Do dedicated cores have to use Nvidia video?

[wilsonj]

Just wondering, if the core isn't used for video playback does it matter if it uses ati onboard graphics?  I have an MA78GPM-DS2H that I would like to use.

But the MD will have Nvidia 8200 onboard video.

Cheers

Jamie

[Afkpuz]

I'm not positive, but if you're not going to use the core for playback, I think you're good.  You could use UI1 and you shouldn't get any trouble.

[hari]

you don't need an nvidia for the core.

best regards,
Hari

[wilsonj]

OK thanks for that.  Just wanted to make sure..

[totallymaxed]

OK thanks for that.  Just wanted to make sure..

Also you can run UI1 on a core configured in this way.

Andrew

[wilsonj]

Thanks Andrew. I wasn't sure of the limitations of ATI under LMCE. So I won't have a problem using it, just that it probably won't be capable of alpha blending etc?

[indulis]

... at least the bit of testing I did with it.. Then went and bought an Nvidia card to run my hybrid server.  The ATI card got v close to working in UI2.  I could see a flash of LMCE (or Mythtv if I selected it blind) when I toggled virt consoles, but then the screen would go black again.

[totallymaxed]

Thanks Andrew. I wasn't sure of the limitations of ATI under LMCE. So I won't have a problem using it, just that it probably won't be capable of alpha blending etc?

As you say the limitation is that with ATI & Intel GPU's you cant run the Alpha blended UI... apart from that their really is not much difference. In fact the ASUS Eee Box in our opinion has the smoothest playback of mpeg2 content of any machine we have tested to date even though on paper it has low power GPU (GMA950)... and thats against nVidia too!

What it tells us is that in terms of video performance the overall motherboard design is probably equal in importance to having a fast GPU. At least thats true currently when the Linux drivers we have at hand are not fully exploiting the hardware capabilities of the GPU's. In the case of Intel GPU's I think we are seeing the result of Intel actually fully exploiting their GPU hardware to get the most performance possible from it (or at least close to maximum) as they have on paper at least the weakest silicon when compared to ATi & nVidia. So combining the GMA950 with a driver that exploits that chips features and then design a well designed motherboard and the result is you get a product that outperforms by a considerable margin.

Of course with the recent nVidia & ATI announcements that open up the mpeg2/h.264 hardware acceleration this may all change again :-)... see here;

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=123091

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amd_xvmc_xvba&num=1

All the best

Andrew