AMD Radeon R9 300 Series MegaThread: FAQ and Resources

Page 35 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar


The slides don't mention whether they intend to support Vulkan with the current Radeon DRM driver for HD 7000 through Rx 300 (non-Tonga/Carrizo/Fiji) GPUs but only reference the AMDGPU kernel driver just for the very newest AMD GPUs like the R9 Fury and Carrizo APUs
 
Though i doubt seeing that happen in the near future. Granted if you use the right programs linux is just as capable, if not more so then windows. But the "learning curve" is too high for most people. Besides, people are lazy why spend the extra time to learn something somewhat better when you can get something relatively good, for a lot less hassle. Couple with the fact windows o.s.'s have a massive market share, working with dx is practically a requirement in most if not all game development. It's too widely adopted to be killed, kind of like adobe.
 
Fudge, the "learning curve" will depend on the design. You don't need to create an OS environment so different to what there is out there already. People when they want to learn something is not stupid and even if they are, the amount of knowledge they have with Windows won't be much different to what they will know about Linux.

So, in short, Linux or Windows underneath is not relevant. What is relevant is besides games, what other things you can do in Linux, which is the piggyback MS always does for consumers. Office going cloud should be an interesting move for Linux users.

And AMD will not give more support in Linux than Windows for video card generations. From what I remember, they have always been 1:1 in terms of what they support in their closed binary driver.

Cheers!
 


Well maybe not so much a learning curve more of a, going outside a comfort zone then anything. Yes, i agree linux is as easy to use as windows if you get the right version, but i think just having people have to have an extra step to use something they can already use for the same functionality is what turns people off. Sure in the long run you can do some amazing things in linux that you can't even access in windows. Which is great but if you're already tech "savy" enoug hto know that chances are you already own a linux software system. Theirs no "real" benefit in owning linux if you're not going to take advantage of it 's extra features.
 
This is where Steam Machines pre loaded with SteamOS will make the difference.

There will be a direct entry path to linux machines which should hopefully increase the profile of the system.



 
This is where Steam Machines pre loaded with SteamOS will make the difference.
Click to expand...

I doubt it. Most people already own computers, why pay more money for essentially a console computer. , it's much more user friendly. So to speak. But What you're asking is for a market of an already niche markets market. If you already own a computer you don't want a console that does what your computer can already do. Sure consoles sell, but you don't own an xbox 360 to then go out and buy another xbox 360. I don't see the justification of people to have an extra expenditure in something most of which already own.

On the flipside yeah, it's possible their trying to appeal, to the console market, and again user friendly, but eh. I don't see it being viable.
 


Well I think if anyone can successfully gain a foothold with a new console, it's Valve 😛 I mean they've successfully cornered the whole PC game distribution market already.

I mean why do people buy consoles anyway? 2 reasons imo, 1: they are considerably less hassle than a PC, 2: the exclusive content. That is where valve can gain an edge- if they can get big studios releasing stuff on their system, especially if they can get some timed exclusives too, then it could take off.

I mean just think of the titles Valve can bring to the table themselves in this regard? What if Half Life 3 was 6 months exclusive on Steam OS...? Whilst it would cause a bit of a ****storm, I think a lot of people would buy the console for it regardless 😛

I mean Microsoft pulled it off with the Xbox- it's not like the status quo hasn't been changed before in the console world.
 
Yes, while that is true, but the thing i'm arguing is. The fundamental difference between a steambox or steammachine. And the original xbox is. You literally can't get anything like the xbox except the xbox. Their was only one of it's kind and only it could do that specific functionality with games. Where as, the percieved value of people, owning a "steam machine" Probably already own a pc. Why pay more money to own a console pc. When you already own a pc with that functionality. So it would fall into a very niche market of people who either don't own pc's. Or are people who are specifically looking for that console functionality in pc form.

I mean hey we don't know if it'll take off or not. I'm just betting my money on it busting before it actually breaks any "records".
 
That is the weird side of your argument, Fudge.

The XBox and PlayStation are computers with a dedicated OS for games. That is the same exact idea behind the SteamOS from Valve. Make an OS that is strictly for games with just a tad of PC like stuff. Plus, not all PCs can run games. If I remember correctly, there will be a cut off for Steam Machines.

Also, if you're a modder, it will be a welcome addition and if you're not, you won't notice. The idea is to have a piece of hardware that can do a lot of things well without being closed on 1 piece of hardware (console like) or OS (windows).

Cheers!
 
I think Steam OS is actually a great idea, because what it essentially allows people to do is create and sell their own "consoles", and considering the OS is free will not be bad. Let's face it, some people would rather use Steam OS for their games than pay for Windows.

Another downside is the support of Linux games, as they cannot run Windows games (only stream them). However, as of late it seems more and more games are actually being Linux-developed as well, so I do hope it takes off.
 
Isn't that yhe OS itself will be free? I mean if you already have your own PC or HTPC on the iving room you just need to install steamOS on your machine. Steam machine is for those that did not own PC. Heck valve even say that you can install windows on steam machine if you want to.

The mission with SteamOS is to bring PC gaming to the living room and try to make an 'easy' version of linux. But unlike true console the variation in hardware somewhat will make things quite complicated with steammachine.
 


Yes Steam OS is free, as all Linux is open source and free. That's why I see it as a potentially popular operating system for people who only want to game. Plus, another upside with a game-dedicated OS is that you don't have other programs running in the background.

But yeah, I disagree with the idea that the Steam Machine is a console, because the hardware varies. The OS is what identifies it as a Steam Machine. I guess you could call it an inbetween consoles and PC.
 
That interest part of it actually stemcfrom Valve SteamOS initiatives. While it is nice for Valve to push linux gaming some things are out of valve control. For example drivers. For quite sometime when developer port their title to linux they have to downgrade their graphic (compared to windows version) because hardware drivers and dev familiarity with OpenGL. Metro Last Light on Linux was made using OpenGL 3.2 instead of OpenGL 4.x. And recently Aspyr Media almost drop hardware support for AMD and Intel IGP due to both vendor OpenGL 4.x driver were quite problematic.
 


Yeah, if only there was some way for them to run Windows games. I don't know enough about it all, but I'm quite sure Linux has no DirectX. Plus there are other libraries of code Windows has that games use.

I don't see how it would be impossible. I think Microsoft would just have to sell the rights which would never happen. Perhaps some day though Linux will have some form of a "Windows" folder with a large collection of Windows APIs that could run Windows apps natively.
 
Well there is wine. So far they we quite successful running dx9 games on linux. I think right now some dev are working so wine can run dx11 stuff

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_(software)

But still not beating native implementation.
 


Yeah I have heard about Wine, but I'm unsure exactly how it works and if it takes a toll on performance. I personally get frustrated when I don't know how something works 😛 that's just how I am. I'm guessing it can run exe files, right? Does it somehow rewrite the exe file to point to a different library of APIs (obvious C:/ does not exist).

Strangely, the Wikipedia link took me to the drink. The closest thing I ever got to exe modification was using a program called JauntPE. What it did was modified my Roller Coaster Tycoon exe file to a portable registry on a USB drive so I could run the game on any public computer instead of being tied to the Windows registry.
 
Okay, after reading the first part of the article I understand how Wine works, and is sort of how I imagined it. It recompiles the executable file to use the Wine-provided APIs that are very similar to the Windows libraries of code. But what I don't understand is how this differs much from emulation. Now, I realize that emulation in a way is interpreting an executable file rather than executing it, but that article also says that emulation is re-compiling for a different architecture. Is not recompiling basically what is happening here?
 
Well not sure about since i never test it myself. All i know those that interested with linux and want to play windows exclusive games they use wine although it is not a perfect solution. That's why dev real interest with making their game through proper port to linux is very welcoming. But as usual some of linux community (the extreme few) slam game dev when the game work poorly on linux (recent example was witcher 2 port). Just like PC gamer that hard to please some of this linux folk are even harder to please lol 😛

And personally i think there is too much drama with linux community lol.
 
If only there was some way in which game companies could "globalize" games so they did not have to be ported and reprogrammed for different operating systems. Like if there was some operating system committee where they all agreed to devise a solution where a game could run natively on Xbox, PS4, Windows, and Linux without separate development from the devs. They all share the same processor architecture, so in an ideal world this could be possible. Key word is ideal.
 


Yeah I know it'd never happen, but it would be great if it did. It'd be a lot easier on the developers if all the APIs and frameworks were consistent from OS to OS.
 
OpenGL is true cross platform API but still dev choose much proprietary API like DirectX. The way i heard about it DirectX are much more 'developer friendly' because of direct assistance from MS themselves. Did Khronos group offer such support for dev using OpenGL?

I remember that when Mantle comes out some dev said it doesn't matter for dev to learn about new API when in reality dev already dealing with multiple API when developing cross platform title. But that's coming from triple A dev.

And sometimes i do think what dev really want on pc is not low level API like the one they have on console but more wanting PC hardware are all the same.
 


I'm saying the concept of a steam machine is for a small audience or select group of individuals i don't think the hardware will sell. I don't mean to say it'll end up like ouya. Vales already has a massive distribution network in place, which will work for them.

Steam machine on the other had is just a variant of linux. Which isn't bad, but you're fighting for market share that's predominately dominated by windows, and you're fighting for market share in hardware that most people already have. It's an uphill battle. But who knows maybe it'll take off. But if the "steamos" as you say is just a bare bones gaming o.s. then you're going to an even more niche group of people. I love valve, and can't wait for them to make a 3rd sequel to just about any game, they've released. I just don't see this being a big enough of an investment that'll turn a profit. But you know they can always sell more hats.
 
i'm seeing the performance increase of 300 series gpu in dx12 benchmarks, both ashes and fable, is much higher compared to fiji cards. can anyone explain, why? seems like they are the cards to get now. for those who hadn't seen the fable benchmarks with updated drivers for fiji, here is the link -
http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/214834-fable-legends-amd-and-nvidia-go-head-to-head-in-latest-directx-12-benchmark
joel was in contact with gamemakers and found that almost 5% asynchronous compute was used in game.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom