NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT 256MB Benchmarked on Linux

If I'm reading the results correctly, you're better off with the older cheaper 6800, in terms of performance.

I have to agree, im running 2 MSI GF6800-256 in SLI mode and its still coping with some of the newest games, Supreme Commander struggles but thats more down to my Athlon 64 being only single core when SupComm needs 2 to run smoothly.

Hope to amble along with what i have for another year since im broke :)

Very true... not sure why Phoronix used an 8500... should have used an 8600. At least then one could see if there's a significant difference between a 6600 and the 8600.

Oh well... benchmarks are benchmarks I suppose.

There is one place where the low-line cards matter, and that's video. Now...Your bang for the buck argument matters very much, but you have to imagine that the 8500 will become older and cheaper before very long.

If you're doing a MythTV frontend, the ideal card of the moment is a cheapo nvidia. The reasons are simple:

1. Gaming performance is a big "who cares" in that application. 2. Nvidia (at least with proprietary driver) supports XvMC, which means substantial hardware assist for MPEG2 decoding, which means relatively small (cool and quiet) cpu for handling HD tv. 3. No fan, no noise. 4. Lower power draw better for whole unit.

Last time out, I was looking for a 5200FX, had to settle for a 6200LE. Still, only $50 without driving all over or having to wait for mail order so I can't complain too much.

Quoting: dino: If you're doing a MythTV frontend, the ideal card of the moment is a cheapo nvidia. The reasons are simple:

The reasons all make sense, except for #1. Reason #1 sounds like an argument for a non-nvidia card. I'm confused.

> Reason #1 sounds like an argument for a non-nvidia card. I'm confused.

It's a reason to choose a low-end rather than high-end nvidia. You don't need the gaming pop, you do want the other stuff.