Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS and AMD + Steam/Proton

[Easy Rhino]

I am curious to know about other people's experiences with this kind of setup.

Out of the box, the AMD drivers that are loaded with the Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS install just work. Native Linux games run on Steam great. Proton also works great. I was even able to get the XBOX One Wireless controller working.

However, I have found that proton games seem to suffer from lag and I believe it is because the AMD drivers for Linux do not allow for turning on features like Radeon AntiLag which helps keep frames in sync with this 3440x1440p 144hz monitor.

Is anyone running Ubuntu with AMD drivers and is willing to share their experience?

 

[HTC]

Have you tried oibaf drivers?

If only to rule out features like AntiLag, which i believe they don't support either.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Have you tried oibaf drivers?

If only to rule out features like AntiLag, which i believe they don't support either.

Hrm, never heard of those drivers. I could give them a try. Unfortunately if you check out my system specs I need AntiLag due to a weak CPU. It helps loads in graphics intensive games.

 

[Aquinus]

Oibaf: https://launchpad.net/~oibaf/+archive/ubuntu/graphics-drivers
Padoka Stable: https://launchpad.net/~paulo-miguel-dias/+archive/ubuntu/pkppa
Padoka Unstable: https://launchpad.net/~paulo-miguel-dias/+archive/ubuntu/mesa

I need AntiLag due to a weak CPU

Maybe it's something that has less to do with the driver and more to do with how the CPU is driven, so it might be a Windows specific thing. Try setting the CPU governor to `performance` and see where it gets you. It should make clocking up a little more aggressive and clocking down more conservative on a desktop.

Edit: As a side note, Freesync should be working if you have only one display plugged in, so that at least should be a plus.

Edit 2: You can also try installing a mainline kernel if a feature was recently added that you need. This is the one for 5.9.10.

 

[HTC]

Hrm, never heard of those drivers. I could give them a try. Unfortunately if you check out my system specs I need AntiLag due to a weak CPU. It helps loads in graphics intensive games.

The intention was to install different drivers to rule out your current drivers being the issue with the lag you're experiencing: if with these drivers you continue to have the lag issue, then it's not the drivers and, if you don't anymore, then it IS INDEED the drivers.

Also, @Aquinus : correct me if i'm wrong but Padoka's drivers don't support Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS, right? @ least for now.

 

[Vya Domus]

However, I have found that proton games seem to suffer from lag and I believe it is because the AMD drivers for Linux do not allow for turning on features like Radeon AntiLag which helps keep frames in sync with this 3440x1440p 144hz monitor.

That's not what antilag is for, if you experience noticeable input lag it's because of something else.

Proton is emulation of the graphics API basically which means it goes through an additional software translation layer and that's likely the source of the lag. In other words, you're not really ever going to get rid of that.

 

[Easy Rhino]

That's not what antilag is for, if you experience noticeable input lag it's because of something else.

Proton is emulation of the graphics API basically which means it goes through an additional software translation layer and that's likely the source of the lag. In other words, you're not really ever going to get rid of that.

Could that be due to my older CPU and the high resolution of the monitor?

Also, interestingly enough when I went from the AMD drivers provided with the Ubuntu 20.04 install to the latest version using the amdgpu-install-pro binaries Steam would no longer launch games. That probably is an unrelated issue...

 

[Aquinus]

The intention was to install different drivers to rule out your current drivers being the issue with the lag you're experiencing: if with these drivers you continue to have the lag issue, then it's not the drivers and, if you don't anymore, then it IS INDEED the drivers.

Also, @Aquinus : correct me if i'm wrong but Padoka's drivers don't support Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS, right? @ least for now.

I'm not sure. I didn't recall having any issues with 20.04 LTS myself, but since I got the MacBook Pro, I have to admit, I haven't turned the tower on in months. When I installed 20.04, everything just worked OOTB. I didn't need to install anything else and performance was decent on my Vega 64 to be frank, so I didn't futz with it.

Could that be due to my older CPU and the high resolution of the monitor?

Higher resolution requires more GPU power typically, not so much more CPU power. I'd imagine that the kicker is trying to get the high frame rates that your display can handle.

 

[HTC]

I'm not sure. I didn't recall having any issues with 20.04 LTS myself, but since I got the MacBook Pro, I have to admit, I haven't turned the tower on in months. When I installed 20.04, everything just worked OOTB. I didn't need to install anything else and performance was decent on my Vega 64 to be frank, so I didn't futz with it.

If you look closely in both of Padoka's drivers links, it does NOT say Ubuntu 20 support, which is why i said "don't support Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS: @ least for now".

 

[Easy Rhino]

That's not what antilag is for, if you experience noticeable input lag it's because of something else.

Oops, I meant enhanced sync, not anti-lag.

 

[FinneousPJ]

Can you post a video of the problem? Is your fps steady in the free sync range? Well first things first make sure free sync and 144 Hz are enabled...

 

[Aquinus]

I have found that proton games seem to suffer from lag

For what it's worth, DXVK does add CPU overhead compared to running games natively in Windows, so if you're already pushing a CPU with a game in Windows, it's not going to perform better under DXVK. This is unavoidable and that is the cost that we pay to translate DX calls to Vulkan. If games native in Linux and those that don't use DXVK through Proton (like Doom 2015,) run well then I'd say that it's probably DXVK that's pushing your CPU over the edge. Maybe a couple more faster cores are in order?

 

[johnspack]

Wine 6.0 RC1 is out now. Don't know what versions of wine you play with. Wine should have a stable version of dxvk already present. If not, winetricks should
have the newest version. I don't use proton, don't use steam much, so I configure my own fine wine..... Go to winehq.org and set up your own wine!

WineHQ - Run Windows applications on Linux, BSD, Solaris and macOS

Open Source Software for running Windows applications on other operating systems.

www.winehq.org

 

[Easy Rhino]

I am fairly certain the vulkan drivers that are loaded by Ubuntu 20 out of the box are what is holding back the ability of the card to handle enhanced sync properly. I wanted a go at using the properiety drivers but when i installed them it broke gpu acceleration in steam games. Does anyone have experience removing the default AMD vulkan drivers properly and install the amdgpu-pro drivers from amd?

 

[Aquinus]

Does anyone have experience removing the default AMD vulkan drivers properly and install the amdgpu-pro drivers from amd?

I don't recall having to do anything when I used AMDGPU-Pro with the old 390, but that was also back when Southern Islands were blacklisted on the open source driver. I never tried to use the close source drivers with the Vega 64. I had no reason to.

 

[Easy Rhino]

I don't recall having to do anything when I used AMDGPU-Pro with the old 390, but that was also back when Southern Islands were blacklisted on the open source driver. I never tried to use the close source drivers with the Vega 64. I had no reason to.

Hrm... also another annoyance is that opencl is not installed by default which is odd.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Unfortunately if you check out my system specs I need AntiLag due to a weak CPU.

That's not a weak CPU. Fairly solid one actually.

 

[FinneousPJ]

I am fairly certain the vulkan drivers that are loaded by Ubuntu 20 out of the box are what is holding back the ability of the card to handle enhanced sync properly. I wanted a go at using the properiety drivers but when i installed them it broke gpu acceleration in steam games. Does anyone have experience removing the default AMD vulkan drivers properly and install the amdgpu-pro drivers from amd?

Do not use the closed source drivers for anything modern. Instead try and download the latest open source drivers and Vulkan. You can check these links

Install And Test Vulkan On Linux - LinuxConfig.org

Install Vulkan support and test it on your Linux distribution

linuxconfig.org

How to Install The Latest AMD Radeon Drivers on Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver Linux - LinuxConfig.org

Install either the latest proprietary or open source AMD Radeon Drivers on Ubuntu 18.04

linuxconfig.org

Use the PPA guides.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Do not use the closed source drivers for anything modern.

I am curious to know why? I was able to get opencl installed using amdgpu-install without it breaking anything else.

 

[FinneousPJ]

I am curious to know why? I was able to get opencl installed using amdgpu-install without it breaking anything else.

The official page should give a hint: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-radpro-lin-16-40

The newest GPU listed is an RX 480.

 

[Easy Rhino]

The official page should give a hint: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-radpro-lin-16-40

The newest GPU listed is an RX 480.

I think you were looking in the wrong place...

https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-amdgpu-unified-linux-20-45

 

[FinneousPJ]

I think you were looking in the wrong place...

https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-amdgpu-unified-linux-20-45

Strange, the one I linked is number one result on search.

 

[R-T-B]

The closed source drivers do consistently bench slower than the open ones, though.

 

[Easy Rhino]

I think at this point I only want the openCL libraries but it looks like issues with 5.8 series of kernels

 

[Aquinus]

I think at this point I only want the openCL libraries but it looks like issues with 5.8 series of kernels

Do you have ROCm installed? I'm pretty sure that's where the OpenCL support comes from.