AMD Developers Discuss Better Switching Of Radeon/AMDGPU CIK Support

[phred14]

I've been following the AMDGPU progress for some time now. I have a Kaveri, which I believe is CIK. I set it up using radeon, and have stuck with it so far. I'm operating under the presumption that at some point I will want to move from radeon to amdgpu, but so far it doesn't seem that that time is here yet. If I had a need for Vulkan that would drive the switch, but so far I haven't needed it.

It sounds as if parity is approaching between radeon and amdgpu, and the change that is the subject of this article will ease the changeover.

I'm curious about other perspectives on this.

[finalzone]

Then, we can care about switching from radeon to amdgpu... But it is quite simple anyway, it is just a matter of adding or removing kernel options to grub : modprobe blacklist = radeon and amdgpu exp hw support = 1

amdgpu_exp_hw support =1 is no longer needed

I've been following the AMDGPU progress for some time now. I have a Kaveri, which I believe is CIK.

Kaveri is CIK.

[dungeon]

What if I am using multiple graphics cards? And I want to assign specific applications to specific cards with specific drivers.

Multi something always multiplfied issues... obviosly i can't solve anybody imaginations.

Whatever this thread is not about that at all, AMD keep two drivers there for the same hardware as they need to support old and new userspaces... so it is about choice which is userspace dependannt sort of to not hurt people too much This is not about some feature or switching drivers at all, they would rather just drop one that would be the easiest and cleanest

If AMDGPU-PRO didn't have to support GCN 1.0 and 1.1 hardware for some time, neither would opensource kernel nor userspace ever got amdgpu support for these These were already using radeon, so it is sort of double shit double work for no real need other than cos of PRO

[plonoma]

Multi something always multiplfied issues... obviosly i can't solve anybody imaginations.

Whatever this thread is not about that at all, AMD keep two drivers there for the same hardware as they need to support old and new userspaces... so it is about choice which is userspace dependannt sort of to not hurt people too much This is not about some feature or switching drivers at all, they would rather just drop one that would be the easiest and cleanest

If AMDGPU-PRO didn't have to support GCN 1.0 and 1.1 hardware for some time, neither would opensource kernel nor userspace ever got amdgpu support for these These were already using radeon, so it is sort of double shit double work for no real need other than cos of PRO

You're missing the point.

[aht0]

Bs. Take random laptop with "switchable" graphics that has both Radeon GPU and AMD APU in it. At present, you just have to turn the "switch" off or it does not display shit in Linux. It's as "real world" as it gets.

[aht0]

It is some what stupid to buy such laptops for gaming. With less money you build a better desktop computer. CAD and other pro graphics software does work with igpus and does not not need dgpu. And A12-9700P is enough fast for light gaming.

Laptops are toys anyway, pros do use real computers.
https://www.twitch.tv/rocketleague

You make too many assumptions. Could be random laptop with AMD APU that has an extra discrete Radeon chip in it. Some Acer Aspire, HP Pavilion etc. They are common enough, if you could call any laptop with AMD's guts "common" these days..

And I won't drag that desktop computer along with me. And won't do any work using an Android tablet which would utterly suck for anything requiring inputting data.

Before you preach any further about desktop computers, you are preaching to the believer. But there are use cases where laptop is a must have.

[aht0]

Indeed? First update your own "knowledge" base, you would look less stupid.
Some educational random samples for you about "non-existing AMD laptops for sale in Anno Domini 2017". Just search for a "laptop A10 radeon" or A12 in amazon or newegg..

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-15-ba047na-15-6-Inch-Antiglare-Laptop/dp/B01M4I8XQD/ref=pd_sim_147_5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=V8NB82H862XHNS7HHDV4

https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-15-Notebook-PC-series/10862319/model/11528132/document/c05112067/

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA9B550W0996&cm_re=Acer_Aspire_radeon-_-34-315-058-_-Product

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ47T6608&cm_re=lenovo_radeon_a10-_-9SIA0AJ47T6608-_-Product

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-FX-7500-Graphics-Storage-Windows/dp/B01GCNYXR4/ref=pd_sim_147_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=YFXAGQJJ5J14HT287NWN

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M3QYDJL/ref=psdc_429886031_t3_B01M4I8XQD

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Laptops/Dell-Inspiron-Carrizo-A10-8700P-Windows/B017VXEISS/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1496736408&sr=1-3&keywords=radeon+a10+laptop

but I understand If you are so stupid put over 1000 usd to a computer, you will no sell it for 200 usd that is its real value now.

I do not even try to understand, what you meant by that outburst..

[G-P-L]

I have the above mentioned problem, because I have a laptop with A10-5750M (Richland) wich have a HD8650G (TeraScale3/R600g) IGP and a GCN1.0 dGPU. I mostly use the integrated one, so I can't blacklist the radeon driver, but I need the amdgpu driver for Vulkan when I use the dGPU. How can I solve this situation under Ubuntu in the most simple way? (Many thanks for every solution.)

[aht0]

You posted laptops that does not have a discrete gpu and use the AMDGPU driver only. Earlier you talked about laptops with igpu and dgpu so update your own "knowledge" base, you would look less stupid.

---

Your talking about years old hardware. It is year 2017 and no radeon chips in laptops. Sell your problematic hardware, but I understand If you are so stupid put over 1000 usd to a computer, you will no sell it for 200 usd that is its real value now.

Maybe you should express yourself more precisely..
I posted you a list that has radeon chips in them since you claimed there is none in the new ones being sold.

And for that matter. It'd be interesting to know, how you reached conclusion that none of the models I listed possess no switchable graphics. Did you dig into service manuals one by one? As many as I've seen such machines, dGPU and iGPU tend to be within same generation of Radeons, just looking at specs tells you shit about if it has dGPU or not. APU might provide R7 iGPU, dGPU might show off another R7 - just different number. You won't be making it out by just glancing on specs. Marketing is going to just brand it as "AMD APU xxxx and R7 Radeon"

[aht0]

Dude, anything with a dGPU is not "gaming machine". One with some form of Crossfire/SLI - same. Get over the concept.

Gamers generally hate multi-GPU solutions, even on PC with identical discrete graphic card pairs, it's far from ideal solution. On laptop, where half the frames go through slow system RAM and other half through much faster dGPU dedicated video RAM - result is even worse and more inconsistent.

Crossfire has other purposes than running gaming graphics. Especially paired with AMD APU's which have pretty low raw performance on CPU side anyway. It's not simply fit for the task you mentally assign it.