(Solved) Recommend GPU for older setup that will work in Linux Mint 19.3

lm6

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My system: Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE GPU: Radeon HD 4670 Ultimate, RAM: 16gb Kingston Hyper DDR3 1600

I have installed LM19.3 in a dual boot system with Win7 and it seems to work accept for HDMI to TV as second monitor. The only solution is to update the GPU. Can anyone recommend a GPU that will work with my current system but will offer significant improvement to justify the cost and will definitely work. What I want is to have a dual monitor set-up to move windows between the two monitors. I am not a gamer I just need a GPU that can play video to 1080 and most importantly work in LM. Thanks for any advice.
 


Before recommending a GPU do you have a budget?
A price that you would like to stay below?

Do you want to go with Nvidia? MSI? OR Radeon?
 
Thanks for the reply. I don’t think I need a powerful GPU. I need advice on what is likely to work, given the frustrations of almost getting the HD 4670 to work as I want. As for budget, I was hoping to keep it under £150. I am confused with all the advice regarding Radeon/Nvidia which tends to revolve around gaming ability. I am more concerned about suitability with my older system and LM.
 
Thanks for the reply. I don’t think I need a powerful GPU. I need advice on what is likely to work, given the frustrations of almost getting the HD 4670 to work as I want. As for budget, I was hoping to keep it under £150. I am confused with all the advice regarding Radeon/Nvidia which tends to revolve around gaming ability. I am more concerned about suitability with my older system and LM.
You're Welcome-

Under $150.00, got it.
I'll have a look and see what I can find.

Looking at your mobo you have 2 slots for a GPU. That's good if you ever want to do gaming in the future.
 
The Nvidia Geforce GT 1030 looks like a starting point for $88.00-

That card was recommended in a Linux Mint forum thread.:)


If you go with that GPU all you would have to do is go into Driver Manager and install the non-free driver.

Based on what I've been read, Nvidia looks like the GPU that works well with Mint.

 
Thank you so much this is really useful. I was considering the 1050ti which may a bit over the top for my current system but would still be a good starting point for a future updated build. It’s a shame the prices have hiked recently and more favoured brands like EVGA don‘t seem to be easily available. I just need to know if a particular card will work with dual monitors on LM19.3. I never had a problem with windows.
 
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Thank you Alexzee for taking the time to help me. I dont think dual monitor is too difficult it has always worked without problems using Windows. My current set up works fine in Win7. With LM19.3.
(kernel 4.15) in a dual boot with win 7. Everything seems to work except using the HDMI connected to a Sony TV alongside a LG monitor via DVI. The system works for about 5 minutes and then hangs. I have to reboot the system to get things stable again but it will freeze again after a short time.

If I disconnect the HDMI from the GPU and replace it with VGA I can get a dual monitor configuration but with lower resolution and no sound unlike HDMI. If I connect the TV alone via HDMI the system works fine.

Is there a tweak that can enable the HDMI to the TV as the second monitor in parallel with the first monitor connected via DVI or VGA.
 
If there is a tweak for it I honestly don't know what it is.
 
Hi I have been using the VGA output to feed my TV (secondary monitor) however I was curious to see what happens when running LM live from a usb and using HDMI to feed the TV. I can only get it to display the same as the monitor (primary display). The system runs and doesn’t freeze but the Display setting only shows one monitor labelled Laptop. Is there anything I can adjust to get the live version to display two independent monitors - with the TV being feed by HDMI?
 
Have a look at this video-


More instructions for dual monitors:


Hope that helps.
 
Hi Alexzee, thanks for your continued assistance. Ive seen this video but it relates to Nvida GPUs my GPU is an old Radeon 4760. I wish I could set it up so easily as shown in the video.
 
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I think my GPU is too old for the latest versions of Linux. ATi stopped support a few years ago. I was interested to see if running LM live would be different to installed LM in regards to how the HDMI output to the TV would behave, It doesn’t cause the system to freeze but I cant adjust two separate monitors. Is there something I can do to add to the live version to enable dual monitors to operate without crashing.
 
I think my GPU is too old for the latest versions of Linux. ATi stopped support a few years ago. I was interested to see if running LM live would be different to installed LM in regards to how the HDMI output to the TV would behave, It doesn’t cause the system to freeze but I cant adjust two separate monitors. Is there something I can do to add to the live version to enable dual monitors to operate without crashing.
The only thing that I can think of (if I'm correct) is that you could add to the live version fglrx and configure that. Aside from that I'm out of ideas.

If I find something good about setting up dual monitors I'll post it for you.
 
thanks I really appreciate your time and effort
You're Welcome-

Any AMD card that supports Eyefinity can run two monitors from a single card. Eyefinity is intended for panoramic monitor arrangements.

Is your card one of the Eyefinity series?

Does your Radeon GPU have an HDMI port on the side of the card?
 
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Thanks again for your time. the HD 4670 is an old card and has its limitations compared to current specs but works fine for my requirements. I dont think it will run Eyefinity but I have not had the need to try it. It only has an HDMI port on the back (alongside DVI & VGA).

The dual monitor setup works perfectly fine in windows 7. I use the Ati Catalyst software to setup the two monitors.

I thought I’d try running a live version of LM 19.3 to see if it would natively recognise the two monitors with the primary monitor connected via DVI and the Tv connected by HDMI (when set up in this way the installed LM freezes - so I substitute the HDMI with VGA and it works). I was therefore surprised that the live version didn’t crash but only displays the same graphics on both the monitor and TV. I ran inxi -G
mint@mint:~$ inxi -G
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD RV730 XT [Radeon HD 4670] driver: N/A
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: vesa resolution: 720x400~N/A
OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 8.0 128 bits) v: 3.3 Mesa 19.

I then rebooted with the hdmi connected to tv. After logging in, all I got was a black screen on both the monitor and the tv. I pulled the hdmi cable out and the system appeared on the monitor.The HDMI out literally chokes the system.

I ran inxi -Gx
~$ inxi -Gx
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD RV730 XT [Radeon HD 4670] vendor: PC Partner Limited
driver: radeon v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.5 driver: ati,radeon
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1680x1050~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: AMD RV730 (DRM 2.50.0 / 4.15.0-74-generic LLVM 9.0.0)
v: 3.3 Mesa 19.2.8 direct render: Yes

The fact that I can use the HDMI to the TV in the live scenario gave me hope that there is some way I
can get the setup to work. I realise the simplest solution is to replace the GPU but with my motherboard (AMD AM3) this is not so easy as many, relatively, newer GPUs aren’t compatible with the legacy BIOS and buying an older used card is always a risk. So I am a bit stuck.
 
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