Do I need a better graphics card for 11.10?

Question

I am not anything like a gamer so a modern Integrated graphic card should be more than enough for me but after getting a new PC with Sandy Bridge CPU (Intel core i7 2600K) I've had very shaky display on Ubuntu 10.10: Flickering screen and random red pixels whenever there are black color on the browser. My Motherboard is Asrock h67m.

As per suggestion here, yesterday I upgraded my Ubuntu to 11.10. Not seen flickering screen yet but the random red pixels still show up on browser.

So I am wondering whether it is a likely solution to apparently existing) Linux graphic issues with Sandy Bridge processors if i get an Ubuntu-friendly graphic card. And If so, what cards have shown good fidelity with Ubuntu?

Here is my Ubuntu 11.10's ispc result:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev b5)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev b5)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation H67 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 4 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 05)
02:00.0 USB Controller: Etron Technology, Inc. EJ168 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 01)
03:00.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1080 (rev 01)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06)

Thanks

Answer 1

It's true Sandy Bridge graphics are fairly new and some kinks are still needing to be worked out, but in oneiric it is considered "stable", so it should work. Bad news is sounds like you found a bug. Good news is since Sandy Bridge is still new, bug reports on it tend to get high priority from Intel (if they're well written).

Easiest thing to do is file a bug report ('ubuntu-bug xorg'). If you don't get a reply within a few days give me a ping.

If you do want to solve the problem via getting a new video card, I typically recommend AMD Radeon cards these days. R500 have been very well debugged, but the R600/R700 cards are quite good and probably easier to find in stores. If you go with R600 or newer you have the choice of two drivers - open source -ati, or proprietary -fglrx. A comprehensive listing of features supported by the various radeon chips is at: http://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature