New Gen GPU Performance on Linux

Bearic · October 30, 2020

Hi everyone,

A bit of backgroun: I built my computer about a year ago, but delayed buying a new GPU, in anticipation of the next generation - the one coming out now. I have two GPUs currently; I have been using one for a hardware passthrough to a windows VM, though I have not been using it much recently. Since my current main GPU is a Asus Strix GTX 960, I know that either vendor's new cards would be a significant upgrade, but I know that sometimes one brand works better than the other. Note that my other GPU is a XFX Radeon HD 7870, which is comparable to the GTX 960, but does not work nearly as well in my current system for some reason. I have been seeing tearing on my GTX 960 that's been kind of on and off with the driver versions (I know I can revert, but it's too much of a hassle for a relatively minor problem), but the Radeon HD 7870 runs super hot and for some reason requires manual fan control or just overheats and causes the machine to reboot.

I am currently leaning towards the new AMD cards, but will wait for review, and am even considering upgrading from my Ryzen 5 3600 to a 5000 series CPU on my x570 board since it will (presumably) be the last set of AM4 CPUs. I have never had a fully cutting edge computer, and am considering upgrading to it soonish, then keep using that for the next 8-10 years (my last cpu was a i5-2500k).

I wanted to get people's experiences on RDNA 1 cards and RTX 2000 (or 3000) under linux systems.

btw I use Arch.

Lyndeno · October 30, 2020

As for performance, you should expect similar performance as windows no matter which brand you choose. AMD has the benefit to Linux users over Nvidia in that they offer open source drivers in the kernel.

These open source drivers and their attitude towards Linux means that you can expect new things like Wayland (instead of Xorg) to work. Nvidia only works on Wayland with Gnome or KDE and even then, don't support hardware acceleration for Xorg apps in xwayland.

Why would you want Wayland over Xorg? In my experience it is easier to use more than one monitor with mixed refresh rates while still getting things as smooth as possible on each monitor. Wayland with Sway is the only way for Freesync to work in a multi-monitor configuration that I know of.

I build an AMD Ryzen system last summer and used my old GTX 970 with it. I bought an on-sale 5600XT to use with Linux a couple months later and can say the experience has been very nice. I know someone using an RTX 2070 on Linux and the experience has been fairly nice for them except for not being able to use Wayland or make Gsync work on their dual-monitor setup. I don't know the state of ray-tracing on Linux, for either company.

The only real reason I could see you wanting to get an Nvidia card on Linux is if you need Cuda, Tensor, Nvenc, or need to use certain software that only works on the proprietary Nvidia driver. I am very excited to see how the RDNA 2 cards perform on Linux.

I also use Arch btw.

Edited October 30, 2020 by Lyndeno
I use Arch

Bearic · October 30, 2020

Thanks for the detailed answer!

I am currently using KDE plasma with X11. I tried using the Wayland version but had problems and did not have the patience to get it working, but that is good to know actually. I will give Sway a try, I have been meaning to play with window managers.

Any difference in the effectiveness for emulated games with Wine or Proton, Lutris, etc? I am definitely not a competitive gamer and usually play older, not AAA games, but it is a consideration still.

igormp · October 30, 2020

RTX 2060 Super user here. Haven't had any problems until now, where nvidia did a oopsie fucksie and isn't work with the latest kernel (meaning that I need to ignore linux when doing upgrades). A fix is meant to be available by the middle of november.

If you're planning on gaming, according to phoronix nvidia delivers somewhat more FPS against the equivalent AMD card.

If all you want is a plug and play experience, then go for AMD, since amdgpu is pretty okay nowadays (wasn't the case when I had my rx480).

Btw, I also use Arch.

Lyndeno · October 30, 2020

1 hour ago, Bearic said:

Thanks for the detailed answer!

I am currently using KDE plasma with X11. I tried using the Wayland version but had problems and did not have the patience to get it working, but that is good to know actually. I will give Sway a try, I have been meaning to play with window managers.

Any difference in the effectiveness for emulated games with Wine or Proton, Lutris, etc? I am definitely not a competitive gamer and usually play older, not AAA games, but it is a consideration still.

Using Proton to play Mordhau on my desktop. I haven't tried the game on Windows yet but according to the comments on protondb the game performs the same or better than on Windows. I haven't noticed any dip in performance when playing it on Wayland vs Xorg.

I tried KDE Wayland and it locked up my computer after artifacting. I tried again after the 5.20 update and it ran perfectly.