What sort of mess are you expecting? If the GPU works with the proprietary Nvidia driver in your current build, it's going to be fine in the new one as well. Switching to AMD later is not a problem.

From my experience you should remove the nvidia driver before starting up on the amd card, in theory it shouldn't matter, but in practice it does.

As an added bonus, if your card runs on the latest nvidia driver (45x), if you were to get a used nvidia card, like a 1xxx, you can just put it in and it'll work out of the box.

What sort of mess are you expecting? If the GPU works with the proprietary Nvidia driver in your current build, it's going to be fine in the new one as well. Switching to AMD later is not a problem.

I suppose it is a sign of 'Linux on the desktop' being more mature than it was when I started (20+ years ago) that you even ask that (and I feel foolish.)

My expectation was someone might say, "you're going to need to do some real deep-cleaning of your system files to remove every trace of the nV drivers, otherwise you'll just have a blank screen when you boot with the AMD card."

I am assured that this appears not to be the case.

What sort of mess are you expecting? If the GPU works with the proprietary Nvidia driver in your current build, it's going to be fine in the new one as well. Switching to AMD later is not a problem.

I suppose it is a sign of 'Linux on the desktop' being more mature than it was when I started (20+ years ago) that you even ask that (and I feel foolish.)

My expectation was someone might say, "you're going to need to do some real deep-cleaning of your system files to remove every trace of the nV drivers, otherwise you'll just have a blank screen when you boot with the AMD card."

I am assured that this appears not to be the case.

I totally get your apprehension. I switched to Linux on the desktop about 20 years ago as well. We've come far since then. My own switch was totally painless.

Uninstalling your Nvidia driver (just in case, like damarrin said above) and possibly ditching any custom Xorg.conf configuration created by the Nvidia control panel should be enough.

What sort of mess are you expecting? If the GPU works with the proprietary Nvidia driver in your current build, it's going to be fine in the new one as well. Switching to AMD later is not a problem.

I suppose it is a sign of 'Linux on the desktop' being more mature than it was when I started (20+ years ago) that you even ask that (and I feel foolish.)

My expectation was someone might say, "you're going to need to do some real deep-cleaning of your system files to remove every trace of the nV drivers, otherwise you'll just have a blank screen when you boot with the AMD card."

I am assured that this appears not to be the case.

A few months ago I went through the process from Nvidia to AMD GPU on my alt system. The process is pretty straightforward.

I don't know about the repo packages, but if you're using the .run package supplied by Nvidia, it will leave some log files upon uninstallation, nothing that will pose an issue though. You will also have to reinstall some Mesa packages as many of the libraries will be overwritten by the Nvidia driver so make sure to make a list of these. I repeat, this applies to the run package supplied by Nvidia, I have no experience how the Nvidia repo packages work.

Then as tuubi mentioned you might have to create a new xorg.conf file. First rename or remove your old xorg.conf then as sudo run "Xorg -configure". This will create a new xorg.conf file in your root account, which you'll have to move it in the same folder as the old one (on Debian the default is in /etc/X11).

Also depending on your distro/gpu, make sure you have the required firmware. On a modern (or rolling) distro you should be pretty much good to go in this regard.

You're a bit in luck with the GT 710, this gpu is old enough to boot to desktop without too much issues with Mesa, giving you time to cleanup and adjust the system for the new gpu. You'll only have to deal with xorg.conf upon installing the new gpu.

Then as tuubi mentioned you might have to create a new xorg.conf file. First rename or remove your old xorg.conf then as sudo run "Xorg -configure". This will create a new xorg.conf file in your root account, which you'll have to move it in the same folder as the old one (on Debian the default is in /etc/X11).

No, this isn't necessary. For a long while now, the recommendation is to have no Xorg.conf at all. If you actually need to add some configuration options later, do so by adding individual snippets under /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/.

Quite, I was under the impression only nvidia still used xorg.conf, anything based on mesa is better off without or with minimal settings if something doesn't work right.

I'm on an optimus intel/nvidia laptop now and I just have some keyboard settings in there, autogenerated by the system. So not even the nvidia card needs anything, but then it's not driving the screen.

Hi there, JSVRamirez. I did something similar. I built a new AMD machine, but I kept an old NVIDIA graphics card while I waited for the AMD card to arrive.

I am assuming you are doing a fresh install?

Some things to keep in mind:

• Use NVIDIA packages from Debian, not from NVIDIA directly. It will make removing them easier and cleaner.
• Old graphics cards may not initialize in pure EFI mode. You may need to enable CSM compatibility in BIOS.
• Make sure to install in EFI mode. Do not actually boot in compatibility mode.
• NVIDIA likes conservative systems with stable kernels. With AMD it is best to go bleeding edge, so use Debian Unstable as a default, with Mesa and kernel packages from Experimental as needed.

Alternatively get an AMD CPU like Ryzen 5 2400G with onboard graphics. It should be faster than GeForce GT 710, and you can always pop-in a dedicated graphics card afterwards.

No, this isn't necessary. For a long while now, the recommendation is to have no Xorg.conf at all. If you actually need to add some configuration options later, do so by adding individual snippets under /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/.

This is helpful to keep in-mind, but I'm pretty sure I haven't made changes to my xorg.conf in ages, so I should be able to get-by until the new card comes.

Hi there, JSVRamirez. I did something similar. I built a new AMD machine, but I kept an old NVIDIA graphics card while I waited for the AMD card to arrive.

I am assuming you are doing a fresh install?

Some things to keep in mind:

• Use NVIDIA packages from Debian, not from NVIDIA directly. It will make removing them easier and cleaner.
• Old graphics cards may not initialize in pure EFI mode. You may need to enable CSM compatibility in BIOS.
• Make sure to install in EFI mode. Do not actually boot in compatibility mode.
• NVIDIA likes conservative systems with stable kernels. With AMD it is best to go bleeding edge, so use Debian Unstable as a default, with Mesa and kernel packages from Experimental as needed.

Alternatively get an AMD CPU like Ryzen 5 2400G with onboard graphics. It should be faster than GeForce GT 710, and you can always pop-in a dedicated graphics card afterwards.

Yes, complete fresh install for two reasons, one is that I have all kinds of legacy settings and part-processes running because of how old this is and I can't seem to remove them without breaking MythTV (such as the LCD daemon for the little screen on my case.) The other is that the new case (current one doesn't 'fit' so wife insisted I get a smaller one) doesn't have space for three HDDs, so I'm moving to an SSD.

Unfortunately, I've already bought the CPU, the only thing I'm missing from the build is the GPU, and it isn't one with onboard graphics.

My plan was to use Debian testing; will it be necessary to roll with Sid from now on? This is the main way we watch TV/play games and the family won't be happy if it breaks. Again, I haven't used Sid for years, so this might not be a worry I need to have?

My plan was to use Debian testing; will it be necessary to roll with Sid from now on?

That depends on the GPU you're going for. The first generation of Navi hardware (RX 5000 series) should work just fine with the Mesa 20.2.4 and kernel 5.9.11 packages currently available in Testing. The new RX 6000 series might need fresher stuff to work properly.

Neither testing nor sid is intended for daily use.
And if you think of testing as a safer alt to sid think again.

My plan was to use Debian testing; will it be necessary to roll with Sid from now on? This is the main way we watch TV/play games and the family won't be happy if it breaks. Again, I haven't used Sid for years, so this might not be a worry I need to have?

You can pin certain packages to Unstable or Experimental. Unstable does sometimes have unmet dependencies, or a package fails to install, but it never left me with a broken system. But testing should be perfectly fine.

When I bought my card, the support for it was still work-in-progress, so I had to get the kernel and Mesa packages from Experimental to get it all working. It's not a problem for me nowadays, but they still are improving things almost every day, so I like to get my fingers on them as soon as possible.

Testing is fine for daily use.

Neither testing nor sid is intended for daily use.
And if you think of testing as a safer alt to sid think again.

Yes, it is. Testing/Unstable is a rolling distribution just like Arch Linux, and that is how I have been using my desktops for years. Stable is for servers.

Last edited by Linas on 14 December 2020 at 11:09 am UTC

Sid is fine too. I much prefer it to testing, things might break, but are fixed quickly. I've been on sid for the last 15 years or so.

All the little fixes takes much too long to trickle down to testing for my taste.

Ok lol. Its not however and never been intended to be used as such

Neither testing nor sid is intended for daily use.
And if you think of testing as a safer alt to sid think again.

I used testing for many years without issue; I did jump to Sid for a short while, but went back very quickly! In my experience, it is great for daily use!

You can pin certain packages to Unstable or Experimental. Unstable does sometimes have unmet dependencies, or a package fails to install, but it never left me with a broken system. But testing should be perfectly fine.

When I bought my card, the support for it was still work-in-progress, so I had to get the kernel and Mesa packages from Experimental to get it all working. It's not a problem for me nowadays, but they still are improving things almost every day, so I like to get my fingers on them as soon as possible.

I don't have a massive budget, so the card I'm looking at is over 12 months old, and almost certainly supported in mesa, so I should be fine

I just did a switch from GTX1060 to my brand new&shiny RX 5600XT a week ago.
This is on a system I built around 2 years ago: Ryzen 7 2700X, 16GB RAM, GTX1060.
I'm running Ubuntu 20.04 and have proprietary nV drivers installed, for gaming of course :)

I was also curious what happens, when I just turn off the machine, extract GTX1060, put there RX 5600XT and power it on.

Lo and behold, everything worked as seamlessly as possible. Ubuntu never touched those (still installed!) nV drivers and automatically fired-up Mesa. I was able to game via Steam immediately and in a plug&play fashion ;)

After this, I just added Oibaf PPA mesa devel driver repo to my system and updated drivers for best performance and for Cyberpunk2077 compatibility.
(Warning: this is a bleeding edge devel version of Mesa, so might be broken for gaming from time to time. 99.9% of the updates are working perfectly throughout the time though; I'm using it on my daily driver HP ENVY AMD-based laptop for 1,5 years).

I also wanted to test installation and usage of OpenCL, because I heard (some years ago) that on AMD oss drivers it is a pain to make it work. I had it installed and up&running within 5 minutes; tested it on rendering a scene via GPU in Blender....

Which reminds me - I should clean up the nV drivers from my system finally...

Marry Christmas! :)

Last edited by Boldos on 25 December 2020 at 9:03 pm UTC

After this, I just added Oibaf PPA mesa devel driver repo to my system and updated drivers for best performance and for Cyberpunk2077 compatibility.
(Warning: this is a bleeding edge devel version of Mesa, so might be broken for gaming from time to time. 99.9% of the updates are working perfectly throughout the time though; I'm using it on my daily driver HP ENVY AMD-based laptop for 1,5 years).

If you don't want to give up on that last 0.1% of stability and still want the interesting fixes backported to stable Mesa releases, there's always Kisak's PPA as an alternative.

I just did a switch from GTX1060 to my band new&shiny RX 5600XT a week ago.
<snip>

I was also curious what happens, when I just turn off the machine, extract GTX1060, put there RX 5600XT and power it on.

Lo and behold, everything worked as seamlessly as possible. Ubuntu never touched those (still installed!) nV drivers and automatically fired-up Mesa. I was able to game via Steam immediately and in a plug&play fashion ;)
<snip>
Marry Christmas! :)

Good news indeed (and Merry Christmas, too!) as I'm planning to go with an RX 5600XT, too. I'll be interested to hear what happens when you remove the nV files, as my Steam needed the nV driver installed (i386 libs) in order to even launch.