Mesa 18.0 released, further advancing Linux graphics drivers

AMD usage stats on GOL slowed down a bit, but still growing because of rapidly improving Mesa. That's probably due to limited hardware availability this year. That will probably accelerate, with Vega+ / Navi.


Last edited by Shmerl on 27 March 2018 at 7:49 pm UTC

Using a AMD as my card at the moment (having a nvidia 1080 here, but using a RX460).

Still issues, but they're getting less and less. Performance and compatibility is still an issue, but not that big of a deal it was once. Even though, I still have issues with certain games (Northgard, Cossacks, Grand Ages: Medieval), it really got a lot better.

It looks like engine support of Vulkan is really starting to get grip, the vulkan drivers seem to be surprisingly great in quality, and within that, I hope we'll see some relief of this OpenGL "mess" we're in.

I almost consider OpenGL for games "legacy" now, but we'll see how many developers actually use Vulkan for their Linux ports. Engines seem to make it easier nowdays, and that only can be a good thing for us.

I seriously don't think we'll get out of the OpenGL thing any time soon. They really worked hard to get there, and I really appreciate that, but I don't think it's the future of Linux Gaming.

Well, as long Mesa not break I'm fine with that. Very curious how Mesa performance on Intel onboard graphic..

OpenGL 4.3 on r600/evergreen with hw fp64 support

Wow! HD2000 series? That's pretty old graphic card. It was on my wishlist along side GeForce 8 when I was teenager. Never got it. :(

Well, as long Mesa not break I'm fine with that. Very curious how Mesa performance on Intel onboard graphic..

OpenGL 4.3 on r600/evergreen with hw fp64 support

Wow! HD2000 series? That's pretty old graphic card. It was on my wishlist along side GeForce 8 when I was teenager. Never got it. :(

Nope.
Evergreen is Radeon HD 5000 series. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radeon_HD_5000_Series

Well, as long Mesa not break I'm fine with that. Very curious how Mesa performance on Intel onboard graphic..

OpenGL 4.3 on r600/evergreen with hw fp64 support

Wow! HD2000 series? That's pretty old graphic card. It was on my wishlist along side GeForce 8 when I was teenager. Never got it. :(

The fastest cards from the HD 2000 series are going for like twenty dollars on ebay right now so you can easily fulfill that wish if you want.

I want to go team red for both CPU and GPU the next time I do big hardware upgrades, but the AMD GPU experience on Linux isn't attractive. I look forward to that changing.

I'm pretty convinced on going AMD CPU next time though, maybe this year since I've been wanting more threads than my i5 offers.

AMD GPU experience on Linux isn't attractive.

It's pretty smooth these days for games. And way more attractive than Nvidia integration wise.

AMD GPU experience on Linux isn't attractive.

It's pretty smooth these days for games. And way more attractive than Nvidia integration wise.

It's obvious you love Linux and open source, but it seems to me like you might be a little bit jaded. Mixing your comments in with other people (this topic and others), I'm still going to hold off until I hear about AMD GPU problems and glitches and games not launching or games crashing less often. I don't think I'm an Nvidia fanboy -- I've gone back and forth -- but I've basically had zero issues using the proprietary drivers in GNU Linux. FWIW, I have other computers in the house using older AMD cards on Linux. Can't say I can complain, but the only gaming those computers see is Minecraft and sometimes WoW.

I'm still going to hold off until I hear about AMD GPU problems and glitches and games not launching or games crashing less often.

That you can track here for example:

* Current known issues
* Fixed issues from the above list

That should give you an idea about how less often it happens.

It's not a 100% full list, but it's pretty comprehensive, and Mesa developers monitor it and take note of these reports. They explicitly asked to make such list.

I've basically had zero issues using the proprietary drivers in GNU Linux.

No driver is bug free. Nvidia has its share of bugs, but you won't see most of them reported. The benefit of using an open driver is that bug reports are public.


Last edited by Shmerl on 28 March 2018 at 2:50 am UTC

I'm still going to hold off until I hear about AMD GPU problems and glitches and games not launching or games crashing less often.

That you can track here for example:

* Current known issues
* Fixed issues from the above list

That should give you an idea about how less often it happens.

It's not a 100% full list, but it's pretty comprehensive, and Mesa developers monitor it and take note of these reports. They explicitly asked to make such list.

I've basically had zero issues using the proprietary drivers in GNU Linux.

No driver is bug free. Nvidia has its share of bugs, but you won't see most of them reported. The benefit of using an open driver is that bug reports are public.

Thanks for the information.

How do I report Mesa bugs I find? Through an email?

Thanks

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Mesa

AMD GPU experience on Linux isn't attractive.

It's pretty smooth these days for games. And way more attractive than Nvidia integration wise.

I have to second that, I've been using Mesa for more than a year now and I've encountered no problems using an RX480. My son using an older HD7950 has some minor ligthing issues in Grid Autosport when facing the sun or another light source but it's not game braking, just a bit weird :D

Other than that it's really smooth overall.

Actually I used to have a few games that didn't run on my system. But right now all of my ~ 200 Linux games work pretty flawlessly now. The only game I remember that doesn't run is Cossacks 3. I guess it's the fault of the devs of the game but I can't say for sure.

Apart from that my 3570k + 16 GB RAM + RX 480 runs everything fast enough in combination with my 1080p setup, nothing to complain. Old legacy Windows games may run even better with wine nowadays then on Windows 10.

Mesa ? Hm well..
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=101739

Reported since July last year. No Mesa devs have even looked at it or acknowledged it.

So what's stopping you from adding it here? This list is made specifically for games.

Also, proposed glsl_correct_derivatives_after_discard=true sounds like the same method as needed for TW2. Interestingly, TW3 in Wine needs the same setting with wined3d.


Last edited by Shmerl on 28 March 2018 at 12:29 pm UTC

How does that "Games broken on Mesa" list help get it fixed exactly?

Games related bugs gets more visibility among other Mesa bugs. Mesa developers asked for such list, as a way for users to request attention for games bugs. Feel free to use it, or not.

You claimed that Mesa is superior because it's public. As i've just demonstrated, this is not necessarily true.

It is. With Nvidia blob reporting method you have no clue if anyone already reported the issue or not. So lot's of duplication is expected, no way to track history, workarounds and so on.

glsl_correct_derivatives_after_discard=true kills the framerate apparently

Not with TW2, but it does reduce it with TW3. Not sure about Arma games - never played them.


Last edited by Shmerl on 28 March 2018 at 2:18 pm UTC

Well, as long Mesa not break I'm fine with that. Very curious how Mesa performance on Intel onboard graphic..

OpenGL 4.3 on r600/evergreen with hw fp64 support

Wow! HD2000 series? That's pretty old graphic card. It was on my wishlist along side GeForce 8 when I was teenager. Never got it. :(

Nope.
Evergreen is Radeon HD 5000 series. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radeon_HD_5000_Series

I mean r600 (HD 2000 series) not Evergreen. I'd bold it.

Well, as long Mesa not break I'm fine with that. Very curious how Mesa performance on Intel onboard graphic..

OpenGL 4.3 on r600/evergreen with hw fp64 support

Wow! HD2000 series? That's pretty old graphic card. It was on my wishlist along side GeForce 8 when I was teenager. Never got it. :(

The fastest cards from the HD 2000 series are going for like twenty dollars on ebay right now so you can easily fulfill that wish if you want.

Thanks (for suggestion) but no thanks, I'm currently very happy with my current desktop setup. Besides, my current cheapo GPU is better than both of my dream card (Radeon HD 2600 GT / GeForce 8600) so I'm fine with that.

No driver is bug free. Nvidia has its share of bugs, but you won't see most of them reported. The benefit of using an open driver is that bug reports are public.

Let me second that. I've been using nVidia on Linux for a pretty solid ten years now, and there's been many bugs that mostly kill the desktop experience when compared to Mesa. For example, there was that infamous repaint bug that's been driving me mad for nearly TWO YEARS.

After a year without any response from nVidia whatsoever, users were left wondering if there was only someone taking care of Linux support. After a year and a half, a ticket was filed, and I was notified by email. Six months later, they found a solution.

Now they want to push their own solution for Wayland without working on it on a regular base, so I doubt we will ever be able to run it. Come on, we barely got modesetting implemented...
And I ain't talking about the overwhelming tearing with full screen videos!


Last edited by omer666 on 28 March 2018 at 4:56 pm UTC

AMD GPU experience on Linux isn't attractive.

It's pretty smooth these days for games. And way more attractive than Nvidia integration wise.

Mentioning your less favorite vendor will only start another useless flame war. You could instead try to _only_ point our how happy your are with your choice without any side snitching.


Last edited by jens on 28 March 2018 at 5:11 pm UTC

Anyway, the point was responsiveness of bug reporting. You claimed that Mesa is superior because it's public. As i've just demonstrated, this is not necessarily true.

He wont see your point due to his unconditional love for Open Source and FOSS in general.


Last edited by jens on 28 March 2018 at 6:50 pm UTC

i hope this is going to help when i finally get one of those amd apus with vega graphics

from the limited testing i have been able to do on the rig i built for my mrs seems to handle games okay at 768/900p but 1080 results are very mixed 1080 p low is playable but i would rather drop to 900p and get a solid 60.