The Most Energy Efficient Radeon GPU For AMD Linux Gaming

[phoronix]

Phoronix: The Most Energy Efficient Radeon GPU For AMD Linux Gaming

In continuation of yesterday's 20-Way Radeon Comparison With Open-Source Graphics For Steam On Linux Gaming, here's a look at the most (and least) energy efficient Radeon GPUs when running Steam games on Linux along with other OpenGL tests while using the very latest open-source graphics drivers.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=20814

[TheSoulz]

Phoronix: The Most Energy Efficient Radeon GPU For AMD Linux Gaming

In continuation of yesterday's 20-Way Radeon Comparison With Open-Source Graphics For Steam On Linux Gaming, here's a look at the most (and least) energy efficient Radeon GPUs when running Steam games on Linux along with other OpenGL tests while using the very latest open-source graphics drivers.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=20814

its good to see ATI gpus runnning so well on opensource drivers.
Even better when moust of them are above 60fps, i wish nouveau was like this :P
Its getting better with with recent efforts but its still no where usable for games BUT if you are using it just for desktop + web works pretty well even better then the blob in fact. Compiz is so smoth with nouveau, the blob wrecks compiz completly :/

[Michael]

its good to see ATI gpus runnning so well on opensource drivers.
Even better when moust of them are above 60fps, i wish nouveau was like this :P
Its getting better with with recent efforts but its still no where usable for games BUT if you are using it just for desktop + web works pretty well even better then the blob in fact. Compiz is so smoth with nouveau, the blob wrecks compiz completly :/

Nouveau Steam Linux gaming tests for many different cards coming up tomorrow using Linux 3.17 + Mesa 10.4-devel :P Re-clocked where possible.

[TheSoulz]

Nouveau Steam Linux gaming tests for many different cards coming up tomorrow using Linux 3.17 + Mesa 10.4-devel :P Re-clocked where possible.

Cheers.
*Prepares to facepalm himself hard* :P

[schmidtbag]

Cheers.
*Prepares to facepalm himself hard* :P

Put some bubble wrap on your hand and wear a hockey mask. You'll be all set.


But in all seriousness I appreciate these tests. Performance-per-watt is, IMO, one of the most important things to look at when getting a GPU. The only thing that'd make this more interesting is performance-per-watt-per-dollar, where you basically find out what is the best valued and most efficient GPU possible, but on a website like this where old hardware is reviewed, that doesn't really work out.

[higuita]

add some APU

please, add the APU to the list... it would be good to be able to compare the APU with real GPU on this kind of tests, even if the cpu used is different in the APU and the other GPUs (that should of course be flagged). the power efficiency should be still comparable, as is what people would use anyway (but a sample of 2 -3 GPU cards on the APU processor would be even better)

[liam]

I'd love to hear some theories as to how a game breaks reclocking. That's like saying an app breaks the CPU governor.

[Michael]

I'd love to hear some theories as to how a game breaks reclocking. That's like saying an app breaks the CPU governor.

Well, whenever Unigine is run, re-clocking ends up breaking until rebooting...

[liam]

Well, whenever Unigine is run, re-clocking ends up breaking until rebooting...

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just pointing out the parallel to cpus., and how the like, basically, never happens. I suppose this is part of the difference with CPUs. The kernel is to the CPU as the driver is the GPU. The kernel, while monolithic arch, is still very modular, especially compared to a driver. As GPUs become ever more cpu-like (or, more generally, just another board processor with numa) I wonder if the driver should start adopting some practices from the kernel. Basically, modularity. Another possibility would be having the kernel manage the GPU as it does the CPU. This would require way more standardization (and arch changes) to GPUs, and, essentially, commoditize the drivers into firmware.
This may be on amd's long-term agenda, but it would require some pretty major changes.

[My8th]

Put some bubble wrap on your hand and wear a hockey mask. You'll be all set.


But in all seriousness I appreciate these tests. Performance-per-watt is, IMO, one of the most important things to look at when getting a GPU. The only thing that'd make this more interesting is performance-per-watt-per-dollar, where you basically find out what is the best valued and most efficient GPU possible, but on a website like this where old hardware is reviewed, that doesn't really work out.

They could group them in separate price ranges. Someone can look at the group within their budget easier to find the most efficient.