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The video card is fine, just know that the drivers are wonky (proprietary) and will take some fiddling to get working correctly, or more or less broken (non-proprietary).
Hardware graphic support in linux via the ported GSDX is also still in a relatively early state. It'll improve both in compatibility and speed in time (or as soon as AMD decides to actually make their drivers work correctly)
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08-22-2013, 03:27 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-22-2013, 03:31 AM by DaTankAC.)
At least 90% of my computer time is on Linux. My setup is quite similar to this one, except mine is the "4-core" version of the cpu. It's a pretty good setup indeed. Regarding the drivers, neither AMD or Nvidia has super awesome Linux drivers. However, since Gregory (Linux pcsx2 master of the universe) has an AMD card as the basis of his main coding efforts, it seems AMD driver status on pcsx2 has taken a leap ahead. In fact, the latest 13.8 Catalyst driver actually makes hardware mode work! Is it as good as Windows GSdx? Nope, definitely not. But it works!
Regarding the mesa "free" driver for AMD, the 6000 and older series used a different driver than the 7000 series. The 6000 and older driver (r600) also works well in hardware mode, as it has matured quite well. The 7000 series free (radeonsi) driver is a piece of **** in performance compared to the almost 2 years it's been out. And it's OpenGL support is only at 2.1!
In summary, this computer will suit your purposes fine. But don't expect to run all your pcsx2 games full speed. But do expect them to run
To add, of course Intel cpu will be faster, but much less afordable.
OS: Linux Mint 17.2 64 bit (occasional Antergos/Arch user)
(I am no longer a Windows user)
CPU: Intel Pentium G3258
GPU: Nvidia GTX 650 Ti
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08-25-2013, 04:41 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-25-2013, 04:46 PM by gregory.)
Ok. Get an nvidia card. For PCSX2 is night and day.
AMD => 32 fps (hd5770)
Nvidia => 42 fps (gtx 760)
Yes the new GPU is faster but it is a CPU limited benchmark (normally, I get nearly the same fps with a 3x upscale)
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Thanks for all of the replies! EXP thanks for the info on the open-source drivers because I would like to avoid proprietary drivers where I can.
Is there a common bench mark tool I should be looking out for to help me "see" their true performance for PCSX2 in linux?
I had an older nvidia card and they would no longer update their drivers for it, so cant buy another Nvidia card in good faith again.
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Honestly, opensource drivers aren't ready for PCSX2. The issue is that games are limited by GPU whereas PCSX2/GSdx are limited by the CPU. It would take several years to reach proprietary driver in CPU speed ballpark. Note, you can still use windows too.
Now there isn't any such benchmark unfortunately.
I understand you the choice isn't easy. I prefer AMD but reality is Nvidia got a much better opengl driver on linux. Maybe you can a beefier (faster) Intel CPU otherwise. I don't have any number to compare Intel vs AMD.
FYI, with an extra GL extension I got 46 fps (92% full speed) on my single "benchmark". AMD is still 32 (64% full speed).
, I'm playing Persona 4 at full speed almost all the time 
And catalyst get back to the nvidia driver status. I don t think catalyst is ahead. Anyway current status is that gsdx is cpu limited on my hd5770. In others the emulation speed would depends on the opengl implementation (aka drivers) not on the gpu speed (except on slow gpu).