Hello folks, Looking for hardware advice. My desktop PC hasn't had a hardware upgrade for about 5 years when I bought a MoBo bundle and a secondhand graphics card. It's an AMD Quad core CPU running at 3200MHz with 2G of RAM and Nvidea GE Force 8400. For the most part it's OK, I don't do video editing or gaming so it doesn't work too hard. The graphics card has always been an issue though, it refuses to run 64bit Linux distros. I've tried several in the past, Debian-based and others, and always get the same result, installs OK but on boot just gives a black screen. Annoyingly it will run 64bit distros from DVD so you think it's going to be OK after an install, but it isn't. It hasn't been too much of an issue running 32bit versions until recently but it seems they are being phased out. I'd like to try KDE Neon for example, but there is no 32bit version. So: Any recommendations for a cheapish graphics card that will work? Is it worth getting 4GB or more RAM? -- Phil
On Tue, Sep 03, 2019 at 09:27:28AM +0100, Phil Thane wrote:
Hello folks,
Looking for hardware advice. My desktop PC hasn't had a hardware upgrade for about 5 years when I bought a MoBo bundle and a secondhand graphics card. It's an AMD Quad core CPU running at 3200MHz with 2G of RAM and Nvidea GE Force 8400.
For the most part it's OK, I don't do video editing or gaming so it doesn't work too hard. The graphics card has always been an issue though, it refuses to run 64bit Linux distros. I've tried several in the past, Debian-based and others, and always get the same result, installs OK but on boot just gives a black screen. Annoyingly it will run 64bit distros from DVD so you think it's going to be OK after an install, but it isn't. It hasn't been too much of an issue running 32bit versions until recently but it seems they are being phased out. I'd like to try KDE Neon for example, but there is no 32bit version.
So:
Any recommendations for a cheapish graphics card that will work?
I've always gone for intel graphics on board after a few issues like yours in the past. Intel board with intel graphics 'just works' in Linux in my experience. So I'm not a lot of use unless you go for a new motherboard.
Is it worth getting 4GB or more RAM?
Probably, RAM is relatively cheap, I have 8Gb in my refurbished Fujitsu system. -- Chris Green
On Wed, 4 Sep 2019 at 10:54, Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
On Tue, Sep 03, 2019 at 09:27:28AM +0100, Phil Thane wrote:
Hello folks,
Looking for hardware advice. My desktop PC hasn't had a hardware upgrade for about 5 years when I bought a MoBo bundle and a secondhand graphics card. It's an AMD Quad core CPU running at 3200MHz with 2G of RAM and Nvidea GE Force 8400.
For the most part it's OK, I don't do video editing or gaming so it doesn't work too hard. The graphics card has always been an issue though, it refuses to run 64bit Linux distros. I've tried several in the past, Debian-based and others, and always get the same result, installs OK but on boot just gives a black screen. Annoyingly it will run 64bit distros from DVD so you think it's going to be OK after an install, but it isn't. It hasn't been too much of an issue running 32bit versions until recently but it seems they are being phased out. I'd like to try KDE Neon for example, but there is no 32bit version.
So:
Any recommendations for a cheapish graphics card that will work?
I've always gone for intel graphics on board after a few issues like yours in the past. Intel board with intel graphics 'just works' in Linux in my experience. So I'm not a lot of use unless you go for a new motherboard.
Is it worth getting 4GB or more RAM?
Probably, RAM is relatively cheap, I have 8Gb in my refurbished Fujitsu system.
-- Chris Green
Surprised you are having problems with the Nvidia GE Force 8400. PC I am using at the moment has a quad core AMD II X4 620 and the onboard graphics is Nvidia 8200 which works fine with 64 bit distros. Presently have a GeForce 9500 GT graphics card in the same PC which also works fine with 64 bit distros. On separate partitions I have Peppermint 9 , Manjaro, MX and Devuan which all work fine.
For 64 bit, more memory would be better, minimum of 4gb but 8gb would be better.
Thanks all. I'm going away for a late'summer' hol next week. Think I'll treat myself to a new graphics card and more RAM on my return (if there's any money left) and see how I get on. -- PhilOn Wed, 2019-09-04 at 19:42 +0100, Tony Bronze wrote:
On Wed, 4 Sep 2019 at 10:54, Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
On Tue, Sep 03, 2019 at 09:27:28AM +0100, Phil Thane wrote:
Hello folks, Looking for hardware advice. My desktop PC hasn't had a hardware upgrade for about 5 years when I bought a MoBo bundle and a secondhand graphics card. It's an AMD Quad core CPU running at 3200MHz with 2G of RAM and Nvidea GE Force 8400. For the most part it's OK, I don't do video editing or gaming so it doesn't work too hard. The graphics card has always been an issue though, it refuses to run 64bit Linux distros. I've tried several in the past, Debian-based and others, and always get the same result, installs OK but on boot just gives a black screen. Annoyingly it will run 64bit distros from DVD so you think it's going to be OK after an install, but it isn't. It hasn't been too much of an issue running 32bit versions until recently but it seems they are being phased out. I'd like to try KDE Neon for example, but there is no 32bit version. So: Any recommendations for a cheapish graphics card that will work?
I've always gone for intel graphics on board after a few issues like yours in the past. Intel board with intel graphics 'just works' in Linux in my experience. So I'm not a lot of use unless you go for a new motherboard.
Is it worth getting 4GB or more RAM?
Probably, RAM is relatively cheap, I have 8Gb in my refurbished Fujitsu system.
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participants (4)
-
Arturo Calzino -
Chris Green -
Phil Thane -
Tony Bronze