Linux 3.12 Brings Big AMD Radeon Improvements

[przemoli]

Antialiansing settings, texture filtering settings, vsync etc etc. Plus using open drivers still is bothersome due to the situation with S3TC...

S3TC -> one lib from normal repo + force_s3tc_enable=true in /etc/environment, easy if You consider that anything more official would clash with few patents out there... (And I still can not fanthom why GPU manufacturers wont acquire license for EACH AND EVERY produced GPU. So that owner of the GPU is covered...)

Vsync -> xorg.conf

Good way for forcing 3D settings would be great though.

[Michael]

Results of like six or so graphics cards spanning multiple generations and low/mid/high-end variants going up at midnight.... overall, results largely remarkable for a Linux 3.12 performance boost that was unexpected.

[rudregues]

Please, include E-350 into the testing mix.

+1
For now, I'm running gentoo with 3.11, but dependeing on the performance I can upgrade to 3.12 :-)

[borsook]

S3TC -> one lib from normal repo + force_s3tc_enable=true in /etc/environment, easy if You consider that anything more official would clash with few patents out there... (And I still can not fanthom why GPU manufacturers wont acquire license for EACH AND EVERY produced GPU. So that owner of the GPU is covered...)

Vsync -> xorg.conf

Good way for forcing 3D settings would be great though.

xorg.conf is hardly a user friendly option, plus it does not allow you to set per application. Some may not be bothered by this, I'm just pointing out why for me personally open drivers are nothing more than just a fallback.

[agd5f]

S3TC -> one lib from normal repo + force_s3tc_enable=true in /etc/environment, easy if You consider that anything more official would clash with few patents out there... (And I still can not fanthom why GPU manufacturers wont acquire license for EACH AND EVERY produced GPU. So that owner of the GPU is covered...)

Vsync -> xorg.conf

Good way for forcing 3D settings would be great though.

You can force vsync and 3D settings using driconf. There's even a GUI.

[mmstick]

You can force vsync and 3D settings using driconf. There's even a GUI.

The problem with driconf is that it's not very intuitive, and doesn't have very many options. For example, where are the slider controls for fan speed, voltages, and frequencies? Where is the settings for MSAA, SMAA, AF? I know someone who refuses to use open source drivers with his Radeon GPU because he needs to set a specific voltage/fan speed and downclock slightly or else his graphics card will be unstable. The Catalyst Control Center can manage this, but there isn't a method of doing so with the open source drivers.

[mmstick]

A10-6800 4,1 GHz - Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 6870 1024MB (915/1050MHz)

Kernel: 3.12.0-rc4:

Xonotic 0.7:
    pts/xonotic-1.3.1 [Resolution: 1920 x 1080 - Effects Quality: Ultra]
    Test 1 of 1
    Estimated Trial Run Count:    3
    Estimated Time To Completion: 11 Minutes
        Started Run 1 @ 21:07:15
        Started Run 2 @ 21:08:54
        Started Run 3 @ 21:10:34  [Std. Dev: 1.61%]

    Test Results:
        119.2862578
        116.5561488
        115.6666134

    Average: 117.17 Frames Per Second
    Minimum: 56
    Maximum: 264

Kernel: 3.11.4:

Xonotic 0.7:
    pts/xonotic-1.3.1 [Resolution: 1920 x 1080 - Effects Quality: Ultra]
    Test 1 of 1
    Estimated Trial Run Count:    3
    Estimated Time To Completion: 11 Minutes
        Started Run 1 @ 21:15:28
        Started Run 2 @ 21:17:04
        Started Run 3 @ 21:18:39  [Std. Dev: 0.11%]

    Test Results:
        122.3697861
        122.3688075
        122.1429572

    Average: 122.29 Frames Per Second
    Minimum: 59
    Maximum: 264

Linux kernel 3.12-rc4 doesn't include the Radeon DRM patches. You are looking for 3.12-rc5.

[Hamish Wilson]

The thread is going off topic, but is there any reason why someone can't create a Catalyst control centre like application for the FOSS drivers?

[borsook]

You can force vsync and 3D settings using driconf. There's even a GUI.

Thanks, I've never used it, I'll give it a try

[curaga]

The problem with driconf is that it's not very intuitive, and doesn't have very many options. For example, where are the slider controls for fan speed, voltages, and frequencies? Where is the settings for MSAA, SMAA, AF? I know someone who refuses to use open source drivers with his Radeon GPU because he needs to set a specific voltage/fan speed and downclock slightly or else his graphics card will be unstable.

You can control MLAA from it; for SMAA, patches welcome. AF overrides especially would be fairly easy to add. Options like Nvidia's "digital vibrancy" would also be easy to add, nobody has just cared about them.

The thread is going off topic, but is there any reason why someone can't create a Catalyst control centre like application for the FOSS drivers?

The drivers do not expose fan speed/clocks/voltages in any way, so no over/underclocking is possible (going behind the driver's back would be very bad). For the other functionality, just prettifying driconf's GUIs would do that.