Future of AMD Linux driver support

[devbox]

For my new build I wanted to go AMD, I even recently bought a Club3D Radeon R9 380, but reading about how invasive Windows 10 has become I returned it and decided to go Linux. Now, I know Linux doesn't isn't the best for gaming, but I have read about how Nvidia has much better proprietary Linux driver support than AMD. The current Linux AMD drivers do not support the R9 390 because AMD is developing a new set of drivers called "amdgpu" for Linux.

 

Should I jump ship and go Nvidia? I don't know if AMD will ever get good Linux driver support, I've been following them for many years and still after all these years, the linux driver is still crap. At least Nvidia has made progress.

[TheMissxu]

Have you tried an open sourced version of AMD drivers?

[QueenDemetria]

For my new build I wanted to go AMD, I even recently bought a Club3D Radeon R9 380, but reading about how invasive Windows 10 has become I returned it and decided to go Linux. Now, I know Linux doesn't isn't the best for gaming, but I have read about how Nvidia has much better proprietary Linux driver support than AMD. The current Linux AMD drivers do not support the R9 390 because AMD is developing a new set of drivers called "amdgpu" for Linux.

 

Should I jump ship and go Nvidia? I don't know if AMD will ever get good Linux driver support, I've been following them for many years and still after all these years, the linux driver is still crap. At least Nvidia has made progress.

I'm not going to lie, both nvidia and AMD(also ATI) have terrible drivers for Linux(and this is with my recent weeks of testing). They aren't nearly as useful as the Windows alternatives, they are glitchy, and there is lost performance due to optimization not being a thing. As it stands now, I rate nvidia's slightly higher than AMD's driver, but its not better to the point to where I would run out and get a nvidia GPU.

 

Personally I would wait, and use an old/cheap GPU for now, because honestly the future of Linux unpredictable. First off, it needs marketshare for developers to give interest, but the only way to gain marketshare is from developers(so this circle needs to be broken). Then AMD needs to actually deliver a good driver, but the problem with AMD is that they tend to promise "too much", and in their current state I'm not sure how much effort they can put towards Linux drivers. Nvidia just doesn't care about Linux(and them saying "we support linux" earlier this year was just for the investors), so unless AMD does something with Linux, nvidia will still dump all of their efforts towards Windows.

 

It sucks, I know, I'm currently in the same boat, but a whole lot has to happen before Linux gaming becomes a viable option, and its too early to decide who has better drivers/cards/etc. for Linux. I'm personally using a "thrown together" nvidia machine(and will be building a AMD machine to run alongside it), but I'm just hoping for the best from both teams and will be keeping up with future developments.