News Gaming Update : AMD Is Working On A New Linux Graphics Driver To Catch Up With Nvidia

There’s no doubt about it: AMD’s Linux graphics drivers are behind Nvidia’s, something that will start mattering a lot more when Valve’s first Linux-based Steam Machines start hitting the market this November.

AMD hasn’t turned the ship around yet, and big-name games are still only supporting Nvidia hardware when they launch on Linux. But AMD hasn’t been sitting on its hands. AMD’s developers are working on a new Linux driver architecture that will result in better open-source drivers, too—eventually.

How has AMD been doing?

Before we dive into that, though, let’s recap what’s happened since out last look at the subject of Linux graphics drivers.

Nvidia is still maintaining its lead over AMD on Linux, and new games still target Nvidia hardware. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor recently launched on Linux thanks to Feral Interactive, but it only officially supports Nvidia graphics cards. The official FAQ says you’ll experience poor performance if you attempt to run it on an AMD graphics card. 

Phoronix recently discovered you can boost the performance of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on Linux when you’re using an AMD graphics card just by renaming the “csgo_linux” binary to “hl2_linux”. This will give you as much as a 40 percent graphics boost. The AMD Catalyst driver has application profiles designed for Source engine games, but AMD’s developers haven’t bothered adding csgo_linux to the application profiles—despite Counter-Strike: Global Offensive having been out for a year at this point.

Application profiles are commonly used across operating systems and drivers, so this is normal. What looks bad for AMD here is how slow it’s been to maintain these application profiles when compared to Nvidia on Linux and even AMD’s own profiles on Windows.

It’s not all bad for AMD users. AMD released Catalyst 15.5 Linux in early June. Phoronix ran some benchmarks and put it bluntly: “Metro Last Light Redux and Metro 2033 Redux no longer run like garbage on AMD Linux.” That’s an improvement, but the AMD Catalyst graphics drivers are still behind Nvidia’s. And that was the only game that noticeably improved in performance with the new drivers.

AMD’s new graphics driver architecture :
Currently, there are two main AMD graphics drivers on Linux. There’s the open-source “Radeon” driver and the closed-source “Catalyst” driver. As with Nvidia’s drivers, the open-source driver is fine for just using a graphical desktop with AMD graphics cards, but you’ll want the closed-source driver to get maximum gaming performance.

AMD has now been pursuing a “unified” Linux driver strategy and writing an entirely new driver. This driver, known as “AMDGPU,” will have a single Linux kernel module, which will be open-source. The closed-source Catalyst code will continue to exist, but it will be a smaller “binary blob” that runs in userspace. Open-source fans who don’t need maximum gaming performance can skip the Catalyst blob and use an entirely open-source driver.

 This driver will only be used for new AMD graphics cards. It will only support the very latest GPUs and future AMD graphics hardware.

The new structure could help a lot. Rather than two entirely separate drivers with separate kernel modules, there will be a single open-source kernel driver. The closed-source Catalyst part of the driver becomes much smaller and confined to userspace. AMD won’t have to update the Catalyst driver whenever there’s a new Linux kernel or X.org X server release. It will automatically be compatible because the Catalyst driver is a smaller piece of code that hooks into the open-source AMD driver included in the projects themselves.

While AMD isn’t going completely open-source as Intel did with its graphics drivers, it’s much more open-source-friendly than Nvidia’s strategy of going it alone. Linux developers have wanted closed-source kernel modules to go away for a long time, too. For more details, read Phoronix’s report on AMD’s new Linux driver strategy.

This driver should appear over 2015, and the “AMDGPU” kernel driver is set to debut in Linux 4.2. (Yes, we’re already past Linux 4.0 !) However, the driver is in a very early state and has a long way to go. Don’t expect to be using it any time soon.

In the long run, this could be what helps AMD close the gap with Nvidia when it comes to Linux graphics drivers. We should all hope so, anyway—it would be best for Steam Machines if AMD and Nvidia were competitive.

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, August 05, 2015

AMD Announces Radeon HD 8000M Series GPUs

AMD has been usually silent when it comes to the GPU market. According to Engadget, AMD is now delivery its newest sequence of GPUs made for laptops—the HD 8000M sequence. The first of these, known as the Radeon HD 8555M, is delivery within the Asus Vivobook U38DT. The GPUs will be making their existence sensed in 2013

AMD has also exposed some guarantees about the GPU, which display the Radeon 8800M ruining Nvidia's Geforce 650M in standards. The company hasn't released any more information though, such as energy intake.

All four snacks in the series—the 8500M, 8600M, 8700M and the 8800M—contain AMD's newest 28nm Style Primary Next structure. This gives them advantages when it comes to DirectX 11.1. The GPUs are also set to advantage from energy preserving functions like ZeroCore, which reduces off energy to rarely used cores, and PowerTune, which increases time rate to use low compertition energy.

Back in Nov, AMD had declared its FirePro GPU work stations in Indian. According to AMD, the FirePro W9000 GPU functions amazing estimate and improved storage information and provides better multi-display assistance performance than the competitive remedy. AMD has also released the AMD FirePro W8000, W7000 and W5000 work station graphics cards, which are all designed on the AMD Style Primary Next Architecture, and developed to stability estimate and 3D workloads effectively for computer-aided design and technological innovation, and for press and enjoyment experts. 

AMD FirePro A300 Series multiplied handling device (APU) is developed for entry-level and popular desktop pc work stations. Presenting AMD Eyefinity multi-display technological innovation, the new AMD FirePro A300 Series APUs are developed for customers who need a high-performance handling foundation to energy their computer-aided design, and press and enjoyment workflows.

David Cummings, Mature Home, Engineering WS Style, AMD said, “As experts work with bigger information places that need innovative creation and complicated designs, they need a graphics remedy that is fast, highly effective, and efficient. Qualified for the present programs, the new AMD FirePro work station graphics cards carry a variety of functions and abilities for experts working in electronic signs, transmitted graphics, CAD/CAE and M&E, providing the perfect stability of energy, performance and stability at the right price.”

“Design experts need workstation-class resources that allow performance and versatility in their work-flow, and the AMD FirePro A300 Series APUs allow work station integrators and OEMs an interesting new handling foundation on which to make and develop highly effective, entry-level desktop pc work station options that provide irresistible value for CAD and M&E workflows,” included Mr. Cummings. "The AMD FirePro A300 Series APUs brings together AMD FirePro graphics technological innovation with innovative CPU technological innovation, providing amazing estimate performance, enhanced design versatility and excellent performance."

Earlier this year, AMD had released its Radeon HD 7990. A dual-GPU cards from AMD was unavoidable, as it, just like Nvidia, always has a dual-GPU video cards that is usually the combination of two of its highest-end GPU cores connected by CrossFire on a single PCB.

Posted by Unknown Tuesday, December 18, 2012

No Password Is Safe From This New 25-GPU Computer Cluster

Your really, really strong password just became a little bit easier to break.

Jeremi Gosney, founder and CEO of Stricture Consulting Group, a company that handles password-cracking, has unveiled a computer cluster boasting 25 AMD Radeon graphics cards. The cluster's horsepower allows it to make 350 billion password guesses per second again

st the NT Lan Manager (NTLM) security protocol Microsoft has used in Windows Server since 2003.

Ars Technica was first to report on the cluster.

Speaking to Ars in an e-mailed statement, Gosney said that his company's technology "can attack hashes approximately four times faster" than it previously could. Using a brute force method, the cluster is capable of guessing every single eight-character password containing letters, numbers, and symbols in 5.5 hours. If companies use LM, an earlier password option for Windows Server, the cluster can figure out a password in six minutes.

So, how does the cluster do it? According to Ars, the cluster is running Virtual OpenCL, a platform that makes the GPUs believe they're all functioning together in a desktop computer. To actually crack a password, Gosney and his team uses a free password-cracker called ocl-Hashcat Plus.

Password security continues to be a major challenge for consumers, corporations, and online services. A so-called "strong" password, which in most cases wouldn't be broken for days, if not weeks, is now easier and easier to crack with advanced tools. In other words, watch out and create as strong a password as possible.

 

Posted by Unknown Friday, December 14, 2012

AMD's Hondo Tablet Chip Will Happily Run Windows 8 And Linux, But Not Android

Modern company vocabulary gem: TAM, Complete Addressable Industry. AMD seems that Windows 8 comes with a lot of the things, so it recognizes no professional need to create its approaching product processor -- codenamed Hondo -- perform awesome Android operating system as well. Discussing to The Inquirer, company VP Bob Buckle said it was a "conscious decision" not to go after interface with Google OS, because AMD doesn't want to propagate itself into "other marketplaces." What could this mean for us tablet-buyers? No dual-booting Windows / Android operating system miracle on AMD gadgets, for one factor, which is perhaps a pity now that ASUS has displayed off the combo's prospective. However, Buckle created it obvious that Ford will assistance A linux systemunix, which -- for now, at least -- is more than can be said of Intel's competing low-power rubber, Clover Pathway.

Posted by Unknown Sunday, September 16, 2012

AMD 'Trinity' APU Pricing Leaks

Summary: A lot is already known about AMD's upcoming second-generation 'Trinity' accelerated processing units (APUs), and now we can plug unofficial pricing into the spec sheet.

 We already know quite a lot about AMD's future second-generation "Trinity" faster handling models (APUs), but one secret was costs. On the internet store BLT has launched its costs to go with the specifications. 

While these costs are not formal, they are in range with current gossips. The costs are also range up well with what I've been listening to through unofficial AMD programs.

We can now connect these costs into the specifications piece that was published last 30 days. 

APUs with the "K" suffix have revealed multipliers and can be overclocked for extra performance.

These processor chips follow-on from the A-Series Combination cellular areas revealed returning in May and will need motherboards with the new Plug FM2 and will create use of AMD's new A85X chipset. These APUs, like their cellular forerunners, merge a CPU and GPU onto just one die. AMD desires that they will put stress on Intel's Ivy Link processor chips. 

Systems designed around APUs with a reduced TDP will advantage from demanding less chilling, not only creating them less expensive to develop but also silent to run.

All of the APUs function an AMD Radeon HD 7000-series design primary which provides DirectX 11 design assistance and an enhanced movie play-back website.

On document, these APUs seem to have an benefits over Intel's Ivy Link areas in that the HD 7000 sequence GPU is excellent to the GPU discovered in comparative Ivy Link processor chips. We will however have to delay for separate standard examining of components to validate these findings.

Posted by Unknown Monday, September 03, 2012