Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Daniel Frey <djqfrey@×××××.com>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] AMD RX GPU in Gentoo
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2019 17:29:39
Message-Id: c327e8f3-361f-ecc7-abfd-b8cbfbe40ae8@gmail.com
In Reply to: [gentoo-user] AMD RX GPU in Gentoo by Emmanuel Vasilakis
1 On 6/11/19 7:56 AM, Emmanuel Vasilakis wrote:
2 > Hi!
3 >
4 > I'm running a pretty old PC. A Core2Duo E8400 and a GT730 nvidia card.
5 >
6 > Now, this is ok for what I need: work (emacs and bunch of terminals) and
7 > some little Kerbal Space Program.
8 >
9 > I'm thinking of upgrading some time in the next months to a 3600 AMD
10 > Ryzen when they are available, but in the mean time, I was also thinking
11 > about changing to an AMD gpu too.
12 >
13 > The nvidia driver although ok, is giving me some trouble mostly when
14 > suspending to ram. Sometimes it wont work, and the culprit from dmesg is
15 > likely the nvidia blob.
16 >
17 > So, assuming I would get an RX550/560 card, how well do the amdgpu
18 > drivers (open source) work? Are they ok for steam games? Do they provide
19 > KMS (switching to a Ctrl+Alt+F1 is always garbled now). ? Are they
20 > completely tear free?
21 >
22 > Plus, my current GT730 is passively cooled. Are there any RX cards that
23 > at least spin down the fans when I'm working on desktop (no
24 > plasma/gnome, simple Openbox with no heavy gpu requirements). I really
25 > like silence! :-)
26 >
27 > Thanks,
28 > Emmanuel
29 >
30
31 I am currently setting up a new computer for a friend's parents. It's a
32 2400G with the Vega graphics.
33
34 I installed gentoo to stress test the system (compiling mostly, did
35 system and a full KDE desktop) and have had no problems but I haven't
36 tried games.
37
38 HDMI out works, VGA out works, HDMI audio works. I just had to get a
39 kernel > 4.15 (I think it's 4.18.x right now) and select the amdgpu options.
40
41 It seems that the default profile installs amdgpu for X automatically,
42 didn't even have to do anything there. I did check X and it is using the
43 amdgpu drivers.
44
45 I streamed 1080 video from youtube for a couple of hours and I didn't
46 notice any glitches.
47
48 amdgpu requires modesetting, if you do a 'nomodeset' option all you get
49 is a black screen.
50
51 Now, I haven't tried them with the RX cards, but for the Vega graphics
52 they are OK.
53
54 Dan