I needhelp regarding an X1600 on a 2006 iMac.

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I use Ubuntu, but am willing to try out a bleeding edge distro. If there's anybody who knows if it's possible to TF2 on an older X1600 ATI card, it'd be nice. :)

Unless it's impossible on Linux, as I'm thinking of buying an X1600 iMac from 2006. The system requirements on OS X are going to be similar to Linux's since the OS's use the same OpenGL spec. I just want to be sure though, if you happen to be running an X1600 and able to play Source games (specifically tf2), that'll seal the deal.

This has to be the absolute best year for Linux (gaming) ever!

[RussianNeuroMancer]

AFAIK OpenGL render of Source Engine is doesn't work on pre-OGL3 hardware so you need at least Radeon HD 2400 or GeForce 8300.

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Автор сообщения: RussianNeuroMancer

AFAIK OpenGL render of Source Engine is doesn't work on pre-OGL3 hardware so you need at least Radeon HD 2400 or GeForce 8300.

You can use Intel's drivers to play TF2 that go back to the GMA 900 integrated cards. Those were around from 2004.

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/19
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Source-1-Games/issues/19

I've done my research, but I just want to know how the ATI cards stack up between Intel and nVidia.

If they're similar to Intel:

Good, meaning I can use the "radeon" driver and not run into any problems, including the GLSL 1.3 support thing, which is apparently false according to this[github.com] and Intel has supported OpenGL 2.1 since 2004 which has GLSL 1.2.

Or if they're similar to Nvidia (bad, because Nvidia doesn't have an official Open Source driver ("nouveau" is purely community developed and still has glaring issues when I tested on my older (pre-FX 5000 series) nvidia card) and their 304.xx-required cards (GeForce 6 and 7) can't run any Source games at all without a really destructive hack that can royally mess up your computer.

I just want to be 100% sure before I buy an older iMac, because that's all I can afford right now and I've been wanting to test it out. The main issue I'm having is the system requirements for OS X that says TF2 needs at least an x1600 Radeon card. I'm hoping that it's the same case for Linux too.

Cheers.

[SamCoupe]

I understand that x1600 should be well supported by the open source driver but TF2 doesn't work with the open source driver on my 4870 (it renders OK but frame rates are completely unplayable).

[RussianNeuroMancer]

On x1950 it doesn't run for sure[storage9.static.itmages.com] so with x1600 you likely'll get same result.

Автор сообщения: 1000MB

I understand that x1600 should be well supported by the open source driver but TF2 doesn't work with the open source driver on my 4870 (it renders OK but frame rates are completely unplayable).

What version of Mesa do you use?

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Автор сообщения: 1000MB

I understand that x1600 should be well supported by the open source driver but TF2 doesn't work with the open source driver on my 4870 (it renders OK but frame rates are completely unplayable).

You would need at least Mesa 9.2 for your graphics card as well as DPM for the "radeon" driver, that way you'll see a MUCH better performance increase, as seen on Phoronix[www.phoronix.com] :)

Автор сообщения: RussianNeuroMancer

On x1950 it doesn't run for sure[storage9.static.itmages.com] so with x1600 you likely'll get same result.

And there's my answer, thank you very much, sir. Guess it's off to Intel on an iMac for me! Pretty odd considering that Intel's graphics are considered the worst in performance, then again, Intel's drivers are 100% Open Source. :D

[SamCoupe]

I'm just using the default 13.04 setup, I probably should have a crack at updating the kernel and mesa to see just how much difference dpm makes however I'm a bit short of time these days and this is primarily a work machine ;)

[John Noob doesn´t play ranked]

I can play well under Ubuntu 13.04 and HD4330 with Radeon drivers (about 20-30fps)... but all minimum settings. I can improve graphic settings if I use fglrx.

[Letalis Sonus]

To clear things up: Valve did not port the Source engine to OpenGL, they put a translation layer around it. The translation layer, however, needs some OpenGL 3.0 features. The Radeon X1000 series does not support OpenGL 3.0, while its hardware would still theoretically support everything needed to run the Source engine (via Direct3D).