Fake Sparse Support Being Worked On For Intel's Open-Source Vulkan Driver

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Fake Sparse Support Being Worked On For Intel's Open-Source Vulkan Driver

While Intel Arc Graphics continue enjoying performance optimizations with the open-source Linux graphics driver stack, the major limitation facing Arc Graphics on Linux right now for gamers is the lack of sparse residency support that is needed for running many newer games on Linux with Intel graphics -- particularly newer Windows D3D12 titles running on Linux via Valve's Steam Play. It's been a long known limitation and will hopefully be addressed once the Intel Xe kernel driver is introduced, but at least as an interim solution there is now "fake" sparse support being implemented...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-ANV-Fake-Sparse-Support

[skeevy420]

Fake Sparse. So Intel GPUs also had "supply chain issues"?

Hopefully Intel GPU issues will be worked out by next year. As a FOSS nerd, I really wanted one of those 16GB Arc A770s. Unfortunately, just because they looked good on paper didn't mean they'd be equal to or be able to outperform a 12GB 6700 XT that was priced the exact same last Christmas. There's always my next GPU purchase in 2-4 years. If they're not better by then.....Jeez Louise.....

[nuetzel]

Fake Sparse. So Intel GPUs also had "supply chain issues"?

Hopefully Intel GPU issues will be worked out by next year. As a FOSS nerd, I really wanted one of those 16GB Arc A770s. Unfortunately, just because they looked good on paper didn't mean they'd be equal to or be able to outperform a 12GB 6700 XT that was priced the exact same last Christmas. There's always my next GPU purchase in 2-4 years. If they're not better by then.....Jeez Louise.....

Our son got an original AMD 7900 XT (20 GB)...
...and 'next' week I get a W6800 for playing (building a workstation for a customer).
Myself running the old Polaris 20 (8 GB)...

Greetings,
Dieter

[Quackdoc]

was this spurred by the original discussion on the XE driver group about the necessity of sparse? if so this kind of feels like a slap in the face rather then a stop-gap with intel being radio silent on the issue

[skeevy420]

Our son got an original AMD 7900 XT (20 GB)...
...and 'next' week I get a W6800 for playing (building a workstation for a customer).
Myself running the old Polaris 20 (8 GB)...

Greetings,
Dieter

I could see myself still using my RX 580 if I had the 8GB version and my PC's current cooling setup, but I had the 4GB one and didn't realize my cooling was as ineffective as it was until I upgraded my GPU. Trying to use a 4GB 580 after I upgrading my TV from 1080p to 4K was just painful, but dammit if I didn't learn a bunch about scaling and how to get life out of a potato

20 and 32GB of VRam. And I bet they still can't run Crysis

Damn am I envious of your son. He has to be happy with that GPU.

[RejectModernity]

was this spurred by the original discussion on the XE driver group about the necessity of sparse? if so this kind of feels like a slap in the face rather then a stop-gap with intel being radio silent on the issue

Yeah. This is garbage, instead of getting xe with proper sparse residency support (and HUC support for media) we get this.

[andrei_me]

Like the wine stubs, when you just add the API signature for it pass code that check it's existence and doesn't use it