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submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by missphant to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world

I've had the luck to snipe a 9070 XT at a sane price on launch day and I've been using it on Linux since it arrived yesterday so I wanted to share some words, mostly praise, about my experience.

I'm currently on CachyOS with linux-rc, mesa-git and linux-firmware-git and the experience has been amazing. The occasional driver bugs exist, especially when using raytracing, but overall it works really well.

I've ran a few benchmarks and in rasterizing I always get really close to the Windows performance, e.g. Cyberpunk 2077 Ultra (no RT) gets within 95% of Windows with similarly good frame times. Cyberpunk's Raytracing can cause a crash and when it works is only about half of Windows performance with very fluctuating frame times, but other games like Control or GTA V Enhanced run very stable with max RT.

Another selling point of RDNA4 for me was the efficiency after I had returned my 7900XT card in part due to super high idle usage (80W+) on Linux. Here on launch day it's using 40W with my setup (edit: this value was observed on 6.13.6, on 6.14rc6 I'm actually getting as low as 25W) which is far off the <10W that are possible according to Windows reviews but already a lot better than the previous generation. In games the efficiency is incredible, the card basically runs any game released before 2021 at max settings in 1440p with a 144 FPS limit, only drawing 40-110W which I assume could be even further reduced if the base usage is optimized in the future.

Lastly, VR just worked out of the box which impressed me the most. I've tried Vertigo Remastered which runs through SteamVR+Proton and I've had zero issues, I put highest settings and played through a whole chapter with no stutters.

A huge thanks to the developers who worked towards making the launch experience as great as it is. I've been on Linux since 2017 and it feels less and less like being a second class citizen thanks to these efforts and especially Valve.

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[-] UnusMundus@feddit.nu 4 points 18 hours ago

Also running my 9070XT Red Devil on Linux with the exact same OS setup as you. Some games have performance within 10% of Windows. Like Space Marine 2 at 4K. However since the drivers aren't quite on par with Windows yet since it just launched. Some games perform a lot worse.

Monster Hunter Rise cannot draw more than 140-180W so performance is about 40-50% less than on Windows. The same power draw problem affects Space Marine 2 where on Windows it easily runs at 110+ fps at 1440p but Linux barely goes over 75 fps. Wattage never goes above 230W.

I am hopeful the power draw problem will be fixed in the future and the drivers getting a bit better in 6.15 and future mesa releases. A really strong launch showing on Linux for sure!

[-] mox@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 1 day ago

Wow... Given that the GPU was released just a few days ago, that's impressive for open-source drivers. Thanks for posting this.

[-] BJ_and_the_bear@lemm.ee 22 points 1 day ago

Sounds like a pretty solid release from AMD. Too bad GPU prices are still so crazy high 🫤

[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

Yeah.

AMD prices look great compared to nvidias, but its still really damn high.

I miss the days when you could build a complete, kickass system for 800-1000, GPU included.

[-] sanpo@sopuli.xyz 24 points 1 day ago

Thanks a lot for testing it, really nice to see a mandatory wait after release is not necessary anymore.

The drivers are generally available pretty quickly, however I find that stable distros do not ship them, which is understandable but unfortunate. Debian (my beloved) is egregiously bad at it.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

I bought a Vega 56 on launch day (August 14th, 2017) and IIRC was able to use it in Linux immediately, albeit with proprietary drivers. At least with AMD, I don't think a mandatory wait has been a thing for quite a while now.

[-] Amaterasu@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

Lol, I'm still on Vega 56

[-] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 1 day ago

Thanks for this post.

I'm currently on a 7800XT, which has been a fantastic card on Linux. I haven't had the power draw issues you had on RDNA3, and though I'm not planning to upgrade, I'm glad it seems like AMD is continuing with some solid releases.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Thanks for the info!

I also managed to get a 9070 XT for MSRP on launch day by standing in line at Microcenter, but I haven't installed it yet because I stupidly picked the wrong one (Gigabyte Gaming OC -- it's nice that it has higher boost clocks/a 3rd power connector/longer warranty, but it's too thick to fit in my case and I would've been happier with 3xDisplayPorts) and I'm, probably naively, hoping for an opportunity to exchange it for a PowerColor Reaper.

Which make/model card did you get, BTW? With no reference design, it's possible that different cards might have different power draw etc. (even idle, let alone boost). For example, I saw this Youtube video talking about how the PowerColor Red Devil version has a dual bios selector switch that doesn't seem to do anything and doesn't overclock properly.

[-] missphant 4 points 1 day ago

I got a Sapphire Pure, wasn't quite MSRP but with 799€ including 19% VAT still better than I expected in the months leading up to the launch - and it's just a beauty...

A friend is running a Red Devil on Linux and they have the same idle power draw so I assume it's just some kinks in the initial drivers but it's already looking pretty good in that regard, similar to my previous card (Vega 64). The video I saw, and yeah mine is behaving similarly, undervolting drastically increases clocks though stability testing on Linux is not fun so I haven't looked how far I could push it yet, but really excited for the undervolting potential. I've seen it's possible to get near stock performance with as low as 240W.

[-] vikingtons@lemmy.world 2 points 20 hours ago

Idle power is determined by your display setup. Is your friend a comparable arrangement to yours? Do you run a couple high res high refresh rate displays?

I'm a little surprised you're reaching the same idle draw as vega10 given its use of HBM2. Also worth noting that everything prior to RDNA 3 showed TGP instead of TBP. This was particularly annoying as it didn't account for other board power losses (like VRM), and didn't give monitoring software an accurate read :/

[-] grue@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

similar to my previous card (Vega 64)

Shout-out to the "only upgrade the video card after seven years" gang (my old card is a Vega 56).

[-] synapse1278@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Thank you for the nice write-up!

I want to buy a new PC this year, but I will probably stick to my current 5700xt for the time being and get my hands on a 9070xt in a couple of years when they find their way to the used market.

This 5700xt is the first GPU I bought second hand, I repasted it 1 year after purchase and never gave me issue overall.

[-] blackstrat@lemmy.fwgx.uk 2 points 3 hours ago

I also have a 5700xt and was hoping with what AMD had been saying about stock to pick up a 9079xt at MSRP. But then the sites that had them all died and I couldn't get to the checkout. I'm now waiting for things to hopefully recover to normality in the summer.

[-] gray@pawb.social 5 points 1 day ago

Just FYI, use Monado for VR, SteamVR is a massive pile of trash on Linux.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/docs/fossvr/monado/

[-] missphant 4 points 1 day ago

Monado definitely has benefits with its asynchronous reprojection and being FOSS but overall I prefer SteamVR when it works cause it's just more seamless for gaming with its overlay. I've had a good experience with recent SteamVR versions where everything apart from Home usually just works, currently on the beta branch.

[-] gray@pawb.social 1 points 1 day ago

Highly recommend wlxoverlay for monado, for me SteamVR overlay never has a working desktop view so I can’t see my monitors.

It’s been broken for years and valve will never fix it: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamVR-for-Linux/issues/426

[-] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Thanks for this. Very useful info. Now, if only those darn things were available for a sensible price here.

[-] barraformat@lemm.ee 1 points 1 day ago

Thank you for sharing

this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2025
149 points (100.0% liked)

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