4 ms·

A GPU with HDMI and 16MB of VRAM is a very strange combination.

SillyUsername 1mo ago
I agree but these things are only about $25 USD. Arguably an older Nvidia GPU is a better investment at this price if you just want basic desktop use. Unfortunately if I did that, the old Nvidia drivers wouldn't support my newer Nvidia Blackwell hardware.
- theokrueger 1mo ago
  old nvidia cards are pretty terrible actually on linux due to the proprietary drivers not working on mainline kernel after ~6.6
- userbinator 1mo ago
  Maybe an LLM can also assist with modifying the Nvidia driver appropriately.
  - SillyUsername 1mo ago
    Funny you should say that On the same machine I experimented with IOMMU and a lightweight VM to run Nvidia Pascal era GPUs in a VM with 580 drivers, while Nvidia Blackwell on the host uses 590. I vibe coded that too When exposed via openai compatible endpoints with GPUStack https://github.com/gpustack/gpustack https://github.com/gpustack/gpustack I could use the combined compute power from both generations on a single machine.
wtallis 1mo ago
It doesn't really do much in the way of processing (https://www.siliconmotion.com/download/3PS/a/SM750_PB_EN_201910.pdf https://www.siliconmotion.com/download/3PS/a/SM750_PB_EN_201...); it's pretty much just a dumb framebuffer. You can wire it up to output over an HDMI connector, but with the features it supports you're really just getting a single-link DVI signal.
- SillyUsername 1mo ago
  It is just an old school 2D style card, with some (shape) primitives acceleration (unused), two logical controllers (no idea why), but has DMA (used) and a hardware cursor (also used). There's no onboard audio either. It's pretty much a GPU for rack mount servers that require occasional log in. It's exactly what I was looking for desktop work, it runs cinnamon fairly well, and won't clash with my Nvidia setup :)
  - userbinator 1mo ago
    two logical controllers (no idea why) For dual-monitor versions?
    - SillyUsername 1mo ago
      Yes. Stupid comment of mine tbh, I saw it as pointless for this card, but they wouldn't make a separate version of the controller just for this One avenue I looked at for a real 2560px width was that the second controller was physically independent and could have different hardware limits of the first controller by virtue of supporting DVI directly (but not being physically connected to another port). Unfortunately other controller is logical so that was a bust.
numpad0 1mo ago
3840 x 2160[px] x 24[bit/px] / 8[bit/byte] = 24883200[bytes] ^ / 1024^2[bytes/MB] = 23.73[MB]
- SillyUsername 1mo ago
  [dead]
pdpi 1mo ago
16 * 1024 * 1024 / 1920 / 1080 = 8.0909, so you have enough VRAM for double-buffered 24-bit 1080p, with a bit to spare. For pure software rendering, that's good enough!
- userbinator 1mo ago
  It's the HDMI output that's the oddity; mid-90s cards with that much (little?) VRAM could already do 2048x1536x32, but usually had a VGA connector.
  - pdpi 1mo ago
    Yeah, I could've been clearer. VGA displays are something of a dying breed, and HDMI is the single likeliest interface you might find on a random newish display, so there is a market for absolute cheapest, most basic HDMI output device you can make. If you're going to build that interface, 1080p is the resolution you need to target. My point was simply that 16MB is just barely enough to build that interface, and barely enough is still enough.
  - numpad0 1mo ago
    datacenter guys didn't like digitals. they embrace blurry SVGA pictures coming through excessively long cables and sometimes mechanical switches, and to them DVI/HDMI felt to be an all-or-nothing risk factor
    - avhception 1mo ago
      It's a chicken-and-egg problem. Server hardware comes with VGA, because everything in the server room (think KVM switches, external remote KVM, local 19" consoles) is built with VGA. And that will be the case as long as server hardware comes with VGA.
      - crote 1mo ago
        I will be very surprised if it doesn't start switching over to USB-C over the next decade or two. Having a single port capable of doing the entire local KVM dance using readily-available hardware is just a no-brainer. Some switches have already started using USB-C for serial instead of RJ45. When the technician is 100% already carrying a smartphone and C-to-C cable to charge it, making the console available with zero additional adapters is quite attractive.

I agree but these things are only about $25 USD. Arguably an older Nvidia GPU is a better investment at this price if you just want basic desktop use. Unfortunately if I did that, the old Nvidia drivers wouldn't support my newer Nvidia Blackwell hardware.

theokrueger 1mo ago
old nvidia cards are pretty terrible actually on linux due to the proprietary drivers not working on mainline kernel after ~6.6
userbinator 1mo ago
Maybe an LLM can also assist with modifying the Nvidia driver appropriately.
- SillyUsername 1mo ago
  Funny you should say that On the same machine I experimented with IOMMU and a lightweight VM to run Nvidia Pascal era GPUs in a VM with 580 drivers, while Nvidia Blackwell on the host uses 590. I vibe coded that too When exposed via openai compatible endpoints with GPUStack https://github.com/gpustack/gpustack https://github.com/gpustack/gpustack I could use the combined compute power from both generations on a single machine.

wtallis 1mo ago

It doesn't really do much in the way of processing (https://www.siliconmotion.com/download/3PS/a/SM750_PB_EN_201910.pdf https://www.siliconmotion.com/download/3PS/a/SM750_PB_EN_201...); it's pretty much just a dumb framebuffer. You can wire it up to output over an HDMI connector, but with the features it supports you're really just getting a single-link DVI signal.

SillyUsername 1mo ago
It is just an old school 2D style card, with some (shape) primitives acceleration (unused), two logical controllers (no idea why), but has DMA (used) and a hardware cursor (also used). There's no onboard audio either. It's pretty much a GPU for rack mount servers that require occasional log in. It's exactly what I was looking for desktop work, it runs cinnamon fairly well, and won't clash with my Nvidia setup :)
- userbinator 1mo ago
  two logical controllers (no idea why) For dual-monitor versions?
  - SillyUsername 1mo ago
    Yes. Stupid comment of mine tbh, I saw it as pointless for this card, but they wouldn't make a separate version of the controller just for this One avenue I looked at for a real 2560px width was that the second controller was physically independent and could have different hardware limits of the first controller by virtue of supporting DVI directly (but not being physically connected to another port). Unfortunately other controller is logical so that was a bust.

numpad0 1mo ago

3840 x 2160[px] x 24[bit/px] / 8[bit/byte] = 24883200[bytes] ^ / 1024^2[bytes/MB] = 23.73[MB]

SillyUsername 1mo ago
[dead]

pdpi 1mo ago

16 * 1024 * 1024 / 1920 / 1080 = 8.0909, so you have enough VRAM for double-buffered 24-bit 1080p, with a bit to spare. For pure software rendering, that's good enough!

userbinator 1mo ago
It's the HDMI output that's the oddity; mid-90s cards with that much (little?) VRAM could already do 2048x1536x32, but usually had a VGA connector.
- pdpi 1mo ago
  Yeah, I could've been clearer. VGA displays are something of a dying breed, and HDMI is the single likeliest interface you might find on a random newish display, so there is a market for absolute cheapest, most basic HDMI output device you can make. If you're going to build that interface, 1080p is the resolution you need to target. My point was simply that 16MB is just barely enough to build that interface, and barely enough is still enough.
- numpad0 1mo ago
  datacenter guys didn't like digitals. they embrace blurry SVGA pictures coming through excessively long cables and sometimes mechanical switches, and to them DVI/HDMI felt to be an all-or-nothing risk factor
  - avhception 1mo ago
    It's a chicken-and-egg problem. Server hardware comes with VGA, because everything in the server room (think KVM switches, external remote KVM, local 19" consoles) is built with VGA. And that will be the case as long as server hardware comes with VGA.
    - crote 1mo ago
      I will be very surprised if it doesn't start switching over to USB-C over the next decade or two. Having a single port capable of doing the entire local KVM dance using readily-available hardware is just a no-brainer. Some switches have already started using USB-C for serial instead of RJ45. When the technician is 100% already carrying a smartphone and C-to-C cable to charge it, making the console available with zero additional adapters is quite attractive.