AMDGPU
AMDGPU is the next generation family of open source graphics drivers for newer AMD/ATI Radeon graphics cards based on the Southern Islands, Sea Islands, Volcanic Islands, and Arctic Islands chipsets.
If the card in question does not appear in the Feature support section below, it is not supported by AMDGPU. In that case check the radeon article, which contains instructions for older open-source AMD/ATI Radeon graphics card drivers.
Installation
Setting up a system to use AMDGPU requires identifying the proper card, installing the corresponding firmware, configuring the kernel, and installing the X11 driver.
Prerequisites
Hardware detection
To choose the right driver, first detect the graphics card. Use lspci for this task:
root #lspci | grep -i VGACheck the output for one of the product names listed in the table below.
Feature support
| Family | Chipset name | Product name | OpenGL | OpenGL ES | VIDEO_CARDS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Islands3 | CAPE VERDE, PITCAIRN, TAHITI, OLAND, HAINAN | HD7750-HD7970, R9 270, R9 280, R9 370X, R7 240, R7 250 | 4.1 | 3.0 | amdgpu radeonsi |
| Sea Islands1 | BONAIRE, KABINI, KAVERI, HAWAII, MULLINS | HD7790, R7 260, R9 290, R7 360, R9 390 | 4.3 | 3.1 | amdgpu radeonsi |
| Volcanic Islands | CARRIZO, FIJI, STONEY, TONGA, TOPAZ | R9 285, R9 380, R9 380X, R9 Fury, R9 Nano, R9 Fury X, Pro Duo | 4.3 | 3.1 | amdgpu radeonsi |
| Arctic Islands2 | POLARIS10, POLARIS11, POLARIS12 | RX 460, RX 470, RX 480, RX 540, RX 550, RX 560, RX 570, RX 580 | 4.3 | 3.1 | amdgpu radeonsi |
- 1 Support is optional in the kernel.
- 2 Since kernel 4.7-rc6
- 3 Experimental, optional support added since kernel 4.9-rc1
Firmware
It is necessary to install the proper firmware (or microcode) for your card. Firmware files are provided by sys-kernel/linux-firmware.
root #emerge --ask sys-kernel/linux-firmwareThe firmware files installed this way will be incorporated into the kernel.
Kernel
Set the following kernel options for the graphic chipsets mentioned above:
Processor type and features ---> [*] MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) support Device Drivers ---> Graphics support ---> <*/M> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 4.1.0 and higher DRI support) ---> [*] Enable legacy fbdev support for your modesetting driver < > ATI Radeon <*/M> AMD GPU [ /*] Enable amdgpu support for SI parts (only needed for Southern Islands GPUs with the amdgpu driver) [ /*] Enable amdgpu support for CIK parts (only needed for Sea Islands GPUs with the amdgpu driver) [*] Enable AMD powerplay component ACP (Audio CoProcessor) Configuration ---> [*] Enable AMD Audio CoProcessor IP support (CONFIG_DRM_AMD_ACP) <*/M> Sound card support ---> <*/M> Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ---> [*] PCI sound devices ---> HD-Audio ---> <*> HD Audio PCI [*] Support initialization patch loading for HD-audio <*> whatever audio codec your soundcard needs <*> Build HDMI/DisplayPort HD-audio codec support (2048) Pre-allocated buffer size for HD-audio driver
When using AMD GPU, it is recommended to unset the ATI Radeon option so that the radeon module is not built. Or alternatively, the module can be built and blacklisted (after rebooting check with
lsmod | grep radeon to see if the blacklisting worked). The amdgpu and radeon modules are not meant to be loaded simultaneously, unless, for example multiseat, system requires it.The options from the Sound card support menu need only to be set if the card supports HDMI or DisplayPort audio and you want to use it. On newer kernels where Enable AMD Audio CoProcessor IP support appears, that should also be set.
See the radeon article for more details about using HDMI/DisplayPort audio.
Incorporating firmware
The firmware package installed in an earlier section provides files in /lib/firmware/amdgpu (for Volcanic Islands and Arctic Islands cards) and/or /lib/firmware/radeon (for Southern Islands and Sea Islands cards). Configure the kernel to use the correct firmware files by setting the following options:
Device Drivers ---> Generic Driver Options ---> -*- Userspace firmware loading support [*] Include in-kernel firmware blobs in kernel binary (amdgpu/<YOUR-MODEL>.bin or radeon/<YOUR-MODEL>.bin) (/lib/firmware) Firmware blobs root directory
amdgpu/<YOUR-MODEL>.bin or radeon/<YOUR-MODEL>.bin should be replaced with the full list of filenames given with the chipset's name in the table below, separated by spaces. Use echo to expand the filenames. E.g. for Volcanic Islands/TONGA, run
user $echo amdgpu/tonga_{ce,k_smc,mc,me,mec2,mec,pfp,rlc,sdma1,sdma,smc,uvd,vce}.binamdgpu/tonga_ce.bin amdgpu/tonga_k_smc.bin amdgpu/tonga_mc.bin amdgpu/tonga_me.bin amdgpu/tonga_mec2.bin amdgpu/tonga_mec.bin amdgpu/tonga_pfp.bin amdgpu/tonga_rlc.bin amdgpu/tonga_sdma1.bin amdgpu/tonga_sdma.bin amdgpu/tonga_smc.bin amdgpu/tonga_uvd.bin amdgpu/tonga_vce.binThen amdgpu/tonga_ce.bin amdgpu/tonga_k_smc.bin amdgpu/tonga_mc.bin amdgpu/tonga_me.bin amdgpu/tonga_mec2.bin amdgpu/tonga_mec.bin amdgpu/tonga_pfp.bin amdgpu/tonga_rlc.bin amdgpu/tonga_sdma1.bin amdgpu/tonga_sdma.bin amdgpu/tonga_smc.bin amdgpu/tonga_uvd.bin amdgpu/tonga_vce.bin is the string that should be put into the kernel configuration.
If the amdgpu module is compiled as a loadable kernel module (i.e. AMD GPU in the kernel configuration is set to
M), the firmware files need to be present on the filesystem at the time the module is loaded. In particular, if the module is loaded from an initrd, the firmware also needs to be included in the initrd. On the other hand, if the module is built into the kernel, the firmware files will also be built into the kernel itself.After expanding the firmware file names from the following table and copying them into the kernel configuration, save the configuration, then compile and install the new kernel and modules.
| Family | Chipset name | Product name | Firmware |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Islands | CAPE VERDE | HD7750, HD7770, R7 250, R7 250X, R9 370X | radeon/{verde_{ce,mc,me,pfp,rlc,smc},TAHITI_{uvd,vce}}.bin |
| PITCAIRN | HD7800, R9 270X | radeon/{pitcairn_{ce,mc,me,pfp,rlc,smc,k_smc},TAHITI_{uvd,vce}}.bin | |
| TAHITI | HD7870 XT, HD7900, R9 280X | radeon/{tahiti_{ce,mc,me,pfp,rlc,smc},TAHITI_{uvd,vce}}.bin | |
| OLAND | HD8550M-HD8790M, R7 240 | radeon/{oland_{ce,mc,me,pfp,rlc,smc},TAHITI_uvd}.bin | |
| HAINAN | HD8970M | radeon/{hainan_{ce,mc,me,pfp,rlc,smc},TAHITI_uvd}.bin | |
| Sea Islands | BONAIRE | HD7790, R7 260, R7 260X, R7 360 | radeon/bonaire_{ce,k_smc,mc,me,mec,pfp,rlc,sdma1,sdma,smc,uvd,vce}.bin |
| KABINI | HD8180-HD8400 | radeon/kabini_{ce,me,mec,pfp,rlc,sdma1,sdma,uvd,vce}.bin | |
| KAVERI | radeon/kaveri_{ce,me,mec2,mec,pfp,rlc,sdma1,sdma,uvd,vce}.bin | ||
| HAWAII | R9 290, R9 290X, R9 390, R9 390X | radeon/hawaii_{ce,k_smc,mc,me,mec,pfp,rlc,sdma,sdma1,smc,uvd,vce}.bin | |
| MULLINS | radeon/mullins_{ce,me,mec,pfp,rlc,sdma1,sdma,uvd,vce}.bin | ||
| Volcanic Islands | CARRIZO | amdgpu/carrizo_{ce,me,mec2,mec,pfp,rlc,sdma1,sdma,uvd,vce}.bin | |
| FIJI | R9 Fury, R9 Fury X, R9 Nano, Pro Duo | amdgpu/fiji_{ce,mc,me,mec2,mec,pfp,rlc,sdma1,sdma,smc,uvd,vce}.bin | |
| TONGA | R9 285, R9 380, R9 380X | amdgpu/tonga_{ce,k_smc,mc,me,mec2,mec,pfp,rlc,sdma1,sdma,smc,uvd,vce}.bin | |
| TOPAZ | R7 M260, R7 M265, R7 M340, R7 M360, R7 M360, R7 M370, R7 M440, R7 M445, R7 M460, R7 M465 | amdgpu/topaz_{ce,mc,me,mec2,mec,pfp,rlc,sdma1,sdma,smc}.bin | |
| STONEY | amdgpu/stoney_{ce,me,mec,pfp,rlc,sdma,uvd,vce}.bin | ||
| Arctic Islands | POLARIS10 | RX 470, RX 480, RX 570, RX 580 | amdgpu/polaris10_{ce,k_smc,mc,me,mec2,mec,pfp,rlc,sdma1,sdma,smc,smc_sk,uvd,vce}.bin |
| POLARIS11 | RX 460, RX 560 | amdgpu/polaris11_{ce,k_smc,mc,me,mec2,mec,pfp,rlc,sdma1,sdma,smc,smc_sk,uvd,vce}.bin | |
| POLARIS12 | RX 540, RX 550 | amdgpu/polaris12_{ce,mc,me,mec,mec2,pfp,rlc,sdma,sdma1,smc,uvd,vce}.bin | |
| Vega | VEGA10 | RX Vega 56, RX Vega 64 | amdgpu/vega10_{acg_smc,asd,ce,gpu_info,me,mec,mec2,pfp,rlc,sdma,sdma1,smc,sos,uvd,vce}.bin |
X11 driver
USE flags
Set the USE flags for the amdgpu driver as needed.
The package will be automatically emerged as a dependency of x11-base/xorg-drivers after setting VIDEO_CARDS following the instructions in the next section.
Emerge
Portage uses the VIDEO_CARDS variable for enabling support for various graphics cards in packages. Setting VIDEO_CARDS to amdgpu radeonsi (see the feature matrix section above) and asking Portage to update changed USE flags in the @world set will pull in the correct driver:
/etc/portage/make.confVIDEO_CARDS="amdgpu radeonsi"
root #emerge --ask --changed-use @worldThe system should now be prepared to use amdgpu after the next reboot.
Power management
This section only covers dpm method. This method is only available for GPUs from R6xx -series onwards. Users of AMDGPU driver are thus automatically covered. Older dynpm and profile methods aren't covered here. Users who want to read about those should read radeon article instead.
This section assumes that card0 is the GPU users want to adjust. Users should check that paths like /sys/class/drm/card0/ belong to the right GPU. Users with more than one GPU will most likely have more than just card0 entry under said locations.
dpm
In most cases since Linux 3.13 dpm is the default power management method. Unlike with dynpm and profile methods enabling or disabling dpm must be done via kernel command line. Users who have GPUs older than HD5000 -series may need to add radeon.dpm=1 on kernel command line to enable dpm.
In most cases just enabling dpm is enough but there are some tunable settings. dpm has three main modes of operating: battery, balanced and performance. The names are quite self-explanatory. To set the GPU to most performant mode the following command is needed to run:
root #echo performance > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/power_dpm_stateEven if GPU is set to performance -mode it does not mean that the GPU is running with highest clockspeeds at all the time. This is the normal and intended way how dpm works. If it is desirable to run the GPU at the highest speeds all the time, even if there is no actual load, users can then run following command:
root #echo high > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/power_dpm_force_performance_levelThis manually overrides dpm's own bahaviour. This is however mainly intended for testing purposes but may also be useful when doing GPU benchmanks.
To give control back to dpm following command is needed to run:
root #echo auto > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/power_dpm_force_performance_levelThere's also the low forceable performance level, which can be echoed the same way.
Troubleshooting
Kernel
Older kernels which do not support the amdgpu driver will not provide the AMD GPU option. If this is the case, try emerging an unstable (denoted by a ~) kernel.
AMDGPU/RadeonSI drivers do not work
If the graphics card is not supported by including amdgpu and radeonsi alone in VIDEO_CARDS, try adding radeon to make.conf's VIDEO_CARDS definition. For example:
/etc/portage/make.confVIDEO_CARDS="amdgpu radeonsi radeon"
After the values have been set update the system so the changes take effect:
root #emerge --ask --changed-use --deep @worldFull-screen windows perform poorly
The installed version of sys-devel/llvm may be too old. Try emerging an unstable version.
Pixel-wide line on left side of screen when X server is started when using a Southern Island card
Those using a Southern Island card may notice a pixel-wide line on the left of the screen in both the X server and console environments after having started a X server. This is a known bug. Disabling audio through HDMI for that display resolves this issue. This may be done via:
user $xrandr --output HDMI-A-0 --auto --set audio offwhere HDMI-A-0 should be replaced by the name of the output, obtained by running xrandr.
For more information please see https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=97861.
See also
- AMDGPU-PRO — the next generation closed source graphics component that operates on top of the open source AMDGPU drivers for newer AMD/ATI Radeon graphics cards.