Switching from NVIDIA gtx 970 to AMD RX 580

eamonn · 2018-02-27 08:50:51

Hi all,

After swapping out a gtx 970 for a new RX 580, uninstalling all the existing nvidia drivers and removing any config I had and then installing the AMDGPU opensource drivers things don't seem to be right. If I open and close a window very quickly, in the wake of that window are gpu artefacts for a short while. Furthermore, the performance has been very poor and using Radeon Profile my GPU usage never goes above 0%, although, a small amount of vram is being used.

I am at a loss on how I can diagnose what is going wrong here? The stdout of xorg doesn't seem to give any clues.

Thanks

V1del · 2018-02-27 08:58:44

What environment specifically? Have you looked at your xorg.log? What's the output of

glxinfo | grep OpenGL

eamonn · 2018-02-27 09:09:19

What do you mean exactly by what environment? I am using i3wm, a 4k 60hz monitor, the mesa drivers, and xf86-video-amdgpu.

Looking at /var/log/Xorg.0.log didn't seem to give any clues either. It looks like the device is detected without issue and acceleration is enabled.

The output of gtxinfo | grep OpenGL was:

OpenGL vendor string: X.Org
OpenGL renderer string: Radeon RX 580 Series (POLARIS10 / DRM 3.23.0 / 4.15.5-1-ARCH, LLVM 5.0.1)
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.5 (Core Profile) Mesa 17.3.5
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.50
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile
OpenGL core profile extensions:
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 17.3.5
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL extensions:
OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.1 Mesa 17.3.5
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.10
OpenGL ES profile extensions:

V1del · 2018-02-27 09:15:47

eamonn wrote:

What do you mean exactly by what environment? I am using i3wm, a 4k 60hz monitor, the mesa drivers, and xf86-video-amdgpu.

This is what I meant. Two things to try, current kernels might have an issue with the new dc code so if you aren't relying on it (most specifically HDMI/DP audio output) try booting with

amdgpu.dc=0

in your kernel params. if that didn't help already. Try to use a compositor, because afaik (anyone correct me if I'm wrong here) amdgpu doesn't implement a dedicated 2D renderer like earlier drivers and opts to use GLAMOR which might need a compositor for proper operation/flickerfree operation.

Last edited by V1del (2018-02-27 09:16:42)

eamonn · 2018-02-27 10:21:05

Huh. It seems like using awesome as the wm fixes all the issues. Is there no known way to use a modern AMD gpu with i3 and not get correct operation?

It also seems like the 0% gpu usage was a red herring. Also is there any reason why webgl performance seems to be so slow? http://webglsamples.org/aquarium/aquarium.html This demo runs awfully for me but spinning up a ton of glxgears instances works perfectly smoothly.

Last edited by eamonn (2018-02-27 10:25:54)

Lone_Wolf · 2018-02-27 14:47:07

Amdgpu has always used glamor, and it's been the default for older chipsets for a few years now.

webgl performance : which browser are you using ?

eamonn · 2018-03-01 08:01:27

Yep, should have tried another browser, google-chrome had performance issues with webgl but good old firefox seems to be doing much better.

I have been playing around with bspwm and have found it doesn't have as bad artifacting issues (very infrequently there is a checkerboard effect) but still has an awful framerate moving windows around. I also can't seem to be able to get rid of screen tearing. I have tried all manner of different configurations with compton and putting Option "TearFree" "true" in my /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-amdgpu.conf but with no avail.

What exactly going on here? I have tried to search around to find other people using amd GPUs and i3wm or bspwm and experiencing these issues but haven't found much. Is the only option to use another window manager? Thanks, I would greatly help being pointed in the right the direction for finding out more.

Lone_Wolf · 2018-03-01 13:34:03

Are you using a compositor like compton with i3 ?

eamonn · 2018-03-02 03:22:35

Yes I have tried a bunch of different configs with compton to get rid of the screen tearing. I am still getting very bad performance using a wm like i3 or bspwm but awesomewm seems to be fine.

Lone_Wolf · 2018-03-02 11:26:02

awesomewm also doesn't have a compositor, you could try something like openbox .
If both openbox and awesomewm perform fine, the problem must be in i3 or bspwm screen/rendering handling.

eamonn · 2018-03-04 06:58:53

Openbox does seem to be performing fine too. Does someone what to try and see if they are experiencing the same thing as me? Using i3 or bspwm open the file picker dialog and move it around the screen. Performance should seem choppy. Now do the same thing in openbox or awesomewm and it what I am finding is a silky 60fps.

Arch Linux

#1 2018-02-27 08:50:51

Switching from NVIDIA gtx 970 to AMD RX 580

#2 2018-02-27 08:58:44

Re: Switching from NVIDIA gtx 970 to AMD RX 580

#3 2018-02-27 09:09:19

Re: Switching from NVIDIA gtx 970 to AMD RX 580

#4 2018-02-27 09:15:47

Re: Switching from NVIDIA gtx 970 to AMD RX 580

#5 2018-02-27 10:21:05

Re: Switching from NVIDIA gtx 970 to AMD RX 580

#6 2018-02-27 14:47:07

Re: Switching from NVIDIA gtx 970 to AMD RX 580

#7 2018-03-01 08:01:27

Re: Switching from NVIDIA gtx 970 to AMD RX 580

#8 2018-03-01 13:34:03

Re: Switching from NVIDIA gtx 970 to AMD RX 580

#9 2018-03-02 03:22:35

Re: Switching from NVIDIA gtx 970 to AMD RX 580

#10 2018-03-02 11:26:02

Re: Switching from NVIDIA gtx 970 to AMD RX 580

#11 2018-03-04 06:58:53

Re: Switching from NVIDIA gtx 970 to AMD RX 580

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