Ati video cards[SOLVED]

k_ibou · 2010-10-20 14:29:47

Hi!!!

This is an open question, I want to know your opinion about the performace, issues or anything about Ati cards under linux.

The reason... well I always want to buy one but honestly nvidia cards never give me a problems at all so I didn`t make the change.

I`m reading a lot, mostly in phoronix, about it but I not so clear about this.

so... tell me please

Last edited by k_ibou (2011-06-16 13:43:30)

Snakeye · 2010-10-20 16:22:43

Catalyst drivers suck for GNU/Linux. Card is fast and powerfull, but if the driver keeps giving you a headache it really isn't worth the hassle. I wish i didn't buy my Radeon 5870HD. Only reason i went for it was because Nvidia hardware architecture has problems, generally with overheating, my last GF9800 GX2 self destructed and was a bit paranoid trying out their new cards. I'm just waiting for a stable Catalyst 10.10 which supports the new Xorg 1.9.

k_ibou · 2010-10-20 19:15:59

I read that(about the driver performance), but that is one of the points that I don`t understand. It is supposed that the driver is open or at least one part of it and if I`m right this AMD strategy have one year or maybe more.

it looks like if the drivers where a mess and they`re trying to make it well with every release but it`s a ward work, keep going on it. I don`t reject the idea that one day I can go for an AMD video card

I`m using KDE SC and I read that some are having performace problems because the drivers maybe there are other models that have better support than yours(of course is a shame that Radeon 5870 hasn`t a better support).

It is supposed that Catalyst 10.10 is going out this month, isn`t it?

Kei · 2010-10-20 21:06:32

If you don't play games under Arch and don't use a compositing window manager, you'll be happy with the opensource drivers. I'm using them on my Sapphire HD 5770, worked out of the box. I haven't tried the binary blob, however.

akephalos · 2010-10-20 22:39:06

Yeah, my problem is the hassle with the binary drivers (catalyst, from AUR) as well. Almost every time xorg upgrades, I have to ignore this (and related) package in pacman, until catalyst is updated. There are different other issues with them, eg sometimes the desktop freezes, alternative keyboard layouts are not detected until a server restart & such.
The open drivers (xf86-video-ati) still have some issues - different errors, etc, sometimes newer versions reintroduce some - and most importantly, it still does not deal with power management on my card (Radeon HD 4570). The card gets heated and the fan keeps spinning. I feel that they're close enough to some quality open drivers, though.

But so far I can do my job with catalyst, I play 3D games under Wine so I can't complain, it's just more complicated to maintain than NVidia.

k_ibou · 2010-10-21 04:49:06

well I`m in troubles I don`t play windows games but I`ll enjoy play The Witcher, nwn 1-2 and Dragon age under arch but I like to play playstation 1 games so... I think that actually play games je je and for the compositing.... well I don`t know kwin behavior with Ati cards.

That`s why I`m looking for people with experience. Of course the best way could be buy an Ati card and just make it work and know by myself wich are the advantages and disadvantages of it...

The fact is that I prefer ask and learn a little about your experience

PD: thanks, for the comments ^^

ilusi0n · 2010-10-21 06:01:55

I start using closed source drivers for 1 month. I never had any problem at the moment. Even when xorg 1.9 went out, I waited a little nad then changed to the catalyst-test. Everything works fine. And related to the opensource drivers the 3d perfomance increased (of course) and my computer temperature in idle get better in 12-13 degrees or so. So until now I have no complains about catalyst.
I'm using for the efects only cairo-compmgr tough.
So betewen opensource and catalyst, catalyst for sure. Catalyst didn't gave me any headache yet and the few problems I had I solved it easy so

TemplarGR · 2010-10-21 09:31:40

I have an ATI HD3870 and i use the open source drivers. Let's talk about the bad first:

If you want to play AAA Windows games with Ati's open source drivers, just forget it. It won't happen for at least another 1-3 years.

But for more casual gaming, they are fine. They are not well supported in Wine, something which frustrates me(they somehow think everyone should use the Nvidia blob), and still missing OpenGL 3.x/4.x functionality, and speed, but they are slowly getting there.

Composite managers work fine.

Plus, using open source drivers, you will never have to worry about breakage when a new kernel and/or xserver is out.

Opensource drivers also have superior 2D support.

And lastly, powermanagement works already, although it needs much improvement. I use the profile method mid on my card and it is relatively quiet and cool.

emory · 2010-10-21 13:00:01

The ATI drivers for LInux-based systems do not have performance parity with their Windows drivers. I take a 50% performance hit give or take in Wine/World of Warcraft at any rate.

Varg · 2010-10-21 15:07:07

Catalyst 10.10 should be released by the end of this moth.
I'm using the catalyst-test for now, most things work fine but there are some strange glitches: X dies when I maximize a windows from taskbar in KDE, some games work, others work for 90% and others without an issue... I hope that those things get fixed in the final release of catalyst 10.10.

The open source drivers lack power/temperature management for me, my fan goes nuts. So I'm sticking with the catalyst drivers.

Snakeye · 2010-10-21 16:49:54

Yeah i upgraded to catalyst 10.10 test driver from 10.8. Runs ok except for one game (Guild Wars), i no longer see character models, just their clothing. Hope when it releases at the end of the month that the problem is ironed out. Games aren't super important, but i like to dive in once in a while.

Hund · 2010-10-21 20:27:29

AMD is not worth the money. And the drivers.. Well, Pacman says it all:

[ ~ ]$ pacman -Ss catalyst
[ ~ ]$

Darksoul71 · 2010-10-21 20:54:07

As you can tell from my footer I am using an ATI HD4670 with the open source radeon driver.

Honestly if you have some focus on playing newer games may be even with WINE then stay away from ATI. If you (like me) like to monitor the contious improvements in the radeon driver and mainly use your card in gaming under Windows then you can think about buying an ATI card. I also have another Linux workstation with an old 7900GS using the NVidia blob and this old card clearly outperforms my HD4670 by any means although the ATI card is much faster under Windows.

On the other hand: For older games (UT2k4 / ioquake3) the radeon driver works nicely. You can see my youtube videos for a few examples. I guess "out-off-the-box" even an older NVidia card (7900GX / 8600GTS) provides a much better performance than any recent ATI card using the radeon driver (check out Phoronix for detailed benchmarks). For medium range gaming under arch I would look out for a 250GTS or 450GTS from NVidia. Otherwise try to get an older GeForce card from the bay.

Just my two cents,
D$

k_ibou · 2011-06-16 13:43:10

Just for update, I bought an AMD 6850 and I really happy with it. I installed the AMD blob and yes, it requires a little bit of extra work but nothing special. Thanks to all!!!!

Darksoul71 · 2011-06-16 14:02:23

Good to hear ! In the mean time (my posting was somewhat more than 6 month ago) I simply grabbed a GeForce 9800GT used from e-bay. As indicated before the 9800GT works flawlessly. May be I will switch back to ATI once the open source drivers are more settled.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-10-20 14:29:47

Ati video cards[SOLVED]

#2 2010-10-20 16:22:43

Re: Ati video cards[SOLVED]

#3 2010-10-20 19:15:59

Re: Ati video cards[SOLVED]

#4 2010-10-20 21:06:32

Re: Ati video cards[SOLVED]

#5 2010-10-20 22:39:06

Re: Ati video cards[SOLVED]

#6 2010-10-21 04:49:06

Re: Ati video cards[SOLVED]

#7 2010-10-21 06:01:55

Re: Ati video cards[SOLVED]

#8 2010-10-21 09:31:40

Re: Ati video cards[SOLVED]

#9 2010-10-21 13:00:01

Re: Ati video cards[SOLVED]

#10 2010-10-21 15:07:07

Re: Ati video cards[SOLVED]

#11 2010-10-21 16:49:54

Re: Ati video cards[SOLVED]

#12 2010-10-21 20:27:29

Re: Ati video cards[SOLVED]

#13 2010-10-21 20:54:07

Re: Ati video cards[SOLVED]

#14 2011-06-16 13:43:10

Re: Ati video cards[SOLVED]

#15 2011-06-16 14:02:23

Re: Ati video cards[SOLVED]

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