AMD CPU Use Among Linux Gamers Approaching 70% Marketshare

[phoronix]

Phoronix: AMD CPU Use Among Linux Gamers Approaching 70% Marketshare

Besides being curious about the Steam Survey results for indicating the size of the Linux gaming marketshare as an overall percentage, one of the interesting metrics we are curious about each month is the AMD vs. Intel CPU marketshare for Linux gaming. AMD has been on quite an upward trajectory among Linux gamers/enthusiasts in recent years not only for their Radeon graphics cards with their popular open-source driver stack but their Ryzen CPUs have become extremely popular with Linux users. With the new Steam Survey results for June, AMD CPUs are found on nearly 70% of Linux gaming systems polled by Steam...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/AMD-CPU-Linux-Gaming-67p

[creative]

No surprise here. I left intel and entered the Ryzen series starting with the R5 3600. Too bad AMD has not been able to keep up with intels multi-threaded workloads though i.e. 'i5 13600k vs AMD's R5 7600X'. With that being said, I have had a much better experience with the X570 platform. To be honest it's all been pretty smooth. I had more issues with my Z270 setup. Was pretty surprised just how solid everything has been.

[ElectricPrism]

AMD has won my dollar after all their open source drivers for GPU and so on.

I use them in everything, server, workstation, gaming rig where possible for the good Linux Support.

They earned it.

For GPUs I wish Nvidia would try to win my money by doing a FOSS GPU driver, but that's okay -- no money for them from me!

[laffer1]

I'm running two desktops, an all amd 3950x + 6900XT and an all intel 11900k + Intel arc a750. The latter is a linux box, the former dual boots windows and MidnightBSD.

In my experience, there are some bad bugs on AMD drivers that are cross platform. neither my 6900xt or the old rx570 that the arc card replaced can play ET:legacy or enemy territory without crashing on some maps. This has been the case for many months and seems to go back to the driver update early last year. It's a very old game so it doesn't affect a lot of people, but old games not working is unfortunate. Meanwhile the arc card can play it perfectly on Ubuntu!

AMD also doesn't support FreeBSD like nvidia does. Intel has supported FreeBSD for network drivers for years and used to contribute to graphics support also. Each vendor has a weak spot.

Steam works well on arc now so I'm hoping we keep seeing more arc gpus in the wild on linux.

[mirmirmir]

I thought being Linux bro was all about old thinkpad, and not buying new hardware unless necessary

[creative]

I thought being Linux bro was all about old thinkpad, and not buying new hardware unless necessary

Some think that way, but actually it's about people who have class concerning operating systems, unlike Mac and Windows only people.

The really really classy people concerning operating systems, don't mind using Windows, or heck even Mac, it's just that they prefer Linux that much more.

[Ironmask]

It's also the direct opposite on the Windows side. When looking at the Steam Survey results for June limited to Windows, there Intel has a 68% marketshare to AMD at 32%.

Guarantee you at least 50% of Intel's share is people using pre-builts who don't even know what a CPU is (most likely because they don't even have a double-digit age yet).
Less of a statement of consumer choice and more just the remnants of Intel's crumbling monopoly with OEMs.

[skeevy420]

I'm running two desktops, an all amd 3950x + 6900XT and an all intel 11900k + Intel arc a750. The latter is a linux box, the former dual boots windows and MidnightBSD.

In my experience, there are some bad bugs on AMD drivers that are cross platform. neither my 6900xt or the old rx570 that the arc card replaced can play ET:legacy or enemy territory without crashing on some maps. This has been the case for many months and seems to go back to the driver update early last year. It's a very old game so it doesn't affect a lot of people, but old games not working is unfortunate. Meanwhile the arc card can play it perfectly on Ubuntu!

AMD also doesn't support FreeBSD like nvidia does. Intel has supported FreeBSD for network drivers for years and used to contribute to graphics support also. Each vendor has a weak spot.

Steam works well on arc now so I'm hoping we keep seeing more arc gpus in the wild on linux.

The AMD cross platform bug that bothers me the most is their HDMI bug where the top pixel is flickering. That's happened to me for going on a decade with an R7 260x, RX 580, and a 6700 XT on ever single OS on every single monitor or TV I've used on every single PC I've had. The fix is simple enough -- change the channel and go back. I've noticed it happen when I resume the display from standby, turn the monitor on, and when games go full screen.

But this article doesn't surprise me at all. The majority of Linux users are savvy and budget-conscious so they know that AMD offers them the most bang for their buck on a platform that will get better and mature with time....because they expect AMD to support AM5 and SP5 for a hell of a lot longer than Intel will support WTF ever their newest platforms are at the time of purchase.

Windows users, OTOH, just take what's recommended to them by a salesperson or they buy whatever looks the flashiest or has the coolest ads and Intel is the King of marketing.

DIIING duh DUH duh DUH.

And you all did the Intel commercial sound from the 90s in your head. That's good marketing.

mirmirmir Linux bros are all about new hardware just as much as they are about repurposing old hardware. I love new GPU release day because 1/4 of the people here, the Linux bros with well paying jobs (or their kids), will early adopt and run to the forums to bitch about not having firmware on day one. I wouldn't advise making a drinking game out of it.

[TheLexMachine]

I'll happily throw together an AMD APU-powered SFF system, when I can get the same out-of-box experience on Linux that I get from Intel, meaning that it "just works". Until the GPU drivers are in better shape, I can't see that happening.

[qlum]

Not suprising considering the steam deck's market share if 40% is using a steam deck that means of the non steam deck users. which means it's about a 50-50 split outside of deck users.