Radeon Software 21.30 PRO vs. Mesa 21.3-devel + Linux 5.15 Gaming Performance

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Radeon Software 21.30 PRO vs. Mesa 21.3-devel + Linux 5.15 Gaming Performance

For those wondering how AMD's latest-generation Radeon RX 6000 series is competing now between the Linux driver options of AMD's official Radeon Software for Linux 21.30 "PRO" driver stack and the latest upstream, fully open-source driver components from Mesa and the mainline Linux kernel, here is a fresh comparison.

https://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=30576

[user1]

Some will probably disagree with me, but I prefer seeing tests like these with the latest stable Mesa instead of Mesa devel, since stable Mesa is what most people are using. (On Ubuntu it's possible to install the latest stable Mesa via Kisak PPA). Also, idk if it's still true these days, but at least in the past, Mesa devel often had slightly decreased performance compared to the latest stable versions (probably because of regressions during the development phase).

[dimko]

Some will probably disagree with me, but I prefer seeing tests like these with the latest stable Mesa instead of Mesa devel, since stable Mesa is what most people are using.

Disagree, Michael looks into the future. Look his latest articles on Mesa and Kernel and you will see WHY he chosen those exact versions in benchmark.

[jonix]

Some will probably disagree with me, but I prefer seeing tests like these with the latest stable Mesa instead of Mesa devel, since stable Mesa is what most people are using.

I agree with you, these mesa-devel tests are only useful when comparing with older versions to see the performance evolution and what to expect from future.

[user1]

Disagree, Michael looks into the future. Look his latest articles on Mesa and Kernel and you will see WHY he chosen those exact versions in benchmark.

Don't know which articles are you referring to, but of course I know there may be certain performance improvements in Mesa devel, for example NGG stuff (I guess that's what you're referring to). However, that still doesn't mean performance will be exactly the same as future stable versions like 21.3, which is what most people will use and that's what important.

[sophisticles]

I'm really surprised that the open source driver performs so well, I'm so used seeing the abysmal performance of the Nouveau driver vs the Nvidia driver.

[tomas]

I'm really surprised that the open source driver performs so well, I'm so used seeing the abysmal performance of the Nouveau driver vs the Nvidia driver.

What makes you think the situation with Nouveau would be at all comparable with that of RadeonSI? The former is a reversed enginered driver without any help or documentation from Nvidia. The latter is developed by AMD engineers with the help of other independent developers having full documentation available for the GPU.

[dimko]

I agree with you, these mesa-devel tests are only useful when comparing with older versions to see the performance evolution and what to expect from future.

Thats because AMD actively supports and provides their own devs for Linux kernel support and Nvidia at best does not actively stand in 3rd party developer way.
With Nvidia its either use binary driver or don't at all.

With that said their binary driver is top notch and highly competitive on quality/performance vs open source AMD driver.

[dimko]

Don't know which articles are you referring to, but of course I know there may be certain performance improvements in Mesa devel, for example NGG stuff (I guess that's what you're referring to). However, that still doesn't mean performance will be exactly the same as future stable versions like 21.3, which is what most people will use and that's what important.

Last article on Mesa improvements and last article on Kernel AMD gpu driver improvement.
Also consider this, Mesa/kernel have super fast development what is Beta now, in a month is accepted as production quality in Linux kernel directly or into Mainstream Mesa. I often try non stable Mesa and Kernel and simply forget about them for a month or two...

[Linuxxx]

What makes you think the situation with Nouveau would be at all comparable with that of RadeonSI? The former is a reversed enginered driver without any help or documentation from Nvidia. The latter is developed by AMD engineers with the help of other independent developers having full documentation available for the GPU.

Except that pretty much all benchmarks here were utilising RADV instead of RadeonSI, which AMD's developers unfortunately still refuse to even touch!