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I'm also sticking to Nvidia GTX 970 for now but would be nice to upgrade at some point. I was hopeful about AMD's offering but after trying Ryzen 2400G APU on m

by Jnr 8y ago

I'm also sticking to Nvidia GTX 970 for now but would be nice to upgrade at some point. I was hopeful about AMD's offering but after trying Ryzen 2400G APU on my Linux media box I am not going to touch new AMD hardware again with a ten foot pole any time soon. Their Linux drivers are a nightmare, freezing display all the time, requiring power cycling. Nvidia works nicely and I don't really mind the bigger price tag.

holtalanm 8y ago
I can't speak for linux currently, as I stopped running that in lieu of the Windows Subsystem for Linux, but I havent had any of those problems on either of my AMD-gpu-powered machines on windows. (one running Vega 8 integrated, the other running an RX 580 4G). it definitely sounds like a driver compatibility issue. AMD cards have had....issues on linux for a long while now. I remember running a laptop with a dedicated AMD card about 10 years ago that wouldn't work on linux without installing a 3rd-party driver because their switchable graphics implementation was god-awful.
- BuckRogers 8y ago
  While I love Linux Mint and Antergos (for rolling), I'm a Windows-based C# dev, and WSL would be my choice as well. Other than increased hardware compatibility the big win is battery life when mobile. Not really a factor for me as I develop on a Ryzen 2700X, but Windows 10 with Edge (soon to be Chromium based) or macOS with Safari is as good as it gets for battery life. I doubt a primarily server OS like Linux will ever match Windows or macOS in this regard, though I certainly wouldn't mind seeing it happen.
  - holtalanm 8y ago
    yeah. battery life is a real concern as well when mobile for me on my ryzen laptop. It doesn't have a very large battery. lol
opencl 8y ago
Raven Ridge APUs in particular are terrible, every other piece of AMD hardware has very dramatically better Linux support than NVIDIA's GPUs.
dave7 8y ago
It's probably done enough damage to their reputation in your estimation to not matter, but please note these Linux problems are specific to the Raven Ridge APU [1] - not the case using a discrete AMD GPU, the open source drivers for which are by many accounts absolutely superb these days. It's a shame, I want a 2400G to replace my ageing A10 Trinity media box, will probably give it a try fairly soon expecting latest kernels have this solved by now... [1] https://www.phoronix.com/forums/forum/linux-graphics-x-org-drivers/open-source-amd-linux/1045801-is-there-any-kernel-on-which-raven-ridge-cpus-are-stable https://www.phoronix.com/forums/forum/linux-graphics-x-org-d...
- ohithereyou 8y ago
  Thanks for this information. I was planning a GPU passthrough setup using this - 2400G APU for the Linux display and an nVidia GTX 970 for passthrough, but this now makes me pause.
Crespyl 8y ago
This is exactly where I'm at, my 970 handles everything I've needed so far. I'm interested in exploring VR dev, but am waiting until I have a new GPU, and can't really justify the upgrade yet. I've had my eye on the recent Ryzen cards, but I'm not sold on the reliability yet compared to Nvidia. I do like that AMD at least seems to be trying to play nice with the open source drivers and kernel infrastructure, but in practice Nvidia still seems to be the most straightforward solution, so... meh.
- stcredzero 8y ago
  I'm interested in exploring VR dev, but am waiting until I have a new GPU Don't wait. Iron out the gameplay with "low" graphics. 970 is just fine for that.
  - holtalanm 8y ago
    can a 970 even support VR hardware? I was under the impression it could not.
    - stcredzero 8y ago
      The GTX 970 used to be the minimum card for blue team. I've played all of my VR gaming on one. Perhaps gains in resolution on new equipment have left them behind, but they should still be fine for a 1st generation HTC Vive. I've also run VR games using Windows Mixed Reality headsets, which have a higher resolution than the 1st generation HTC Vive, and it also seemed just fine. Also, at the time, though it was several months back, the Steam VR test program still gave my GTX 970 a pass. YouTuber Blunty once ran his 1st gen VR headset off of a GTX1050Ti laptop and said it was just fine "in a pinch." (I wouldn't recommend it for the very VR sickness prone, however.)
    - jsgo 8y ago
      it was the minimum recommended by Oculus and may've been for Vive too, can't remember, at one point. But I think what they're saying is you can conceivably work on VR/AR without having world beating hardware (it really only becomes an issue when you want to test, I would imagine). But maybe after getting some VR development under one's belt with a 970, that may give incentive to do the GPU upgrade if things progress accordingly.
scarejunba 8y ago
The 970 also works smoothly on Ubuntu with Nouveau.
LinuxBender 8y ago
Similar for me. I had to get the 1050Ti for VR (vrchat optimization issues) and that should suffice for some time.

by Jnr 8y ago

holtalanm 8y ago

I can't speak for linux currently, as I stopped running that in lieu of the Windows Subsystem for Linux, but I havent had any of those problems on either of my AMD-gpu-powered machines on windows. (one running Vega 8 integrated, the other running an RX 580 4G). it definitely sounds like a driver compatibility issue. AMD cards have had....issues on linux for a long while now. I remember running a laptop with a dedicated AMD card about 10 years ago that wouldn't work on linux without installing a 3rd-party driver because their switchable graphics implementation was god-awful.

BuckRogers 8y ago
While I love Linux Mint and Antergos (for rolling), I'm a Windows-based C# dev, and WSL would be my choice as well. Other than increased hardware compatibility the big win is battery life when mobile. Not really a factor for me as I develop on a Ryzen 2700X, but Windows 10 with Edge (soon to be Chromium based) or macOS with Safari is as good as it gets for battery life. I doubt a primarily server OS like Linux will ever match Windows or macOS in this regard, though I certainly wouldn't mind seeing it happen.
- holtalanm 8y ago
  yeah. battery life is a real concern as well when mobile for me on my ryzen laptop. It doesn't have a very large battery. lol

opencl 8y ago

Raven Ridge APUs in particular are terrible, every other piece of AMD hardware has very dramatically better Linux support than NVIDIA's GPUs.

dave7 8y ago

It's probably done enough damage to their reputation in your estimation to not matter, but please note these Linux problems are specific to the Raven Ridge APU [1] - not the case using a discrete AMD GPU, the open source drivers for which are by many accounts absolutely superb these days. It's a shame, I want a 2400G to replace my ageing A10 Trinity media box, will probably give it a try fairly soon expecting latest kernels have this solved by now... [1] https://www.phoronix.com/forums/forum/linux-graphics-x-org-drivers/open-source-amd-linux/1045801-is-there-any-kernel-on-which-raven-ridge-cpus-are-stable https://www.phoronix.com/forums/forum/linux-graphics-x-org-d...

ohithereyou 8y ago
Thanks for this information. I was planning a GPU passthrough setup using this - 2400G APU for the Linux display and an nVidia GTX 970 for passthrough, but this now makes me pause.

Crespyl 8y ago

This is exactly where I'm at, my 970 handles everything I've needed so far. I'm interested in exploring VR dev, but am waiting until I have a new GPU, and can't really justify the upgrade yet. I've had my eye on the recent Ryzen cards, but I'm not sold on the reliability yet compared to Nvidia. I do like that AMD at least seems to be trying to play nice with the open source drivers and kernel infrastructure, but in practice Nvidia still seems to be the most straightforward solution, so... meh.

stcredzero 8y ago
I'm interested in exploring VR dev, but am waiting until I have a new GPU Don't wait. Iron out the gameplay with "low" graphics. 970 is just fine for that.
- holtalanm 8y ago
  can a 970 even support VR hardware? I was under the impression it could not.
  - stcredzero 8y ago
    The GTX 970 used to be the minimum card for blue team. I've played all of my VR gaming on one. Perhaps gains in resolution on new equipment have left them behind, but they should still be fine for a 1st generation HTC Vive. I've also run VR games using Windows Mixed Reality headsets, which have a higher resolution than the 1st generation HTC Vive, and it also seemed just fine. Also, at the time, though it was several months back, the Steam VR test program still gave my GTX 970 a pass. YouTuber Blunty once ran his 1st gen VR headset off of a GTX1050Ti laptop and said it was just fine "in a pinch." (I wouldn't recommend it for the very VR sickness prone, however.)
  - jsgo 8y ago
    it was the minimum recommended by Oculus and may've been for Vive too, can't remember, at one point. But I think what they're saying is you can conceivably work on VR/AR without having world beating hardware (it really only becomes an issue when you want to test, I would imagine). But maybe after getting some VR development under one's belt with a 970, that may give incentive to do the GPU upgrade if things progress accordingly.

scarejunba 8y ago

The 970 also works smoothly on Ubuntu with Nouveau.

LinuxBender 8y ago

Similar for me. I had to get the 1050Ti for VR (vrchat optimization issues) and that should suffice for some time.