10 ms·

They aren't going to win anything until they fix their laughably bad drivers and keep them fixed. I have several Ryzens, but there's no way I'd go anywhere near

by AmVess 7y ago

They aren't going to win anything until they fix their laughably bad drivers and keep them fixed. I have several Ryzens, but there's no way I'd go anywhere near their graphics cards.

jdc 7y ago
I'm running an RX 570 on Linux and it works fine for my purposes (work, Steam games & Blizzard games under wine).
- chao- 7y ago
  Same with a 580. Linux, many monitors, work, light gaming. Drivers are the first time I've ever not had issues with Linux graphics. Three years in I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Where are the driver issues? I'm certain it was like a law of physics in Linux, but somehow, not this time, not for me?
  - omegabravo 7y ago
    I have 2x 24" monitors on Ubuntu 18.04.03 with a Radeon RX 580 I can't watch a video on Youtube without substantial tearing on Firefox or Chrome. I've followed close to 20 guides and tried a number of drivers which all fail provide any benefit. Running glxgears will run at 7400FPS, with minor tearing. My monitors don't have FreeSync or whatever it's called since they're pretty old (over 10 years). Since most guides are as helpful as "type this into a console" - I haven't learnt anything while trying these fixes. edit: I tried to install the newest drivers (19.50), and they fail to install with build errors since I had to uninstall the old ones (19.20) I'm now running Polaris10? drivers by accident, and the tearing issue seems to have disappeared. I have no idea if these are less performant, but they are sufficient for my needs.
    - atq2119 7y ago
      Tearing issues tend to be problems of the application, compositor, or Xorg. Nothing the driver can do much about, unfortunately. Xorg in particular is pretty bad at tearing with multi-monitor setups.
      - craftyguy 7y ago
        Some DDX drivers handle tearing (implementing vsync). Tearing is basically not a problem at all on Wayland compositors since the spec addresses it directly (from what I understand)
    - mehhh 7y ago
      Switch to Wayland, your issue is that Xorg is not tear free by default and Ubuntu has chosen to stick with this legacy stack in 18.04: https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/01/xorg-will-default-display-server-ubuntu-18-04-lts https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/01/xorg-will-default-displa...
    - proverbialbunny 7y ago
      My condolences. On Nvidia there is a Full Composition Pipeline option in Nvidia driver settings which gets rid of vsync issues. It's odd it's not on by default.
      - winter_blue 7y ago
        Wow, that's good to know! How do you turn it on? (I don't see an option for it in the Nvidia X Server Settings app.)
        proverbialbunny 7y ago
        Nvidia X Server Settings app -> X Server Display Configuration -> Advanced... -> Force Full Composition Pipeline Note, it is not saved during a reboot unless you click 'Save to X Configuration File' and then save to /etc/X11/xorg.conf for most distros. Also, many distros have partial v-sync of some sort on. For most it isn't noticeable, but for many desktops it causes the screen to run at an effective 59 instead of 60fps (or that is what it looks like to me, non-scientific here), so it can be beneficial to look up how to turn off vsync on your distro. Eg, I'm on Mint so for me it's General Settings -> VSync method -> None. For most people, this is not a noticeable change.
        winter_blue 7y ago
        Thank you for explaining it so clearly.
    - ubercow13 7y ago
      I have a 580. Have you tried turning on the in-driver vsync option? AMD's implementation of it seems the best to me out of cards I've tried. You can turn it on while X is running easily using xrandr to see if it helps: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AMDGPU#Tear_free_rendering https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AMDGPU#Tear_free_render...
    - moonbas3 7y ago
      Look at your compositor, I've fixed this in KDE by enabling Full Screen Repaints under vsync options.
    - esistgut 7y ago
      Switch to Wayland or just enable TearFree on Xorg, something like: `xrandr --output DisplayPort-0 --set TearFree on` of course you have to adjust to your output (`xrandr --props`).
- dannyw 7y ago
  The driver issues are for the 5500, 5600, and 5700 cards. Your card is a gen out of date, so it's fine.
  - mrob 7y ago
    I bought an out-of-date RX570 after the RX5000 series was released, because I wanted mature Linux drivers (and reduced price as vendors cleared out their obsolete stock). It's the first AMD card I've owned that's been completely trouble-free.
  - philjohn 7y ago
    Huh, launch day 5700 XT and zero issues ... then again, I don't play older titles which seems to have the most issues.
perceptronas 7y ago
Agree, I dropped Linux due bad graphics drivers (AMD)
- jdc 7y ago
  How long ago did you try it? It was definitely bad in the fglrx days!
  - perceptronas 7y ago
    My move happened few months ago. I used Linux for years (and still use it in VMs/servers), however after changing GPU it was a compatibility nightmare. I chose AMD partly because I heard that drivers are good on Linux. Not sure how many hours I spend on it.
    - dralley 7y ago
      Which card is this?
    - ben-schaaf 7y ago
      I've installed 3 systems over the past couple years with amd gpus (all rx5XX). Not a single driver issue, nor any setup required.
  - yxhuvud 7y ago
    This is definitely a problem still. The latest Ubuntu won't even boot with a 5700 XT card without first upgrading the Linux firmware.
- winter_blue 7y ago
  Are you really saying that AMD is worse than Nvidia on Linux??? I have a Nvidia GPU (on my laptop), and I've had a truly horrible experience on Linux with Nvidia proprietary drivers. I was actually considering ditching my laptop, and buying a new one with AMD chipsets, due to the issues I've had on Linux due to the presence of the Nvidia graphics card. I occasionally play games on my Linux laptop, using Proton (a Steam derivative of Wine), as well as native Linux games. So I do want a GPU. (Although, at this point I've even considered getting a laptop with no GPU and only integrated Intel graphics, since I want to at least be able to do business/work without problems.)
hau 7y ago
We bought a few Ryzens with Vega8 for our devs on linux and it was a mistake. Unfortunately integrated graphics glitched horribly and it required us to find right set of kernel flags and features to disable. After encountering bug with amdgpu module randomly giving up, we just used discrete gpu. I don't feel comfortable relying on their gpus after this experience but cpus are undeniably good.
dralley 7y ago
The drivers are perfectly fine, as long as you don't have a new 5xxx card. Those seem to have ongoing issues. But my experience with AMD cards on Windows and Linux has been overall pretty great.
tristor 7y ago
Hard agree. I'm an "AMD fanboy" of sorts, and I abandoned their graphics cards for desktop use after a terrible experience with the drivers. Of course at the time I was using Crossfire. But even without Crossfire trying to use AMD on Linux or BSD is much harder than nVidia. Windows or Linux, simple or complex, the AMD drivers are just bad.

by AmVess 7y ago

They aren't going to win anything until they fix their laughably bad drivers and keep them fixed. I have several Ryzens, but there's no way I'd go anywhere near their graphics cards.

jdc 7y ago

I'm running an RX 570 on Linux and it works fine for my purposes (work, Steam games & Blizzard games under wine).

chao- 7y ago
Same with a 580. Linux, many monitors, work, light gaming. Drivers are the first time I've ever not had issues with Linux graphics. Three years in I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Where are the driver issues? I'm certain it was like a law of physics in Linux, but somehow, not this time, not for me?
- omegabravo 7y ago
  I have 2x 24" monitors on Ubuntu 18.04.03 with a Radeon RX 580 I can't watch a video on Youtube without substantial tearing on Firefox or Chrome. I've followed close to 20 guides and tried a number of drivers which all fail provide any benefit. Running glxgears will run at 7400FPS, with minor tearing. My monitors don't have FreeSync or whatever it's called since they're pretty old (over 10 years). Since most guides are as helpful as "type this into a console" - I haven't learnt anything while trying these fixes. edit: I tried to install the newest drivers (19.50), and they fail to install with build errors since I had to uninstall the old ones (19.20) I'm now running Polaris10? drivers by accident, and the tearing issue seems to have disappeared. I have no idea if these are less performant, but they are sufficient for my needs.
  - atq2119 7y ago
    Tearing issues tend to be problems of the application, compositor, or Xorg. Nothing the driver can do much about, unfortunately. Xorg in particular is pretty bad at tearing with multi-monitor setups.
    - craftyguy 7y ago
      Some DDX drivers handle tearing (implementing vsync). Tearing is basically not a problem at all on Wayland compositors since the spec addresses it directly (from what I understand)
  - mehhh 7y ago
    Switch to Wayland, your issue is that Xorg is not tear free by default and Ubuntu has chosen to stick with this legacy stack in 18.04: https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/01/xorg-will-default-display-server-ubuntu-18-04-lts https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/01/xorg-will-default-displa...
  - proverbialbunny 7y ago
    My condolences. On Nvidia there is a Full Composition Pipeline option in Nvidia driver settings which gets rid of vsync issues. It's odd it's not on by default.
    - winter_blue 7y ago
      Wow, that's good to know! How do you turn it on? (I don't see an option for it in the Nvidia X Server Settings app.)
      - proverbialbunny 7y ago
        Nvidia X Server Settings app -> X Server Display Configuration -> Advanced... -> Force Full Composition Pipeline Note, it is not saved during a reboot unless you click 'Save to X Configuration File' and then save to /etc/X11/xorg.conf for most distros. Also, many distros have partial v-sync of some sort on. For most it isn't noticeable, but for many desktops it causes the screen to run at an effective 59 instead of 60fps (or that is what it looks like to me, non-scientific here), so it can be beneficial to look up how to turn off vsync on your distro. Eg, I'm on Mint so for me it's General Settings -> VSync method -> None. For most people, this is not a noticeable change.
        winter_blue 7y ago
        Thank you for explaining it so clearly.
  - ubercow13 7y ago
    I have a 580. Have you tried turning on the in-driver vsync option? AMD's implementation of it seems the best to me out of cards I've tried. You can turn it on while X is running easily using xrandr to see if it helps: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AMDGPU#Tear_free_rendering https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AMDGPU#Tear_free_render...
  - moonbas3 7y ago
    Look at your compositor, I've fixed this in KDE by enabling Full Screen Repaints under vsync options.
  - esistgut 7y ago
    Switch to Wayland or just enable TearFree on Xorg, something like: `xrandr --output DisplayPort-0 --set TearFree on` of course you have to adjust to your output (`xrandr --props`).
dannyw 7y ago
The driver issues are for the 5500, 5600, and 5700 cards. Your card is a gen out of date, so it's fine.
- mrob 7y ago
  I bought an out-of-date RX570 after the RX5000 series was released, because I wanted mature Linux drivers (and reduced price as vendors cleared out their obsolete stock). It's the first AMD card I've owned that's been completely trouble-free.
- philjohn 7y ago
  Huh, launch day 5700 XT and zero issues ... then again, I don't play older titles which seems to have the most issues.

perceptronas 7y ago

Agree, I dropped Linux due bad graphics drivers (AMD)

jdc 7y ago
How long ago did you try it? It was definitely bad in the fglrx days!
- perceptronas 7y ago
  My move happened few months ago. I used Linux for years (and still use it in VMs/servers), however after changing GPU it was a compatibility nightmare. I chose AMD partly because I heard that drivers are good on Linux. Not sure how many hours I spend on it.
  - dralley 7y ago
    Which card is this?
  - ben-schaaf 7y ago
    I've installed 3 systems over the past couple years with amd gpus (all rx5XX). Not a single driver issue, nor any setup required.
- yxhuvud 7y ago
  This is definitely a problem still. The latest Ubuntu won't even boot with a 5700 XT card without first upgrading the Linux firmware.
winter_blue 7y ago
Are you really saying that AMD is worse than Nvidia on Linux??? I have a Nvidia GPU (on my laptop), and I've had a truly horrible experience on Linux with Nvidia proprietary drivers. I was actually considering ditching my laptop, and buying a new one with AMD chipsets, due to the issues I've had on Linux due to the presence of the Nvidia graphics card. I occasionally play games on my Linux laptop, using Proton (a Steam derivative of Wine), as well as native Linux games. So I do want a GPU. (Although, at this point I've even considered getting a laptop with no GPU and only integrated Intel graphics, since I want to at least be able to do business/work without problems.)

hau 7y ago

We bought a few Ryzens with Vega8 for our devs on linux and it was a mistake. Unfortunately integrated graphics glitched horribly and it required us to find right set of kernel flags and features to disable. After encountering bug with amdgpu module randomly giving up, we just used discrete gpu. I don't feel comfortable relying on their gpus after this experience but cpus are undeniably good.

dralley 7y ago

The drivers are perfectly fine, as long as you don't have a new 5xxx card. Those seem to have ongoing issues. But my experience with AMD cards on Windows and Linux has been overall pretty great.

tristor 7y ago

Hard agree. I'm an "AMD fanboy" of sorts, and I abandoned their graphics cards for desktop use after a terrible experience with the drivers. Of course at the time I was using Crossfire. But even without Crossfire trying to use AMD on Linux or BSD is much harder than nVidia. Windows or Linux, simple or complex, the AMD drivers are just bad.