Best video card for Flash and gaming?

I'm buying the mobo for my 9850BE right now and a couple of drives (for my backend / app server). I was seriously considering getting the dual-core Revo to use as a front end because of the low power consumption and small size, but I watch Hulu frequently and I just don't think that it's ready for Flash yet. Also, I'd like to be able to play some games in Wine and Cedega, so I decided to get a new video card for my workstation and use it as the front end.

But which one??????

Of course, I'll go with Nvidia because of VDPAU, and I don't mind spending up to $200 for one if it's going to provide me with smooth Hulu playback and run some recent games.

So, I'm asking you guys for input on this one. What do you think?

EDIT: I'm using DVI to a 24" 1920x1200 monitor and optical SPDIF to my Z-5500, so I don't need HDMI. Also, it's a PCI Express 2.0 slot.

But can the 220 handle recent games?

Also, I can understand why you would place the blame on the nvidia driver (which has a tendency to correct itself) for Flash playback, but I'm not going to buy an Intel GPU just to watch Hulu. It's clear to me that the amount of OpenGL support in the card and the way that is is handled is responsible for smooth Flash playback because Flash currently uses OpenGL. There are nvidia cards on the market right now that can handle it just fine with the current drivers, and I'm asking "Which ones?". I expect that the 220 can, but I need something that can play games, as well, and I'm not sure that the 220 can handle that.

I think that zim2dive has reported good Flash playback on his 9500GT, but I could be wrong. I'm wondering about the 2xx series. Surely, there's an nvidia card that can play Hulu smoothly.

The games I'm referring to are Windows games via Wine or Cedega. I can't remember the last time I spent much time with gaming, but I want to have the option. I do have a nephew and my cousins have kids that might stop by, so I'd like to provide them with the opportunity to blow up stuff and dismember random people.

Thanks, zim. There's a GL bench that I found from surfing nvnews, but I can't remember what it's called.

Anyway, it looks like I'm going to have to dual-boot to Windows to play Hulu and Netflix (which really sucks hard), so I might as well load up the games there, also. I'll PXE boot to Linux and put Windows on the HD.

I think I'll go with the GTX 260 -- my PSU can barely handle it.

OK, I went ahead and ordered the GTX 260. I'll find that bench and post results for Linux, plus I'll let you know how it does with Flash. Maybe I won't have to dual-boot at all (fingers crossed).

Here it is: http://unigine.com/download/#tropics

And here are the results (3/8/09) from my 9300GS which has frequent tearing in flash video and can barely play low-end games:

That test was run March of last year.

Thank you for posting your results. I'll test my GTX 260 when it gets here.

Sounds like permissions, but not sure.

I'll run it again when my card gets here.

That's not too bad for 1920x1080, zim. Is flash watchable on that 220?

Thank you. I'll test the GTX 260 in XP first (because that's what I'm running right now for a number of reasons) when it gets here (looks like tomorrow). Then, I'll test it in Linux after I get my backend set up which is going to be very complicated, and I'm kinda lazy. So I can't give you an ETA on that. Maybe next week, but I have an all-essay mid-term to prepare for, and that will have to take priority. I'll have to get a C in that class in order to keep getting student loans which are paying for so many things: food, wine, hardware, etc.

OMG that's the biggest video card I've ever seen! I haven't plugged it in yet...still marveling at it. Can't wait to see the scores.

Great call on the mobo, too, tux. She's a real beauty.

Of course I'll run the test in both.


It's the 2.0. The heatsink feels OK, so I'll see how the temps look when I get it installed. TBH I don't really want to mess with it.

I have a ton of rearranging to do, so I've been putting it off until after my midterm. Stuff can go wrong fast, and my classes are all online, so I'm not taking any chances.

Basically, I have 1 IDE 80GB drive and 2 SATA 80GB drives in my mid-tower with my dual-core opty where the 260 will go. The mobo will go into my HTPC case with my 9850 and the 2 SATA 80GB drives + 1 more in a RAID0 array + a new 1.5TB for storage. I'll PXE boot the opty to linux and put Windows on the IDE.

I also have a 1TB external drive, but it doesn't work with my current 939 board, so I'll have to boot my current setup to the new board before I can back up my movies.

I wanted to go ahead and plug in the 260 to my current setup (939, opty, 3 HD's, 2 optical), but I would have had to move some drives around, dig PSU cables out of my closet (it's modular and the card requires 2 6-pins), and since the PSU is barely rated above the minimal requirements for the video card I didn't feel comfortable with it.

Plus, I need to buy a new UPS since mine is fried and it has already cost me 2 drives in a year's time (we get plenty of power outages here in Oklahoma).

Trust me when I tell you that I want to see some scores on this 260 more than anyone, but I just can't do it right now. Let me get this 80-question all-essay midterm out of the way (way too much for a freakin' elective if you ask me), and I'll get everything going and post some test results.

Thanks, but I already know that I'm gonna fail this elective.

I just need to go find a good UPS before I get these systems up and running. Then I'll be able to report some benchmarks.

I still haven't installed my 260 yet because I'm still waiting for the dining room table to clean itself.

Thanks, I usually download them from Nvidia and install them manually.

That would suck if the fans didn't work right. It's already going to sound like a vacuum cleaner.