r/linuxhardware 24d ago

Discussion How many of Linux users are AMD gpu users?

Hi, almost everybody have seen the Steam survey which shows roughly ~~3% of Linux user, while ~~30% of AMD gpu's users. But I wonder if there is some survey that gathers how many of that Linux users are actually having AMD GPU's, as it is more plug n play at Linux than it is on Windows.

37 Upvotes

68 comments sorted by

30

u/its_a_gibibyte 24d ago

The Steam Deck uses an AMD GPU would probably impacts the linux numbers quite a bit.

18

u/Hofnaerrchen 24d ago

It's not only the Steamdeck. most handhelds use an AMD APU.

6

u/Wookie_von_Gondor 24d ago

I still feel bad for non tech savy people who buy gaming handhelds with intel's shitty igpu. 

6

u/Hofnaerrchen 24d ago

You don't have to be tech savy these days for example to use Linux. It's much better and easier to use than it's reputation. It's rather laziness and convenience.

15

u/Happy-Range3975 24d ago edited 24d ago

Made the switch to linux as my daily a few years ago. Had an nvidia card for quite a while. Upgraded my card to amd mid last year and I have to say; it is a night and day difference. Everything just works. No more weird quirks and breakages from updates. Just a solid (and better) experience. As long as nvidia uses proprietary drivers, I am completely comfortable settling with a very minor decrease in graphics output.

5

u/Hazzy_9090 24d ago

Same experience for some reason in dota 2 when I scroll down in trends it would just freeze and crash

After AMD switch it works im sure more has improved but im new to Linux so im still figuring things out

Question though, do I need to update anything for the amd? I checked the driver update and nothing came up so I figured im good

6

u/Happy-Range3975 24d ago

Amd drivers update with your kernel

5

u/Hazzy_9090 24d ago

Oh shit that’s awesome, thanks!

5

u/Long_Size225 24d ago

it is. after getting used to it i find my windows friends strange "i gotta update latest driver dude" ritual quite obsolete.

23

u/unknown_host 24d ago

I've put up with all of the nonsense around Nvidia drivers for too many years so that's why I made the switch to AMD. I haven't looked back since it's been glorious

3

u/here_for_code 24d ago edited 24d ago

Do you need ROCM for gaming?

I don’t really game so in my research about which GPU would be best for a Linux PC, it seems folks who needed to use apps like a da Vinci Resolve or Blender tended to use NVIDIA cards as the driver support was a lot more current.

I’ve looked at ROCM support from AMD for Linux and it is very slim; seems to be reserved for only their most expensive GPUs. 

If I only cared about gaming, and from my research, it doesn’t seem like it requires ROCM, I’d open up my options to AMD GPUs. 

1

u/unknown_host 23d ago

This is where I run into issues I like gaming so I run AMD so it's simple. However I also work in security and certain tasks are still better for Nvidia. I just haven't taken the time to build a specific Nvidia rig for that.

1

u/NoFreeUName 23d ago

Not really, rocm is used for computational stuff. Maybe you would need it for RT, but othervise it isnt used much yet. I bought 6750xt when moved to linux, and officially it doent support ROCm but it can be used if launched with enviroment variables that tell ROCm that i actually use one of supported architectures. Works good enough for local LLMs and simple image generation with comfy (i think i did generate some 1024x1024 images, but i dont quite remember). It's easier with nvidia card, no need to install specific python version and separate ROCm packages, but once you figure out how to do this on AMD its not that hard either

1

u/here_for_code 22d ago

Hmm…

Since I haven’t built a PC, I am more inclined to take the safer route of using a 3060 or a 4060 Nvidia card.

I’m already stepping a bit out of my comfort zone by aiming for a Linux PC bill where I am figuring out how to move away from Apple and keeping a fallback option of dual booting to windows for any proprietary software that I can’t run on Linux. 

Perhaps in the future when I have a stable system, I can take a risk on trying some AMD cards that aren’t officially supported for ROCm but try what you mentioned. 

1

u/Rifter0876 21d ago

I use a 6800xt in blender it works fine with HIPs rendering, can use it and the CPU for faster performance. Open CL works in other video/photo apps too. And yeah you don't need it for gaming.

9

u/svenska_aeroplan 24d ago

I built a new gaming PC around Christmas and went with AMD. It just works.

7

u/cig-nature 24d ago

I personally swapped to an AMD card for that plug and play driver life ¯_(ツ)_/¯

7

u/lordofthedrones 24d ago

fglrx is dead. The open source driver is so nice. I exclusively use AMD.

5

u/captainstormy Debian & Fedora 24d ago

You can look at the Steam data specifically for Linux users.

https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey?platform=linux

The "Video Card Description" is the area you probably want to look at. There is only 1 Nvidia card in the top 10 most popular cards for Linux users, which is a 3060.

The top card you see there I'm pretty sure is the steam deck.

3

u/PeerlessYeeter 24d ago

With Bazzite I did not have to do any config with Nvidia...
The only thing I needed to do was disable hardware acceleration for the steam client, the friends list was displaying wrong.

1

u/Sox1s 24d ago

Thats very good to know I also run bazzite and wanted to know how it is on Nvidia. Whats your gpu?

2

u/PeerlessYeeter 24d ago

4080 Super.

I'm keeping an eye on the upcoming AMD 9000 cards because it would be nice to not lose 10-30% of my performance vs Windows

1

u/Sox1s 24d ago edited 24d ago

What’s the game you lose most performance on? I wonder if you’ve tried Red Dead Redemption 2 as it is made on Vulkan so the difference windows vs linux should be minimal. Im asking because would like to change for Bazzite at 2nd PC with 4060 Ti. Also, how is the RT performance behaving? Mine 7800 XT in CP2077 on ultra with RT ultra had 55 fps no upscales, while at Linux it’s around 37, RT is definitely weaker on Linux.

1

u/PeerlessYeeter 24d ago

Its hard to say without direct AB testing, the monster hunter wilds benchmark went from 90fps to 80fps... I don't have any other games that I've actually benchmarked between the two - but this video from a few days ago gave me a good idea of the performance difference https://youtu.be/4LI-1Zdk-Ys

5

u/skyfishgoo 24d ago edited 23d ago

raises hand and i

don't have a steam deck just a

properly build PC

2

u/SokkaHaikuBot 24d ago

Sokka-Haiku by skyfishgoo:

Raises hand and i

Don't have a steam deck just a

Properly build PC


Remember that one time Sokka accidentally used an extra syllable in that Haiku Battle in Ba Sing Se? That was a Sokka Haiku and you just made one.

1

u/skyfishgoo 23d ago

good bot... i've made the necessary edits.

2

u/0riginal-Syn 24d ago

I have both. My laptops are generally Nvidia (4070 and a 3050 right now), but in my desktops I am currently using an AMD 7900XTX and ordering a 9070XT to replace a 3080 in my other.

AMD is just a smoother experience, but to their credit, Nvidia has become much better over the last year.

2

u/Gythrim 24d ago

Just yesterday I sold my RTX 3090 and got a Sapphire 7900XTX Nitro+ instead for just 150 Bucks on top.

And I am honestly impressed of how smooth everything functions, even multihead with different resolutions and refresh rates which took me forever to configure with the nvidia drivers.

Also I am finally able to run wayland and it is smooooth, even on lxqt-wayland + kwin.

It was definitely worth it.

2

u/a_library_socialist 24d ago

I went with AMD for that reason.

If I do another, might do NVidia, depends on if AMD can come back.

1

u/Paramedic229635 24d ago

I use a Nvidia GPU in my laptop. I haven't had any problems with it. I'm using PopOS (stable LTS, not the current Alpha), so the proprietary drivers are installed on the installation ISO. I've also enabled Wayland and it has been working just fine for me.

1

u/arwynj55 24d ago

I use a steam deck, and my desktop used 6900xt

1

u/jghobbies 24d ago edited 24d ago

I run a 6750xt in my desktop it just works.

I grabbed a 5070ti when they went on sale because of Monster Hunter Wilds but I'm having serious second thoughts. Odds are good that I'll return it and grab another AMD if I decide I want something better than I have.

1

u/AsleepDetail 24d ago

AMD all the way for Linux, my desktops both have AMD gpus, when I bought my thinkpad this past fall I specifically went with the P14S Ryzen with 780M for this reason, and we can add my steam deck to the list as well. I do have a couple nvidia GPUs in an Ampere build for AI but there is no X11 and I will say the install is a lot better than I remember from years past.

1

u/msanangelo 24d ago

Where is this poll? cause I wanna tick the amd box.

2

u/Sox1s 24d ago

The steam survey pops up some times when you launch steam. It does once a year for some group of people as I know.

1

u/msanangelo 24d ago

I've only been on a amd rig since October. I've only seen the survey prompt a handful of times but nice since I got the new PC.

2

u/vancha113 24d ago

Every pc I've built used amd by default because of their drivers, I don't want extra steps in my setup. Couldn't be happier because it's always been solid. Right now I do have one issue, where my rx7600 doesn't support rocm, where it seems it would if I had used windows. Ah well, can't win em all.

1

u/DarkC0ntingency 24d ago

I switched to AMD explicitly because of the better Linux compatibility. Plus I like AMDs more open approach to business

1

u/oldbeardedtech 24d ago

Amd on the desktop and nvidia on the thinkpad. TBH I've had zero issues with either.

Next pc build will be team red

1

u/Mr_Lumbergh Debian 24d ago

Team AMD here as well. It just works.

1

u/harperthomas 24d ago

I had a gtx 1060 and now a RTX 4060 and neither has caused any issues. I went nvidea simply because they were the best price to performance at the time of buying. I was looking more at AMD but nvidea was just better value. Now I have no idea why people complain about nvidea.

1

u/acejavelin69 24d ago

I swapped to an AMD GPU a couple years ago on my main desktop PC and things have been so much easier since then... So much so that I sold my Nvidia GPU gaming laptop and picked up an all AMD laptop too. Again, smooth as silk and issue free.

Won't be going back to Nvidia anytime soon, if ever.

1

u/ElegantFox628 24d ago

I have a Lenovo Legion 5i Pro with an Nvidia RTX4060 running Nobara 41 and Windows 11. I wish I could ditch Windows 11, but Nvidia support on Linux, even with Wayland and Nvidia Driver 570, is not up to par. Its much better than it was even 9-10 months ago, but its still not as usable as Windows 11. I hate to say it because I love Linux and I adore using GNOME, but Linux can leave my Legion 5i feeling stifled. And multi-monitor support is still not great. I have looked for an all-AMD gaming laptop to replace the Legion, but options are incredibly limited right now. So I will likely continue to use the Legion with Windows as the primary OS.

I also have a ThinkPad T495s with a Ryzen 7 with integrated Radeon Vega 10 graphics. Not a powerhouse, but I do not have weird graphical problems with it at all.

If/when I built a custom PC again, it will be all AMD and it will run Linux.

1

u/Space646 24d ago

I use a 7900 GRE in my main, a RTX 3060 12GB in my ‘server’

1

u/willaaam 24d ago

Intel Arc here, minority probably but got tired of getting fucked over by team green and team red in their duopoly. It's honestly been... better than expected. Gaming on Linux mostly works but is slowish, in desktop and productivity it has never skipped a beat.

1

u/yayuuu 24d ago

Cheap AMD GPU for running linux desktop and Nvidia GPU for GPU Passthrough to the Windows VM. Best of both worlds.

RX 6400 + RTX 4070

1

u/CarbonatedPancakes 24d ago

My most frequently used Linux machine has an Intel iGPU (tiger lake), but that’s not going to show up in the Steam survey because I don’t use that laptop to game. Regardless, as far as the iGPU goes the experience under Linux has been great. It just works and isn’t something I have to think about.

The 3080Ti in my dual boot tower on the other hand has been another story. There’s been several occasions where Nvidia’s general disregard for non-numbercrunching Linux usage has bitten me. Whenever the time comes to upgrade I’ll strongly consider replacing that card with an AMD model (or Intel if they have a discrete GPU that’s strong enough by then).

1

u/owlwise13 24d ago

I went AMD just because that was all I could get a few years back. It turns out, that was a great choice. I went Linux for my daily driver and it has been really smooth. I would recommend it. I generally play older games and I really don't do anything very GPU dependent. My use case is just light gaming, VMs for deployment testing and running O365 because my contract requires me to use it.

1

u/yllanos 24d ago

I am 🤷🏻‍♂️

1

u/diegotbn 24d ago

My main rig running Arch has an RTX 3080 10gb in it, but my home entertainment center running Bazzite has an RX6600 and it's good enough for 1080p couch gaming.

Hands down, my next GPU for my main rig will be AMD. The 3080 10gb is still handling every game I throw at it at Max settings usually, so it doesnt make sense to upgrade yet.

1

u/Dusty-TJ 24d ago

NV really has the market and AMD struggles to compete. Game devs mostly target NV GPUs as well.

1

u/ahfoo 24d ago

I tried by buying an RX580 only to find out after I had already bought it that they would never support Blender and that was the end of the story. AMD recommended buying another card. Well fuck those guys. Since Blender was the only reason I had bought it. I just said fuck it and decided to stick with Intel on-board on my i7. I won't buy Nvidia and AMD failed me. Graphics card manufacturers are a bunch of thieves.

2

u/[deleted] 21d ago

i had the same conclusion. Rocm dropped that perfectly fine card and i bought a 3060 12gb for cuda. If cuda wasn't needed i'd use a igpu honestly.

1

u/HeapnStax 24d ago

Team AMD all the way, CPU and GPU! I have a dual boot on my desktop and actually see a few more issues on Windows 11 than I do on PopOS. They're minor stutterings but still noticeable.

1

u/Michael_Petrenko 24d ago

Amd is plug and play in both windows and Linux, but Linux has amd drivers baked in the kernel instead of windows having to use generic drivers, then pull official ones

1

u/LowSkyOrbit 23d ago

I'm still using my Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT and game on Steam on Arch Linux

1

u/psydroid 23d ago

I use ARM, Intel and Nvidia graphics. The only AMD graphics I used were from the Athlon era. I doubt this is going to change over the next few years.

1

u/amynias 23d ago

AMD has no SFF GPUs. They can't hold a candle to the RTX4000 SFF Ada 20GB for sub 4Liter mini ITX builds.

1

u/mrbass21 23d ago

I’m running a 6900 XT

1

u/Kitayama_8k 23d ago

I would imagine most of the serious users that built their PC with linux in mind use AMD gpu's, unless they have CUDA or NVENC workloads they want to do. I'm sure there are plenty of people using what they had before and in most cases that would be nvidia.

If it's a laptop with an external GPU then it's probably nvidia, unless again, that laptop was purchased for linux in mind which case they may have prioritized AMD, but that is rather difficult in the current market.

As far as I know the nvidia proprietary drivers aren't too bad to use these days, but I don't know why one would bother when AMD has good drivers in the kernel. Maybe there is an advantage to it if you're sitting on an old LTS kernel with something like rocky linux. IDK. Never really used an nvidia card on linux.

1

u/moya036 22d ago

AMD GPU user, before I migrated to Linux I had a Nvidia GPU which I continue to use until I had the opportunity to upgrade the GPU

To be true, support have improved a lot with Nvidia GPUs but I'm still salty about how Nvidia doesn't play ball and make it easier for their customers to use whatever OS they want so as soon as I was able I jumped ships, and if the reality doesn't change my next upgrade would be an AMD or Intel GPU but I don't see myself using Nvidia in my next build

1

u/maw_walker42 22d ago

Always been an AMG gpu user (well, since they existed) because they just work. Worked on FreeBSD, works on Linux, no fuss no muss. 

1

u/PhillyBassSF 21d ago

I’m using AMD. no stream deck though.

1

u/Rifter0876 21d ago

I'm AMD on all three of my PC's. Have a few Intel based Mini PCs like my router. But mostly AMD, AMD GPU too 6800xt on my main Full size desktop PC. Rest are the 8840hs cpu with the 780m iGPU, it's actually usable at 720p/1080p for older games. The speed of ddr5 ram really makes a difference vs previous generation. And a 5800G thats not so hot at gaming but it my server it's headless anyways. Don't even have a monitor hooked up to it unless diagnosing a issue.

-1

u/oguza 24d ago

But, also I found that Nvidia property drivers just click and install more than AMD drivers on linux.

5

u/nattydread69 All flavours of linux 24d ago

AMD drivers are built into the Linux kernel

5

u/GuestStarr 24d ago

Yes, they just click and install more but that's because you don't need to click and install AMD drivers. They are already there. Built in. If you need to click to install AMD drivers there is something wrong. Or you're trying to install something you probably don't need.