Arch Linux

AtmIgn

Member

Registered: 2024-12-18

Posts: 5

Why does AMD have 2 (3) different Vulkan drivers?

Hi, I have recently set up an AMDGPU system, I used "vulkan-radeon" (RADV), but reading through the Arch Wiki page made me wonder why AMD has 2 (3 if you count amdgpu-pro) different Vulkan drivers for Linux? I tried searching online, but didn't find anything other than benchmarks and people asking which one they should use.

It seems that AMDVLK and RADV both have AMD contributors, they both seem to get active development, and are both open-source. As far as I understand, the closed-source amdgpu-pro drivers are based on AMDVLK, which makes this even more confusing. Does AMD just not mind maintaining 3 different userspace drivers for their GPUs? Why do both AMDVLK and RADV exist?

Thanks.

d.ALT

Member

Registered: 2019-05-10

Posts: 951

Re: Why does AMD have 2 (3) different Vulkan drivers?

Regarding the gaming "umbrella", I hope this will lead you to understand which driver to use: https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/wiki/Driver-support

Other references: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/AMDVLK and https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Vulkan

For what is worth, there are also becnhmarks on phoronix.com

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cryptearth

Member

Registered: 2024-02-03

Posts: 1,220

Re: Why does AMD have 2 (3) different Vulkan drivers?

because all 3 are for different usecases
also: it's more just the vulkan shader compiler than some driver - as the driver used is amdgpu in all cases
for most users the mesa radv should do the trick
amdvlk can lead to differences both positive and negative
amd-pro is only required for those who really need it like workstations with radeon pro gpus - and targeted to professional work like CAD and less for gaming
most noteable: amd dropped support for vega and older from its recent versions - so people with anything older than a rx5000 now require radv or stuck to an older version of amdvlk

I tested all 3 types of vulkan renderer with both an rx580 and an rx7700xt - with varying results
most of times radv is best, sometimes either amdvlk or pro is better - some games don't eork with pro at all

tldr: either just stick to radv only or use https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/amd-vulkan-prefixes as easy way to switch what LW wrote

Last edited by cryptearth (2024-12-18 12:06:18)

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 13,242

Re: Why does AMD have 2 (3) different Vulkan drivers?

and are both open-source

radv is developed in public as part of the mesa project and accepts contributions from everyone.

amdvlk uses a closed development process and regularly (typically once a month) publishes all changes in one big push.
Only amd employees can contribute code.

If at some point AMD went out of business, amdvlk development would stop while radv could continue .

General advise for linux users is to use radv and only switch to amdvlk / amdgpu-pro for specific use cases.

amd-vulkan-prefixes can be useful for switching but recently the number of applications that use their own logic for detecting vulkan has increased.
Those apps tend to have trouble with amd-vulkan-prefixes .

https://docs.mesa3d.org/envvars.html#vu … -variables is more robust and also works with non-amd vulkan drivers.

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AtmIgn

Member

Registered: 2024-12-18

Posts: 5

Re: Why does AMD have 2 (3) different Vulkan drivers?

Thank you all for the responses, I kind of forgot I made this post until now.