You are not logged in.

#1 2013-04-17 20:36:24

Beelzebud
Member
From: Illinois, U.S.
Registered: 2010-07-16
Posts: 154

Switching from AMD graphics to Nvidia.

Okay, so I decided to go ahead and get a Geforce GTX 650 Ti BOOST 2GB graphics card to replace my aging Radeon HD5770.   

What I am curious about is how this change is going to go under Arch.  Are there any recommendations for changing a graphics vendor under Linux?   I'm just trying to avoid system breakage, and I'm just not sure what the proper procedure is under Linux.   

Right now I use the custom repo that has the backports of Xorg, and the latest beta of Catalyst. 

Here is my game plan right now: 

disable KDM from starting with systemd, so it just boots to console (init3 in the old days)
Uninstall Catalyst-hook (that is the driver I currently use)
Remove Xorg113 repo
Remove Catalyst repo
reboot with new card installed
install Xorg 114 from regular arch repo
install standard nvidia driver from arch repo
generate new xorg.conf
re-enable KDM with systemd
reboot.

I've just never done this under Linux before and want to avoid breaking my system.  I appreciate any tips, advice, or corrections to my procedure.

Offline

#2 2013-04-17 23:09:02

zero57
Member
Registered: 2013-04-17
Posts: 1

Re: Switching from AMD graphics to Nvidia.

I recommend installing the open source drivers instead of the proprietary drivers because you'll have to disable Kernel Mode Setting if you want to use the proprietary drivers, otherwise you'll get a black screen after your boot loader and can't login. As you can see here, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … deo_driver you could install the open source drivers "xf86-video-nouveau" instead of the proprietary. If you want to read up on KMS and know what it does then you can see it on the well documented wiki https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/KMS .

If you do decide to go for proprietary drivers, then you have to disable KMS through kernel parameters by modifying your boot loader's configuration file with the option "nomodeset". If you want the easier way out, go for the nouveau drivers.

EDIT: Also forgot to mention, if you're using nouveau drivers, you're going to be using mesa which will only support up to OpenGL 3.1 (Mesa 9.1). So if you need higher versions of OpenGL such as 3.3 or 4.3, then go with the proprietary drivers.

Last edited by zero57 (2013-04-17 23:22:20)

Offline

#3 2013-04-17 23:29:20

Beelzebud
Member
From: Illinois, U.S.
Registered: 2010-07-16
Posts: 154

Re: Switching from AMD graphics to Nvidia.

I'll be using the proprietary drivers.   This machine is used for gaming.  Having the nomodeset switch on isn't an issue, as that's the way my current setup is.

Offline

#4 2013-04-18 00:11:42

chord
Member
Registered: 2012-11-07
Posts: 121

Re: Switching from AMD graphics to Nvidia.

No need to disable KDM and re-enable it later. If you need init3, just boot in single user mode with new card installed (append to bootloader command line 'single' option). It will boot you into CLI with root access. At this point install nvidia and remove catalist (if it can't be blacklisted). I would add ati modules to black list instead of removing them, at least till you boot properly with nvidia driver.

P.S.
When installing nvidia binary blob from nvidia site, installer blacklisting previous driver, may be this functionality included into nvidia driver that installing from repo.

Last edited by chord (2013-04-18 00:19:28)

Offline

#5 2013-08-01 14:15:15

pcworld
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 2013-07-28
Posts: 6
Website

Re: Switching from AMD graphics to Nvidia.

@Beelzebud:
Have you tried the GTX 650 Ti Boost yet? If so, does it work good with the proprietary drivers, or are there problems with e.g. tearing? Which desktop environment do you use, and what manufacturer is your graphics card from (ASUS, Gigabyte, …)?
Thank you

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB