Mesa 17.3.0 is the latest version of the open source graphics drivers and it has officially released today.
While this is a major new version, as always, new versions can cause a bit of breakage due to so much changing. The Mesa developers recommend waiting for the first point release 17.3.1 if you're after a stable and reliable experience.
This new release has had a fair amount of work put into it to improve performance of gaming on Linux, OpenGL 4.6 work, Vulkan driver improvements and much more.
More games have also been added to the GL Threading whitelist to improve performance, including: Saints Row: Gat out of Hell, Saints Row IV, Dreamfall Chapters, Hitman, Renowned Explorers: International Society, Saints Row: The Third, Sid Meier's: Civilization Beyond Earth, Spec Ops: The Line and Outlast.
Here's what they've highlighted in terms of new features:
- libtxc_dxtn is now integrated into Mesa. GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc and GL_ANGLE_texture_compression_dxt are now always enabled on drivers that support them
- GL_ARB_indirect_parameters on i965/gen7+
- GL_ARB_polygon_offset_clamp on i965, nv50, nvc0, r600, radeonsi, llvmpipe, swr
- GL_ARB_transform_feedback_overflow_query on radeonsi
- GL_ARB_texture_filter_anisotropic on i965, nv50, nvc0, r600, radeonsi
- GL_EXT_memory_object on radeonsi
- GL_EXT_memory_object_fd on radeonsi
- EGL_ANDROID_native_fence_sync on radeonsi with a future kernel (possibly 4.15)
- EGL_IMG_context_priority on i965
See the full release notes here.
I'm really looking forward to the day I can switch over to an AMD GPU and take more advantage of the incredible and rather fast-paced work that goes into them now.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I'm really looking forward to the day I can switch over to an AMD GPU and take more advantage of the incredible and rather fast-paced work that goes into them now.
I've dropped my GTX970 for a RX570. I've got improved performances in some games with less powerful GPU.
I bet all my games will run better in a few months.
libtxc_dxtn is now integrated into Mesa. GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc and GL_ANGLE_texture_compression_dxt are now always enabled on drivers that support themThat's real handy for those that have to install 32-bit versions of Mesa libraries to play DRM-free games :)
libtxc_dxtn is now integrated into Mesa. GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc and GL_ANGLE_texture_compression_dxt are now always enabled on drivers that support themThat's real handy for those that have to install 32-bit versions of Mesa libraries to play DRM-free games :)
There was a drop-in replacement even before - libtxc-dxtn-s2tc. But I suppose s3tc proper is better.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S2TC
Last edited by Shmerl on 8 December 2017 at 4:39 pm UTC
I've dropped my GTX970 for a RX570. I've got improved performances in some games with less powerful GPU.Haha, I wasn't so brave, but just today I changed my GTX960 4G for RX580 8G (got the 960 as a replacement for dying 650Ti for a wife, also on Linux). It really boost my (already high in the first place) confidence of a good decision by taking an AMD card instead of going for (cheaper, miners… :() NVIDIA :). Plus if the Freesync lands in the kernel drivers sooner than later (which I think is the case), it will be a really nice bonus if I ever want to upgrade my monitor :P.
I bet all my games will run better in a few months.
Last edited by Faalagorn on 8 December 2017 at 11:58 pm UTC
Philadelphus Dec 9, 2017
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