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Ok, I am building a high end workstation for bioinformatics analysis. The motherboard I am using is a Supermicro X10 which does NOT have an integrated video card/setup. I plan to install Ubuntu 14.04 and want to know what would be a good, cheap video card for me to get going with the installation process? Subsequently, I plan to install a NVidia card GTX 980 for the graphics. However, I am worried if I start with the GTX 980, I might not be able to install the Ubuntu as NVidia cards are not PnP.

Am I thinking right about this? Thanks for the favor of a reply.

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This may probably not be the right place for hardware recommendations but your issue is a bit different to what an average desktop user is faced with.

In general all graphic cards need a driver to work with Ubuntu but not all drivers can come with a default Ubuntu installation because they are not Open Source. Another general rule is that brand new very high end graphic cards may not yet be fully supported, have issues, or need untested, bleeding edge drivers. Very old low end cards may not have a sufficient 3D power to run the Ubuntu Unity desktop.

Intel

Intel graphics is fully supported because the manufacturer provides Open Source drivers for all features. Alas there are no discrete graphic cards with Intel chips available, as the GPU was mostly already integrated.

Nvidia

As you already fopund out newer Nvidia cards may not yet be supported at all by the Open Source nouveau driver. Therefore we will not easily be able to install Ubuntu. Older cards or low end cards will work, but as compared to the radeon driver the nouveau driver still lacks a full support of all features. It may suffice to install Ubuntu but do not expect a fast desktop experience without installing the proprietary Nvidia drivers. Here is a list of supported cards and features.

AMD

Other than Intel the Open Source radeon driver is quite advanced and fully supports older or low end graphic cards making them fully capable of running Unity. An incomplete list of fully supported AMD cards is maintained on the Ubuntu Community Wiki. This list can be useful when buying a second hand card to plug in for just installing. From the currently available low end spectrum starting with the CEDAR Radeon 5450 we don't expect any issues. These cards should be fully supported by the Open Source driver supplied with the Ubuntu installation DVD and it should run out of the box.

Additional note

There will be no issues using the open source drivers radeon or nvidia when switching then graphic card brand but it is not recommended to have proprietary drivers for both, AMD and NVidia running at the same time. Therefore in case you plan to keep a proprietary driver it may be easier to stay with the same brand.

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