AMD Raven Ridge Graphics On Linux vs. Lower-End NVIDIA / AMD GPUs

[rene]

Unlikely.... No review samples and no extra funds for such hardware purchases... Do plan on getting a new main laptop this year for myself, but still split between Raven and Kabylake R though currently leaning towards Intel now.

I would support AMD, due Spectre and better graphics alone. Hoping for AMD ThinkPads, housing them in lower quality casing would be a shame :-/

[darkbasic]

Please add a GT 1030 to the comparison, that's the competitor.

[Michael]

Please add a GT 1030 to the comparison, that's the competitor.

Don't have one handy which is why it wasn't included. The one I bought is busy in a rackmount server.

[Michael]

I would support AMD, due Spectre and better graphics alone. Hoping for AMD ThinkPads, housing them in lower quality casing would be a shame :-/

For my purposes of just office/coding/web tasks, Intel graphics are technically fast enough... AMD is vulnerable to Spectre, so you probably mean Meltdown, but as shown in the Raven tests this week that even Intel CPus mitigated for both are still faster than Raven.

[gukin]

Impressive, considering how immature the support for these GPUs are. Also a GTX 750 will run $100-$600 on newegg. An RX550 doesn't seem to be too popular with the cryptocurrency people and is a more reasonable ~$150. I look forward to watching these systems stabilize and the performance improve.

Thanks for everything Michael.

[thecursedfly]

For my purposes of just office/coding/web tasks, Intel graphics are technically fast enough... AMD is vulnerable to Spectre, so you probably mean Meltdown, but as shown in the Raven tests this week that even Intel CPus mitigated for both are still faster than Raven.

Michael,

I am not following the hardware scene closely so am a bit confused every time I read about some Ryzen Vega tests, as I initially understood that was the name of the new AMD mobile graphics, but apparently the name is used for both desktop and mobile models. I blame also the fact that there is confusion and unclarity all over the web, with butchered model names, partial information, no schemes, etc...
There is also the situation with the AMD mobile graphics being used in combination with Intel CPUs due to a recent partnership.
Perhaps you could clarify the current situation in models (mobile/desktop/vendor/architecture) and naming conventions in an article? Or is Phoronix meant for more advanced hardware knowledge and benchmarks? If so, please ignore my request

I am interested because I also need to buy a new laptop (cannot stand anymore the constant problems I have with Nvidia and the Optimus mess since converting to Linux) and I don't care for dedicated discrete graphics. But still I would like to get be best performance I can in integrated graphics. I understood that I would get that with the new AMD Vega mobile graphics (Ryzen 2500U APU and the likes, I think the top model is not sold in a laptop yet?), but perhaps I misunderstood, so am regularly checking Phoronix for any reports on that (among other Linux news).
Basically I'm interested in finding out whether I should get the best integrated Intel graphics or wait until the top AMD Ryzen APU is available in a decent laptop, with the idea of being hassle-free in regards to Linux drivers and still be able to play some strategy or outdated games at mid quality.

Also, I nearly never comment on the forum, so I would like to add my compliments for the great news portal that Phoronix is!

Regards, TCF

[PackRat]

Don't you think that a system from 8. Januar 2009 need an upgrade ~9 years later?

Even Industry or Military grade computers have a maximum life-time of 10 years.

I already stated that I was long over due for an upgrade, didn't I . It's playable on windows 10 DX11 with similar computer specs... In fact I could of just used windows version. The sad truth is I'm a dirty peasant and was gifted a steam card. I tried to buy a game just for Linux and It didn't work.

[rene]

For my purposes of just office/coding/web tasks, Intel graphics are technically fast enough... AMD is vulnerable to Spectre, so you probably mean Meltdown, but as shown in the Raven tests this week that even Intel CPus mitigated for both are still faster than Raven.

Yep, typo, Meltown indeed. We anyway all should buy more AMD to avoid a monoculture, and increasing monopoly. If AMD goes out of business, the pain will be huge.

PS: For your purposes of just office/coding/web tasks, the AMD CPU side should certainly be fast enough, too, … no?

[edwaleni]

Yep, typo, Meltown indeed. We anyway all should buy more AMD to avoid a monoculture, and increasing monopoly. If AMD goes out of business, the pain will be huge.

If AMD dies you would see a big movement to ARM for those avoiding Intel. (Via won't/cant respond) Qualcomm would probably step in to the vacuum. AMD isn't going to die soon, I would guess they are going to get swallowed by a much larger fish before they cease to exist.

Siemens or Qualcomm would be the most likely entity for them to align with.

My RR arrived yesterday, but the MSI board is in FedEx/USPS limbo at the moment. The DDR4 arrives today.

Honestly it appears that there still needs to be a few rounds of kernel/driver updates before RR is considered optimal for Linux in general. I wont be pushing Linux onto this RR right now, but will see how it does when things settle down.

[andre30correia]

This APU still need a lot of driver optimizations in both plataforms. The big issue here is why we should buy this cpu if you have another since AMD will launch a much faster version in less than year with 7nm. I will wait until them