# Best Graphic Support



## CraigHB (Jun 2, 2019)

I know this is a commonly asked question and I've looked at other posts in the forum,  but I've been away from FreeBSD for a while and I'm a little out of touch.  Things can change pretty fast with this stuff.

I'm thinking of building a little mini-ITX FreeBSD machine to provide media services among other services.   I'll need good ffmpeg and audio over HDMI support.  Which graphics would be most trouble free, Intel, nVidia, or AMD.  I'm leaning toward Intel since it saves the need for a separate video card, but if nVidia or AMD would be a better choice I can go with a card.


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## shkhln (Jun 2, 2019)

CraigHB said:


> I'll need good ffmpeg and audio over HDMI support.



I'm not even sure if audio over HDMI works with Intel at all. Anyone?


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## Sevendogsbsd (Jun 2, 2019)

Good question: I have an Intel GPU (on CPU) but use DP and use separate audio from my soundcard. I don't have a use case to run audio over hdmi so never tried it, mainly because my monitor speakers suck in comparison to my computer speakers. Most motherboards have good audio cards built in. Using them would just involve separate cabling but maybe that won't work for your situation.


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## Shadow53 (Jun 2, 2019)

FWIW, I have a laptop with Optimus graphics and a dead Nvidia card, so I've been using the Intel one for graphics. HDMI works fine, and it's wired into the same audio system as the speakers and headphone jack — that is, Pulseaudio on Linux considers them the same audio device. Just have to use sysctl to tell it to use HDMI instead of the speakers.


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## CraigHB (Jun 2, 2019)

Sounds great.  That was a big concern, getting audio over HDMI.  I use an AV Receiver and everything has to go through that via HDMI so the box has to provide all media services that way.  I'm kind of leaning toward Intel integrated graphics, but I'm not sure if it's the best way to go.


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## shepper (Jun 2, 2019)

CraigHB said:


> I'm leaning toward Intel since it saves the need for a separate video card, but if nVidia or AMD would be a better choice I can go with a card.


AMD currently has a significant number of APUs (CPU+GPU) available.  I'm running an older A6-5400K and am looking a a future upgrade: 2200G.
Ryzen 3 2200G specs
In July, 7nm APU's are due to be released.
Anandtech latest AMD APUs


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## CraigHB (Jun 3, 2019)

I was looking at that Ryzen 5 2400G before which looks like a really good deal.  I mean why spend more on lower performance only for brand loyalty.  Unfortunately it also seems the graphics support is not that great.  I could only find two threads in the forum here about that model APU and it looked like there are some problems running it.  Does the Ryzen 3 2200G offer better support?

In any case the AMD APU platform looks like super good value and perfect for a small media server.  Maybe worth the trouble to get it working, but I don't want to try to do the impossible either.


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## shepper (Jun 3, 2019)

CraigHB said:


> I could only find two threads in the forum here about that model APU and it looked like there are some problems running it. Does the Ryzen 3 2200G offer better support?


It is the old quandry.  Getting the latest, greatest, most efficient tech without being a guinea pig.  Still, others have gone before you and are reporting the drivers are working, albeit, with quirks.
Also efforts in this area are ongoing in the other BSD's - the drivers should only improve over time.


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## CraigHB (Jun 3, 2019)

Yeah, I've been an early adopter more than I'd like lately.  I might take the plunge, maybe hold off a bit and see if things clean up down the road.  BTW, I saw the following blurb on the AMD site which was enticing;


> *FACT #9: Radeon Vega graphics are awesome for entertainment*
> 
> You’ve already seen that the 2200G and 2400G can comfortably play games, but games are not the only thing a graphics core can do. People also watch movies and TV shows from all different sources on many different types of monitors. The Radeon Vega graphics built into these new processors handle H.264, HEVC, and VP9 fully in the hardware for smooth, cool, and quiet playback. In other words: services like Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube are all handled by dedicated hardware inside our new processor.4 And when it comes to monitors, Radeon Vega graphics can handle any display up to 4K UltraHD, even if you also throw in High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Radeon FreeSync technology.5


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