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Reason to keep a GPU in a computer that is running Ubuntu Server

rated 0 times [ 13] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 4592 / 1 Year ago, wed, march 15, 2023, 5:49:10

After a problem with my old motherboard, I'm switching my Ubuntu to my gaming computer. My main question is: is there any reason to keep my AMD HD 7850 running on this computer?

My motherboard has VGA/HDMI connectors.

Will any application, OS, Ubuntu, or the system use the GPU to process any data?

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restlerfin

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3 Years ago

answered 1 Year ago llianconclad · Accepted Answer

Graphics cards help with:

CUDA/OpenCL style workloads (eg bitcoin mining)

3D rendering. You might be rendering stuff on demand.

Most cards can help with video decoding but this applies to many IGPs too.

Some cards have hardware to help with video encoding. The quality is usually a lot poorer and this is still under development. ffmpeg can use nvenc (obviously on a Nvidia card). I'm not sure if this applies to you.

Almost everything else will only go through the CPU. If you're not doing any of the above (in a way that uses the GPU) you might as well pull the card.

But hang on a second, you can also play games on Ubuntu. The AMD drivers are occasionally infuriating, but that's potentially an option. If you're planning on running a media centre, your onboard graphics might be enough but we use a low-end Nvidia card to help in ours.