As long as you're running recent enough kernel and mesa, you should be fine. Welcome to the slightly less proprietary club. ;)

Thanks pal! I appreciate it. After doing some reading, I figure I may even compile mesa-git via the aur every couple weeks, just to keep everything running smoothly.

The main difference is that with NVIDIA things always break on kernel updates, whereas with AMD things usually improve.

Upgrading the kernel or the NVIDIA driver always feels like such a hassle. The kernel module would randomly fail to compile because GCC, kernel, kernel-headers, or something else is mismatched, or upgraded in a wrong order. Or you have to manually put all sorts of options in xorg.conf, because otherwise X fails to start.

With AMD it really feels like a breath of fresh air. Just upgrade, reboot, and you are good to go. Like literally don't have to care about any of the earlier mentioned.

Quoting: Linasreboot

That's so Windows™ ;)
Haven't had to reboot in months, not even log out of the X session. Unless there are any severe security issues, once I'm confident my current kernel build is stable enough, I usually run it for a month or three before I feel the need to upgrade again, and just rebuild Mesa whenever a new version gets released.

I guess people have different experiences. I dont think i have encountered the modules not building for nvidia drivers at least last 8 years or more. Ofc could be how different distros do those things, but yeah it really hasn't been a problem and i run custom kernels a lot.
These days i think you cant go wrong with either camp. It all comes down to what features you really want and ofc the money spent.

my 2 cents

Quoting: ValckHaven't had to reboot in months, not even log out of the X session. Unless there are any severe security issues, once I'm confident my current kernel build is stable enough, I usually run it for a month or three before I feel the need to upgrade again, and just rebuild Mesa whenever a new version gets released.

While it is true that rebooting is less frequently necessary than on WinDOS, you probably have updates which at least require logging out of the user session and back in. Have a look at needrestart which hooks into your package manager and notifies of any services that need to be restarted, or if a full reboot is required.

Quoting: Valck

Quoting: Linasreboot

That's so Windows™ ;)

Hehe, sure. Although depending on how new your hardware is, you may want to run kernel release candidates. Once the hardware is fully suported, chasing the bleeding edge makes less sense.

I only really reboot after a kernel update, because you have to. And also after grub, systemd, or anything that triggers initrd update, to avoid unwanted surprises the next time I have to reboot.

dbus kind of changes can require a reboot too in my experience. Overall, obviously hardware with upstream kernel support is preferable. Nvidia doesn't have it yet, despite starting to open source their kernel driver.

Quoting: LinasI only really reboot after a kernel update, because you have to. And also after grub, systemd, or anything that triggers initrd update, to avoid unwanted surprises the next time I have to reboot.

Quoting: Shmerldbus kind of changes can require a reboot too in my experience.

True of course, and I guess I should have mentioned that in case any readers weren't aware. I am fairly confident I know which services need restarting after an update, and although IMO everyone should know, I'm well aware not everyone will or even wants to. In that case the Windows way is probably the failsafe "solution". Or using a tool like

Quoting: GustyGhostneedrestart

which I didn't know existed, and can certainly be really helpful even if one thinks he knows what he's doing... ;)
Thanks for that link.

Quotedepending on how new your hardware is, you may want to run kernel release candidates. Once the hardware is fully suported, chasing the bleeding edge makes less sense.

Quoteobviously hardware with upstream kernel support is preferable

Yes, but unless you're running bleeding git head (in which case you know who you are and (should...?) know all this anyway), there are usually a couple of days between versions, and even then it may not be necessary to go with every single one of them.

Anyway, to get back on topic – at least kind of – I've been with team red GPUs for a number of years now, and main CPUs literally for decades, and as far as I'm concerned, had everything working more or less "out of the box", so to speak. I definitely am glad they've managed to get back to where they are now, and hope they can get even further up the hill.

Last edited by Valck on 18 July 2022 at 4:08 pm UTC

Thanks, fellers. But I seem to have the worst luck in the world! The GPU was supposed to arrive today, but apparently the delivery driver delivered it last night, placing it on my porch without knocking, and it rained cats and dogs!

Now I've got to return that one and order another. The whole package was soaked! I've had to play phone tag with Amazon all day, and I'm royally pissed off.

Turns out, I should have gotten the xt version anyway, as it's only a little more at Newegg so I'll probably do that.

I can't win for losin'!