AMDVLK 2020.Q3.1 Vulkan Driver Brings More Performance Tuning

[phoronix]

Phoronix: AMDVLK 2020.Q3.1 Vulkan Driver Brings More Performance Tuning

AMD has just issued their first new open-source AMDVLK Vulkan driver release in several weeks...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=AMDVLK-2020.Q3.1-Released

[Aisyk]

AMD have 3 sorts of drivers for his cards... RADV, AMDVLK, and AMDGPU-PRO. I think public needs to be informed on what is implies, not just in term of performances, but compatibility, versions supported (LTS ? Rolling Releases ?)...

I don't see any wiki speaks of theses, or compare different versions (in distributions, compatibility....)

[skeevy420]

AMD have 3 sorts of drivers for his cards... RADV, AMDVLK, and AMDGPU-PRO. I think public needs to be informed on what is implies, not just in term of performances, but compatibility, versions supported (LTS ? Rolling Releases ?)...

I don't see any wiki speaks of theses, or compare different versions (in distributions, compatibility....)

RADV is the Vulkan backend developed my the MESA devs, not AMD (though I think AMD devs have contributed to it). It's installed by default and what anyone not using AMDGPU-Pro is using to play their games unless they went out of their way to install AMDVLK or AMDVLK-Pro (more on that below).

AMDVLK is the Vulkan backed developed by AMD devs directly.

AMDGPU-Pro is AMD's proprietary driver and is only supported on a very minimal of Linux operating systems. Ubuntu, SUSE, Cent, & Red Hat. It includes a version of AMDVLK that the community tends to refer to as AMDVLK-Pro and it's possible to install AMDVLK-Pro pretty much anywhere. I recommend referencing the Arch AUR amdvlk-pro packages for how (because I don't remember the steps off the top of my head).

As far as the version goes, that varies widely by distribution and isn't something to easily document and keep updated. Ones like Arch and Fedora will be running the latest version of what's available as soon as it is ready where as Ubuntu and SUSE users might have to wait quite a while to get what I'm calling the latest version for the previously mentioned Arch and Fedora. On those older distributions it can be beneficial to run the AMDGPU-Pro packages (if possible) since it'll likely be more up to date. That said, some distributions, like Ubuntu with their HWE repos, are taking an initiative to keep the drivers more up to date (I have to reckon because old drivers means gamers will go elsewhere and gamers seem to be a significant portion of Linux desktop users at home).

And all three of the Vulkan backends can be installed at the same time. All you have to do is launch programs with the right environment variable to change it from the default used to whatever else.

[agd5f]

The only difference between the AMDVLK driver and the AMDVLK-Pro driver is the shader compiler. AMDVLK uses LLVM and AMDVLK-Pro uses our older internal shader compiler. The rest of the code is the same. The eventual goal is to migrate away from the old internal compiler to LLVM. Once that happens AMDVLK and AMDVLK-Pro will be the same.

[user1]

AMDGPU-Pro is AMD's proprietary driver and is only supported on a very minimal of Linux operating systems. Ubuntu, SUSE, Cent, & Red Hat. It includes a version of AMDVLK that the community tends to refer to as AMDVLK-Pro and it's possible to install AMDVLK-Pro pretty much anywhere. I recommend referencing the Arch AUR amdvlk-pro packages for how (because I don't remember the steps off the top of my head).

The aur packages for AMDVLK-Pro are actually pretty outdated. The cool thing about AMDVLK-pro (also applies to AMDVLK) is that you can simply run it from your home directory as explained in this tutorial. This way it also just works on any distro.
This is useful if you want to use AMDVLK-Pro for specific games like iD Tech games with which AMDVLK-Pro is the most performant driver.

[mphuZ]

The only difference between the AMDVLK driver and the AMDVLK-Pro driver is the shader compiler.

Is there a difference between AMD GPU-Pro and Windows Vulkan driver?

AMDVLK uses LLVM and AMDVLK-Pro uses our older internal shader compiler.

What shader compiler is currently used in Windows?

Once that happens AMDVLK and AMDVLK-Pro will be the same.

Windows Vulkan driver will also have LLVM?

Thanks.

[agd5f]

Is there a difference between AMD GPU-Pro and Windows Vulkan driver?

Different backends for talking to the kernel driver, but other than that, not really. AMDVLK is the same code base as well. There's one vulkan code base within AMD.

What shader compiler is currently used in Windows?

the old internal compiler.

Windows Vulkan driver will also have LLVM?

That's the end goal. As I said above, it's the same driver shared across OSes.

[qarium]

That's the end goal. As I said above, it's the same driver shared across OSes.

why not use ACO for all ? in my point of view ACO is better in everything.

[smitty3268]

why not use ACO for all ? in my point of view ACO is better in everything.

Because ACO is mesa specific, obviously.

[qarium]

Because ACO is mesa specific, obviously.

whats wrong in porting a mesa driver to windows?