I'm rather proficient in Linux (I should be, have been using it long enough :) ), but in hardware I could use some lessons it seems. My MSI has the 'famous' AMD-vi bug in it's BIOS and instead of fixing the BIOS, MSI just stopped making BIOS'es (is that the correct word?) for this board. And my new, shiny 750Ti doesn't play well with most Linux distro's either. Most USB live installers won't even boot properly. Some I can fix with a 'nomodeset', but there are quite a few which just don't want to work. When I researched the new card, I found nothing out of the ordinary with regards to its use in Linux, but now it seems that it is a well-known bad combination. So the question is, what else to get. I'm not really a heavy gamer, but would like a decent card. Somewhere in the price range of the 750Ti, so around a 150 euro. Any thoughts? It will only run under Linux, so that's the most important part, good support in Linux :)
I don't have any experience with Linux really. In that price range I would look on eBay. I bought my brother a GTX 680 for 160€. It is fairly decent. GTX 670s seem to hit that price alot more than 680s.
If you want it to just work with the open source driver, get AMD.
If you want to install proprietary drivers, and do extra maintenance when upgrading the kernel, go with Nvidia. Their open source drivers offer better performance in games. But they really do try to keep you in their walled garden (gsync, gameworks, they purposely cripple the windows driver for your card if you do a pci passthrough, awful support for the open source driver).
I think the 270x or the 280x should be in your price range. 285 still hasn't support in the open source driver because AMD is trying to rework the way their linux drivers work.
EDIT: have you tried manjaro? You have the option to boot with the proprietary drivers when installing via the live usb.
This is not my experience, I sold my 750ti as it was the EVGA model with the fan issue where it would not go under 40% even though the card was very cool, it almost could of run passive so why should the fan just be sat there spinning ? (EVGA have done this on other cards, i should of known ) However, for the few days i ran the card it was very nice for the money.
metro last light was running around 70fps @ 1080p, CS:GO was over 90 - 150fps with everything on @ + 4xAA 1080p. The performance on everything from the desktop to video playback was flawless. I got a GTX760 instead as it was quieter and faster, but tbh the 750Ti was no slouch, not quite the power reserves of the 760 but not a million miles off. I was actually suprised at how quick it was and how smooth the frame time was with no real lag.
the 750Ti is a really great card to use with linux on a Tiny SFF system / Budget Living room Steam Box, HTPC.
From memory I had minor problems booting directly into Linux Mint from a Live ISO. It didnt like DVI / DP to begin with so I tried HDMi first and it worked on boot and then once installed on the closed drivers and rebooted I used the DVI cable no problem.
so try booting with other cables and check your bios video settings, making sure onboard is disabled.
Thanks for the replies. I don't really mind wether it's AMD or Nvidia as long as it works properly and without too much hassle on Linux :) As I said, it was a bit of a hit and miss, which distro worked and which didn't. Most didn't and I'm far from the only one that has problems with the 750Ti. I have tried A LOT of distros, several Manjaro flavors (one Manjaro flavor did not react the same as another, I saw this with other distros as well), Arch (also several derivatives), Ubuntu, Debian (stable as well as testing), Voyager Linux (the French distro, not the audiophile one) both the Ubuntu and the Debian, Sabayon, Calculate Linux, Fedora, Korora and several other I can't even remember. And yes, I did try Manjaro (and other) booting with the non-free drivers, but no luck. I also tried several ways of connecting except DP since I don't have a DP monitor.
I'm sure the 750Ti in itself is a good card which gets nice framerates and all, but in fact, what use are those when I can't use the card itself properly? I've looked around and one of the card which is around the same price and also about the same specs as the 750Ti is the ATI/AMD 260x which (acoording to Phoronix) works very nicely on Linux. I can borrow a Sapphire 260x later today, so I will find out :D
I'm using a PNY 750ti with linux right now. I run three monitors and do 3D/CAD work and some light gaming (on one screen, ofc). I use the official nvidia driver package. I run Arch Linux + XFCE, but I've booted various other distros from USB.
Never had one problem. Everything is smooth as silk.
I know that's probably not the most helpful thing to say, but maybe it will encourage you. Hope you can figure things out!
@traq2 On the distros I did manage to get it working, it works okay, that is not the problem. But on a lot it didn't work at all and I don't want to be dictated which distro I should use by my GPU :)
@MyPassword_Is666 Yes, that would work, but as I am a Linux sys admin, running a Linux box, even at home makes a lot more sense that messing around with Windows (SSH, NFS, SSHFS). And the same applies here, I don't want to be dictated as to what OS I run by a GPU.
@traq2 The last live USB I tried was the new Cinnamon edition of Manjaro. Try what I might, no way I could boot it properly. But as I stated, it is hit and miss.
I like Manjaro as well, 'love' would be a little too strong a word :) Especially after the upgrade of GCC to 5.something a while back, without any kernel that was compiled with 5.something. That was 'fun' as I'm dependent on VMware Workstation for my work from home :S
SUSE has the option to switch to 'non-free' drivers, as do some other distros. But that doesn't help if I can't even boot the install USB properly :)
As others have stated Nvidia sucks when it comes to Linux support. I'd sell the 750 for $125 or so and get a 270. AMD stated that they are now Linux first and foremost.