you can make
use of the ATI driver :-(

	** However, from your posts, you do seem quite gifted working with packages,
you just might want to download the ATI Linux driver (released today):

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/ati-driver-installer-9-6-x86.x86_64.run

	You can extract the contents of the package with:

sh ati-driver-installer-9-6-x86.x86_64.run --extract

and then take a look to see what changes would be required to make it work with
Arch. (That's just a bit beyond my cup of tea).

	Your alternative is to use the radeonhd driver. I'm not 100% sure, but I
believe your card is supported. The radeonhd driver is really making progress
and is a very good open-Source driver. I use it with laptop running Arch. Heat
is a bit of a problem on my laptop, but for a desktop you won't notice any
difference aside from a degree or two on case temperature rise. In the tiny
space inside a laptop -- the difference is about 20 degrees F.

	With the horsepower your new box has, your performance will be fine. Just make
sure if you use the radeonhd driver, you read up on using EXA acceleration
instead of XAA acceleration. For my laptop, it really helped.

	I have a standard solution I now employ with all ATI desktop graphics cards
that really works well. Open the case, remove the retaining screw for the card,
remove the card, and then put an NVidia card in its place just a fast as you
can. You can use the ATI card for target practice or a paper weight thereafter.
With that done, you no longer run the risk of getting screwed over by ATI
dropping Linux support for your card just like the millions of other ATI users
that just got screwed in March ;-)
-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
Rankin Law Firm, PLLC
510 Ochiltree Street
Nacogdoches, Texas 75961
Telephone: (936) 715-9333
Facsimile: (936) 715-9339
www.rankinlawfirm.com