AMD CPU Use Among Linux Gamers Approaching 70% Marketshare (phoronix.com) 127
The June Steam Survey results show that AMD CPUs have gained significant popularity among Linux gamers, with a market share of 67% -- a remarkable 7% increase from the previous month. Phoronix reports: In part that's due to the Steam Deck being powered by an AMD SoC but it's been a trend building for some time of AMD's increasing Ryzen CPU popularity among Linux users to their open-source driver work and continuing to build more good will with the community.
In comparison, last June the AMD CPU Linux gaming marketshare came in at 45% while Intel was at 54%. Or at the start of 2023, AMD CPUs were at a 55% marketshare among Linux gamers. Or if going back six years, AMD CPU use among Linux gamers was a mere 18% during the early Ryzen days. It's also the direct opposite on the Windows side. When looking at the Steam Survey results for June limited to Windows, there Intel has a 68% marketshare to AMD at 32%.
Beyond the Steam Deck, it's looking like AMD's efforts around open-source drivers, AMD expanding their Linux client (Ryzen) development efforts over the past two years, promises around OpenSIL, and other efforts commonly covered on Phoronix are paying off for AMD in wooing over their Linux gaming customer base.
In comparison, last June the AMD CPU Linux gaming marketshare came in at 45% while Intel was at 54%. Or at the start of 2023, AMD CPUs were at a 55% marketshare among Linux gamers. Or if going back six years, AMD CPU use among Linux gamers was a mere 18% during the early Ryzen days. It's also the direct opposite on the Windows side. When looking at the Steam Survey results for June limited to Windows, there Intel has a 68% marketshare to AMD at 32%.
Beyond the Steam Deck, it's looking like AMD's efforts around open-source drivers, AMD expanding their Linux client (Ryzen) development efforts over the past two years, promises around OpenSIL, and other efforts commonly covered on Phoronix are paying off for AMD in wooing over their Linux gaming customer base.
What? (Score:2)
Who even is one?
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Well I doubt th average /. reader has time for games these days, but their kids probably do. In any event, Linux feels to me like a safer gaming platform for my kid, that bit more secure than windows.
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Steam can run most "Windows" games on Linux ...
Steamdeck runs Linux
That's a *lot* of gamers ....
7 out of the 10 (Score:2)
So almost 7 out of the 10 Linux gamers use AMD.
Wow that is big news...........
Re:7 out of the 10 (Score:5, Insightful)
Steam Deck runs Linux. Why is it ridiculous to call a steam deck user a "Linux Gamer?"
Is this some variant of the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Re:7 out of the 10 (Score:4, Insightful)
I think it could be seen similar to calling Android owners "Linux Phone Users" or XBox owners "Windows Gamers".
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People do that all the time when it suits their argument.
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I think it could be seen similar to calling Android owners "Linux Phone Users" or XBox owners "Windows Gamers".
Except no. Android is at best a Linux kernel with a completely replaced userland. It runs a Linux kernel but isn't remotely comparable to a Linux desktop OS.
Steamdecks is a Linux Desktop OS. You can download the desktop os and run it on your computer with a keyboard and mouse, run any software or install anything from the Arch Linux repo. On the Steamdeck itself you can push a button that closes Steam and drops you to a desktop at which point it looks like this: https://beebom.com/wp-content/... [beebom.com]
Not even rem
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The problem with this argument is that gaming part, the one being measured is windows games. Run through a compatibility layer. Basically emulated.
Steam deck for all bits and purposes is a windows game emulator with underlying linux subsystem. Userland, the things you actually run on it is de facto windows, not linux.
Yes, you can in fact drop out of the steam into Arch linux. It's super limited in what it can do (or was last I checked, with things like system updates wiping whatever you install outside a ve
Userland (Score:2)
The problem with this argument is that gaming part, the one being measured is windows games. Run through a compatibility layer.
Well. Yes. But that's the same problem on desktop linux too (and to some extent on OS X).
Most editors prefer to target only the windows API, and running the games, be it on your Linux workstation, or on the deck heavily rely on translation layers (mostly DirectX-to-Vulkan wrapper and a few other bells and whistles provided by Wine).
Very few editors maintain a separate native build for Linux (but some do).
Basically emulated.
Nope. Big Nope.
Emulation refers to something very precise: you're simulating the machine on which the ga
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This post is the poster child as to why "year of linux on desktop" is a meme for at least two decades at this point.
It's a wall of text that is basically cope about "nothing actually works right, unless you are a linux geek AND you're willing to spend time fucking with the install for quite a while". That doesn't make it a working OS. It makes it a cobbled together prototype. It will work in the hands of a good cobbler. And no one else.
How are your shoe making skills?
It's a gaming console. (Score:2)
"nothing actually works right, unless you are a linux geek AND you're willing to spend time fucking with the install for quite a while". That doesn't make it a working OS. It makes it a cobbled together prototype. It will work in the hands of a good cobbler. And no one else.
It's a gaming console, which happens to run Linux.
Its main purpose, as a gaming console, is to play games. Its definition of "actually works right" is "you can fire up games in steam and they work" and it fits that specific role to perfection. (If anything, the soon-to-be 3 million of SteamDecks sold are already making our current 2023 into the "Year of linux on gaming console").
That's the expectation for SteamDeck's out-of-the-box experience.
Now this console happens to run Linux, and Valve happens to not a
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So I take it your shoe making skills are shit, and when a cobbler tells you to get some shoes that are falling apart, replace the bottom, glue together the sides and then attach everything together, your reaction is the same as the reaction of most people like myself to this wall of cope on the topic of linux on desktop.
Shoe repair metaphor (Score:2)
So I take it your shoe making skills are shit,
I though car metaphors were the norm on /. (you youngins don't respect any traditions!) but, well, I'll take your shoe metaphor instead.
What you're completely forgetting is that the SteamDeck isn't a general purpose pair of shoe, it's pair of ski boot.
By design, it has a very specific design goal: to attach to ski binding and be used for recreational sport. And by now they are very good at it. And got quite some success. Most of the people who buy them are tourist skiers and are happy with that. The sole do
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No, I'm not talking about a specialist, highly limited shoe. I'm talking about general use shoe that we would want to use anywhere.
Because I'm not talking embedded linux in a specific family of microcontrollers. I'm talking linux on desktop.
SteamDeck (Score:2)
Because I'm not talking embedded linux in a specific family of microcontrollers. I'm talking linux on desktop.
And the whole discussion is about SteamDeck as a Linux platform.
- It can be used in a highly limited fashion - as a game console - as that's the primary design goal of the platform. And it actually works.
- It can be used as a general user-friendly platform - with a linux desktop on which you can install app trivially with a simply click, as noob-friendly as a smartphone - directly out-of-box, with nothing more required than hitting the "Desktop" entry in the power menu. It's already usable anywhere.
- It can
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And here we have more of the same "year of linux on desktop" cope. Do you know what it doesn't do?
Help us get to actual year of linux on desktop.
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The problem with this argument is that gaming part, the one being measured is windows games.
Indeed, but I'm struggling to see why you think this is at all relevant. The discussion here isn't about what types of games are being run, native vs emulated, it's about AMD being the most popular chip on Linux machines used for gaming.
That's like saying a petrol car is greener than an EV because I can put my bicycle in the trunk. There's no logical connection between any of the things being discussed. What games and how on the Steamdeck are irrelevant. The only things relevant are:
a) It is used to play ga
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Not even remotely similar to Android.
Wrong fucking answer.
There is no privileged userland for the Linux kernel.
Aside from that, "Gaming on Linux" doesn't use *any* of the GNU userland. It uses WINE, which specifically does not need any of the GNU userland.
Calling SteamDeck owners "Linux Gamers" is like calling Switch owners "BSD Gamers". It's stupid.
Re: 7 out of the 10 (Score:2)
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I seem to recall that the PS3 (or maybe PS4, or both) ran BSD too. Now there's a rare one for you - BSD gamers.
Anyone know why BSD is popular in Japan? Panasonic used it on their televisions, and I recall reading that some car infotainment systems were built on it as well. The licence, perhaps?
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Nintendo Switch as well.
BSD is the kernel running just about all non-Windows (XBOX) consoles.
I suppose we can argue that BSD Gamers eclipse all other gamers.
XBox owners "Windows Gamers (Score:2)
or XBox owners "Windows Gamers".
Jokes aside, to make development easier (both for the game devs, and for the console maker at Microsoft), since 2015 Xbox One switched to running Windows 10 Core (by 2021: Windows 11), support Metro Apps (or whatever it's currently called), and share the same Edge browser with Chromium under the hood (And thus can also run the same webapps).
So in practice, XBox is much closer to Windows than Android is to a ( GNU/ ) Linux.
It's just a lot less advertised, because the focus of Xbox was never to let you run y
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So in practice, XBox is much closer to Windows than Android is to a ( GNU/ ) Linux.
This is simply untrue.
From a userland perspective, sure, it's true. But userland doesn't matter.
It's not like your game cares if you're running BSD grep, GNU grep, or busybox grep.
You can run a perfectly standard GNU userland on an Android kernel, with no modifications.
Windows 10 core also lacks a standard windows userland (where that would be defined as shell and expected shell applications) just as Android does.
(Whereas, drop back to a KDE desktop at a simple menu option selection has been one of the core features of the SteamDeck).
This is entirely true, but it's not remotely relevant for those running their SteamDeck.
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From a userland perspective, sure, it's true. But userland doesn't matter.
Oh, yes, indeed. I was merely pointing out that the userland happens to be closer (even if, again, like I said before, nobody gives a shift because the purpose of an XBox is to run games, not run Office 365 on a TV. The only people vaguely interested are game devs because it reduces the amount of quirky differences between their Windows desktop build and their console build of a game).
It's not like your game cares if you're running BSD grep, GNU grep, or busybox grep.
Games? no.
(Though: scientific software written by some poor PhD student with little software engineering background? Oh, yes
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Steam Deck runs Linux. Why is it ridiculous to call a steam deck user a "Linux Gamer?"
Is this some variant of the No True Scotsman fallacy?
If we include Android phones then very few Linux Gamers are using AMD.
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Being compatible can be a far stretch from IS.
Then you just killed your own argument.
Because both of those are.
Android is linux. It is not GNU/linux, I'll grant you, but that's hardly relevant.
Just as MacOS is a certified UNIX.
If you had said, "I don't consider macOS to be FreeBSD", then your compatibility vs. is argument would at least hold up.
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It doesn't matter what you think, philosophically.
I can choose not to consider you a human, but the fact that you are is immutable, my considerations be damned.
It doesn't matter one tiny little bit whether or not you consider Android to be linux.
It simply is.
It doesn't matter one tiny little bit whether or not you consider macOS to be (a) UNIX.
It simply is.
Anyone can take a definition and warp it to the point that things they don't like no longer fall into it, but
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So people are leaving Linux for Android in droves because it's such a great Linux distro? Of course not, most Linux users are using Android because they don't have the choice of running a real Linux distro.
You're going at it from the wrong direction.
First, nobody leaves "linux" for Android. Android is linux.
Most linux users are using linux in 14 different places in their lives with zero knowledge of that fact. Android is one of those.
You shouldn't conflate linux users, with linux desktop users.
You may not be familiar but there is Android x86, I used to run a VM with it so I could having the Steam Mobile app on my desktop.
I am, indeed. Would you like to read about my Android kernel CVE?
So people are switching from BSD and Linux to macOS because it's such a great UNIX?
This is a nonsensical claim.
Linux has never been a UNIX. Linux doesn't even strive for POSIX compatibility.
Of course not, most of the people running BSD or Linux wouldn't run macOS on their desktop even if Apple allowed them to because they want the freedom that those operating systems offer.
BSD and linux are kernels.
UNIX is an API.
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That's exactly my point, are they leaving Linux and BSD for better UNIX support? No, they're not because anyone who actually cares about what makes UNIX what it is, doesn't go looking for that with macOS. Once again, macOS is fundamentally not UNIX no matter how compatible it is.
Someone's desktop mobility doesn't define what a desktop is.
macOS is fundamentally a UNIX, precisely because of its compatibility.
UNIX is merely an API specification. If you are compliant, you may be a certified UNIX. macOS is.
You're not doing your argument any fucking favors here, what you're doing is arguing that UNIX is a word we shouldn't be using at all to refer to a desktop (which is an argument I would fully agree with)
You're welcome to rebuttal again but I'm done. "This conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye."
I rate your cop-out 7/10. It's not terrible, but I've seen better.
"I acknowled
Because they don't really use Linux (Score:2)
The issue is that having millions of Steam Decks might bring out more games that run under Linux, but it won't get more general purpose software running there. My buddy's windows only music gadgets aren't suddenly going to get Linux drivers because of Steam Deck.
Now, it's possible long term that more general purpose PCs running Valve's custom Linux might lead to that, especiall
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The exception is about whether or not it's running linux, the exception is as to whether or not the user knows, cares, or made any such choice.
The fact that the SteamDeck runs linux is an aside.
Nobody playing Zelda on a Switch calls themselves a BSD Gamer.
Re:7 out of the 10 (Score:5, Insightful)
>Calling SteamDeck users "Linux gamers" is a bit fucking ridiculous.
I read this hours ago, and have been seething ever since. Now I can post!
Fuck.
Off.
The SteamDeck is 100% a legitimate desktop Linux. Almost every user of it increases motivation for each company to not fight proton and WINE- that is straight up Linux support. Think Gundam Evolution would be functional on Linux without Steam Deck? No fucking way. You know you can install windows on your SteamDeck if you absolutely must play the games that aren't allowed to function under Linux, right? So every user has that choice, and they choose Linux. Oh, what's that, it comes preinstalled? Yea, that's been the whole reason Windows is "popular".
SteamDeck improves everything for Linux gaming. It's amazing. If SteamDeck users don't count for Linux gamers, then the only Windows gamers that count are the ones that build their PC and install Windows from USB. And you know full fucking well that is bullshit.
Re:7 out of the 10 (Score:4, Insightful)
I can either deal with the shitshow that is Win 10-11, or I can play games through Proton on my Linux gaming PC. I made my choice years ago and have never regretted it. AMD CPU and GPU BTW.
Your mileage may vary.
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Funny, my Linux gaming PC disagrees with you. Proton works really well.
Honestly I think you're lucky. Proton works well. I wouldn't go so far as to say really well. You can look up ProtonDB to see how it is very far from perfect. I've come across the strangest glitches playing under Proton, both on PC and Steamdeck. Just yesterday I did a callback to a few years back and loaded up Gris in my bed, when the sandstorm hits in the first area there was a really bizarre looking inconsistent effect on the screen. I thought the designers must have been on drugs when they were doing th
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That is true. You can either deal with shitshow of the OS outside the game, but have games run as designed.
Or you can have a decent OS, and deal with shitshow that is running a modern game through a compatibility layer with all the hitching, bugs and so on.
That is why I'm so annoyed at the people trying to sell proton as "linux gaming". I want actual linux gaming.
And I want a pony, but it aint gonna happen. To get REAL Linux gaming, you need enough people gaming on Linux, right now that means Proton. Chances are we will never get enough Linux gamers for it to be worthwhile to the companies producing games to release all their games for Linux. As I said before Proton works well enough for my needs. With the Steam deck selling, and Proton being so important to its continued sales, I expect it will continue to improve.
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>This is the "coping and seething" meme made manifest
Incorrect. I was seething because your post was so awful. I'm not coping- you are. You're the one denying reality for some absurd reason I can only imagine.
> Steam deck's primary purpose is to provide windows emulation for steam games
Incorrect. Steam Deck runs Linux games. Steam supports proton, which includes WINE and other things, sure- but it also natively runs Linux games. If you go to Steam store categories and hit "SteamOS + Linux" you w
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SteamDeck natively runs a shit ton of great games in Linux
You invalidated your entire argument wall of text with this laughable fucking line of horseshit.
Of my Steam library of 1348 games, 112 of them are native Linux.
That's 8.3% of my library that runs natively on my SteamDeck.
Re: 7 out of the 10 (Score:2)
Well I know you are a Windows gamer so those numbers check out.
Everything I wrote is true though. It is jot my fault you don't like Stellaris, DOTA2, XCOM2, or Star Conflict. There are a ton of great games, on Steam, that run native in Linux. The existence of SteamDeck means that not only are devs more motivated to release a Linux version, but they are also more motivated not to deliberately block WINE and other compatibility software as they were before. Cope about it Microsoft shill.
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Well I know you are a Windows gamer so those numbers check out.
By your definition I'm a Linux Gamer. I have 2 SteamDeck's ;)
I used Linux exclusively as my PC OS from about 2008 until 2020 or 2021, whenever I got my Mac.
I did keep a Windows partition for gaming, but your attempt at stereotyping me couldn't be any more off. I still ran Steam on my main OS and grabbed literally every linux game that looked interesting to me. I just didn't limit myself to only those games. I did support the ecosystem as much as I could, though.
Everything I wrote is true though.
Nope: Specifically this:
SteamDeck natively runs a shit ton of great games in Linux
Now, I'll grant yo
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False. Steam Deck will download the Linux version of a game if it's provided. If it doesn't, it will load the Windows version using Proton.
But Steam on Linux
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I've got several games like that - I didn't realize the Linux version was used until I investigated.
As do I, and in one instance, I got fucked when the linux version became available- it broke my saves when Steam upgraded me from the Windows version to the linux version automatically. It was Core Keeper IIRC.
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Steam runs most Windows Games .. and a lot of games run natively ...
I have a dual boot Windows/Linux system to run games, I realised I hadn't needed to boot to Windows in months ... except for one very old game that was not on Steam ....
Re: 7 out of the 10 (Score:2)
>They are as much as Nintendo Switch users are BSD Gamers. In that it's a stupid fucking moniker to paint people who couldn't give two squirts of piss what OS their handheld gaming device is running.
I don't care about their RELIGION or if they are ACTIVIST USERS. They are running a real Linux OS (oh no, it is easy to use!) that they can dig further into if they want. The device they are using is functionally identical to my Fedora build and my Ubuntu build- if someone sees those users and wants the gam
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So yes, they are Linux users.
No, they aren't. Not any more than Switch user are BSD gamers.
And yes, they help Linux gaming.
Yes, they do.
Which is 100% orthogonal to the point the comment you replied to initially was about.
"Linux Gamers" as a moniker should not include those who happened to be running Linux as an aside on whatever their game console is.
Like it or not, the SteamDeck is a game console. Sure it runs a jacked up version of Arch that lets you play around on that anemic fucking processor, but that isn't any more relevant than the fact that my TV runs lin
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Calling SteamDeck users "Linux gamers" is a bit fucking ridiculous.
Why? I don't criticise your OS simply because you are currently posting from Firefox or Chrome or whatever browser you are reading this right now. The Steamdeck looks like this https://beebom.com/wp-content/... [beebom.com] if you close steam. A fully functional perfectly ordinary Linux distro.
It just happens to start a full screen app on boot.
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The criticism was at calling someone who can only realistically be described as a "SteamDeck gamer" a "Linux Gamer".
I've never considered calling my wife a "BSD Gamer" because she loves her Switch.
That's because it's fucking stupid.
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I've never considered calling my wife a "BSD Gamer" because she loves her Switch.
That's because it's fucking stupid.
Of course it would be fucking stupid. The Switch gives you no access to the underlying OS. The Steamdeck on the other hand does since it's just a portable PC with built in controllers. It's nothing more than a Linux distro that runs a Steam client and games with a Proton layer. You can do that on Ubuntu or Debian for all anyone cares.
Not calling it Linux gaming simply because of a company logo on the front is just asinine.
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The Switch gives you no access to the underlying OS.
Again, stupid consideration.
Even if it did, say, the thing had been jailbroken (which is a thing)
That doesn't suddenly make any user of said device a "BSD Gamer".
The Steamdeck on the other hand does since it's just a portable PC with built in controllers.
This is again, a stupid distinction.
What you mean is that it has PC hardware and software on it. Form factor wise, it is not a PC, it is a handheld gaming device.
Morphologically, the SteamDeck is not a PC, and is not used as a PC by anyone of note, because it sucks as one.
It's nothing more than a Linux distro that runs a Steam client and games with a Proton layer. You can do that on Ubuntu or Debian for all anyone cares.
Who. Gives. A. Fuck.
Playstations, Switches, XBOX, they all run modified
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It's not that remarkable when you consider how good AMD CPUs are now in comparison to Intel CPUs. 7950X3D is king, except in a few MT applications where the 7950X is faster.
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That was the point of contrasting to the Bulldumpster.
AMD CPUs are really good now, when they used to be absolute trash.
unsurprising (Score:2)
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When AMD is actually making an attempt with Linux and Nvidia continues to spurn the ecosystem, this is hardly surprising.
I don't know what crackpipe you got that opinion out of, but it isn't helping.
I too would rather have FOSS drivers for my video card, but I don't because I use nvidia. And I use nvidia because of CUDA. AMD would suit my gaming needs, but it doesn't serve any of my other needs, and GPUs cost so much now that I cannot justify buying one for gaming alone.
Nvidia's Linux driver barely trails their Windows driver (and sometimes they are at the same version.) The only thing it no longer offers is SLI, but I no lon
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Would that dependence on CUDA really be a dependence on PyTorch, or another use case?
As much as I'm not a fan of Tencent and their practices in general, one quite lovely thing to come from them was ncnn [github.com]. A framework with no real dependencies that can run on almost anything you like and has backends for anything you care for. I tend to use the vulkan compute backend as it works on both amd and nvidia, hell it even works on any reasonably recent phone.
CUDA is definitely a cash cow for nvidia, and they'll do
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Would that dependence on CUDA really be a dependence on PyTorch, or another use case?
Not just that, it's thing after thing. Eventually I expect this to not be a problem any more, but it still is.
39.32% of those Linux systems are Steam Deck. (Score:2)
Linux CPU Support (Score:2)
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Freeze Issue 1 [stackexchange.com]
Free Issue 2 [github.com]
I also vaguely remember a boot issue which may be this one [betanews.com] and I also came across a suspend issue [freedesktop.org].
I think my research may have answered my own question: there certainly were a number of issues with Ryzen in Linux but most of those issues were in its early days and
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Both should be looking more towards low TDP. I'm buying whichever gets goods performance and low TDP. At the moment I feel that's AMD. Last thing this planet needs is another heat source, data centers are too common for their energy and utility consumption.
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I have Linux Mint running on my self-built 5900x, X570 system. No problems at all with the CPU.
My Radeon 6600 however, works fine except for coming out of suspend. I get a black screen with a functioning mouse cursor, but no login prompt. It's there, of course - if I type in my password, everything straightens out and life is good.
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I haven't tried suspend recently, but never got it to work without causing memory corruption. My current desktop started as a Hackintosh, over eight years ago, with a fourth-gen i7 and an nVidia Kepler-based GPU. About three years ago, I went back to a Linux desktop, on the same hardware. Still had trouble with suspend.
So I always use hibernation.
A few months ago I switched it to an an AMD RX 6600-based card, to resolve issues with DX11 emulation via DXVK.
I always get the password prompt after waking it fro
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I've heard some reports that Ryzen CPUs have had some sporadic issues in Linux. Is the consensus that these issues have mostly been resolved?
Yes there were resolved at the same time your originally heard about them, more than 5 yeras ago, First by Linux then by AMD.
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I've heard some reports that Ryzen CPUs have had some sporadic issues in Linux. Is the consensus that these issues have mostly been resolved?
When Ryzen first hit the market there were sporadic issues in *all* OSes well and truly including Windows. They were all solved within a month of discovery.
per cent vs. percentage points (Score:2)
"7% increase" - no, it's a seven percentage points increase.
(This classical mistake has not been introduced by the editor: it features in TFA.)
The context (Score:2)
FTFY. Why is this even in the news, I don't know. Should we discuss other minority groups and their preferences?
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Should we discuss other minority groups and their preferences?
Absolutely we should. Hardware is not generic. It is designed for specific use cases. Breaking it down based on purpose (gaming, workstation, creative work, spending all day reading emails), and based on OS is the only sensible way to analyse anything about the users.
If you're only interested in which company sells the most things then look at the company's annual reports.
Is there a Spectre here? (Score:2)
I wonder if the spectre/meltdown/... security flaws have sent some gamers to AMD. I expect gamers aren't too bothered about security, but if you can have performance and security it's going to be better than performance without security.
IIUC on Intel chips you can have singe-thread gaming performance that beats AMD, but no security, or security and performance that sucks. On AMD you can have gaming performance that's not quite as good as Intel, but with security.
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It has been shown that Spectre could be exploited from a web page:
https://leaky.page/ [leaky.page]
Obligatory (Score:3)
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With only 3million units sold out of 120million monthly active Steam users I think you're right, it's on par with Linux adoption and therefore the joke is valid :-)
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Probably not. Look at how much effort Valve had to put into getting games to run well on the Steamdeck. It was delayed for years, mostly because they were still fixing the compatibility layers and individual games.
All that effort, and they had a known, fixed hardware platform to test it on. To do the same for an almost infinite number of different desktop configurations would be a mammoth task.
Game devs will only support Linux on the Steamdeck, and any other hardware configuration will have too few users to
The Steam study that collects private data? (Score:2)
That Steam "study" claims to collect hardware information for being processed anonymized.
However, when looking at the details of the data it sends to Valve, here are the last 3 items:
* the operating system installation date
* a hash of the MAC address
* a hash of the serial number of the disk
That information doesn't make the data anonymous at all. Intead they allow to identify a particular machine. This is a violation of privacy. If Valve is really processing the rest of the data anonymously, it doesn't need
It's Cultural (Score:2)
I suspect AMD has always been disproportionately popular among Linux users for a very simple and non-technical reason.
Linux is the niche underdog OS and AMD is the niche underdog CPU.
The fact that Linux users are super-technical, and AMD has the better CPU right now, certainly makes a big difference in the trend, but a bunch of the gap simply comes from us Linux users cheering for the little guy.
An important note, Intel does deserve some good vibes, they had (still have?) their built in GPU with decent open
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The Niche Underdog OS runs the Internet, Cloud computing, scientific computing, NASA, most phones, all supercomputers ...
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The Niche Underdog OS runs the Internet, Cloud computing, scientific computing, NASA, most phones, all supercomputers ...
But very few desktop computers / laptops. Making it the niche underdog OS for home users.
Yay (Score:2)
Yay!
Consoles? (Score:2)
Aren't consoles running some kind of unix operating system as well? Windows gamers are minority.
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PS5 runs a custom version of FreeBSD ... So yes - only the Microsoft Console runs Windows
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No surprise (Score:2)
Re: Linux gamers? (Score:4, Informative)
Re: Linux gamers? (Score:2)
Beyond the Steam Deck, it's looking like AMD's efforts around open-source drivers, AMD expanding their Linux client (Ryzen) development efforts over the past two years, promises around OpenSIL, and other efforts commonly covered on Phoronix are paying off for AMD in wooing over their Linux gaming customer base.
AMD CPUs require "open-source drivers"? I think the author is conflating CPUs and GPUs.
I am curious (but not curious enough to wade through the linked-to story) if by market share they mean "new unit sales" of CPUs or a survey of gamers self-identifying their CPU use - either is fine, I'd just like to know which we are discussing.
In my casual observation Intel CPUs are scarce in the over-the-counter retail channel compared to AMD. I'm a long time Intel user, but my last build was an AMD Ryzen because it was
Linux users are just cheap (Score:2)
if by market share they mean "new unit sales" of CPUs or a survey of gamers self-identifying their CPU use
Nah, not self identification, the Steam survey automatically identified the brand.
In my casual observation Intel CPUs are scarce in the over-the-counter retail channel compared to AMD
In my causal observations AMD is cheaper at some performance tier.
:-)
So I'm leaning towards Linux users are either cheap or political (Intel viewed along side Microsoft) or both?
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Seriously? Really?
You can't understand that your integrated graphics also run on a driver? The very same one that can be used to drive a discrete card as well?
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CPU, not GPU.
AMD CPUs are extremely well supported on both platforms. While a solid case can be made for sticking with Nvidia in the GPU space, I cant think of many good reasons at all to preference Intel in the CPU space.
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AMD CPU and GPU on steam deck are integrated. You get both. And this growth is basically "millions of steam deck users and a couple of randos".
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Valve distributes updates for the steam deck, including graphics drivers. It's not a PC, you don't just download the drivers from AMD.
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What recent decent budget games that I don't have to google to find out about have you finished lately? I'm not talking about "we're a VR studio, VR is bust, so we sorta kinda jury rigged a short and quirky eight hour shooter together to so we can stay afloat by selling it for 50 EUR" game.
>Step 1) Install game. Step 2) Press play.
Step 3) figure out it doesn't work properly, probably in most annoying of ways like crashes at certain points, visual glitches, horrible frame time discrepancies and so on. Ste
Valve's work (Score:2)
>Step 1) Install game. Step 2) Press play.
Step 3) figure out it doesn't work properly, probably in most annoying of ways like crashes at certain points, visual glitches, horrible frame time discrepancies and so on.
The thing is, Valve has done their homework and done the "figuring out" you mention.
They have invested dev time into Wine and various API wrapper (DXVK and the like), these form the basis of their "proton" compatibility layer.
By now a surprise number of games "Just work(tm)", because Steam ships game-specific profiles and tweaks for the Proton compatibility layer.
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Yes. Until it doesn't, which remains a whole lot of games. And until it doesn't run all that well on non-steam deck because it's optimized for very specific output scenarios, and hitches like it's early 2000s games on more powerful setups.
Frankly, there's a reason why this exists: https://www.steamdeck.com/en/v... [steamdeck.com]
And why many of the games on that list are "works, but often poorly, with hitching even on deck itself for which it's optimized".
Have you tried it at all?! (Score:2)
Until it doesn't, which remains a whole lot of games. {...} Frankly, there's a reason why this exists: https://www.steamdeck.com/en/v... [steamdeck.com]
Excuse-me, but have you actually tried a SteamDeck recently, with recent enough updated SteamOS? (And I mean "Just having the regular built-in update". Not "having burned some obscure boot-disk on a USB stick and tried to boot that to do some l33t tweaks on your machine")
You seem to think that most of the game just plain crash. Or display the same kind of brokedness as on Windows based hand held (e.g.: display in the wrong orientation, because the panel is native protrait). That's not the case.
A surprisingl
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I have. I also poke around steam game specific community forums, and guess what's among the most popular most in many of them on release, including the kind that really shouldn't give any problems with porting, like 2D unity games?
"When are you going to make this work properly on steam deck?"
Because you're probably thinking "playable" means it works fine. Except that this isn't what it means. It just means that it launches and can be sorta kinda played through. In this regard, Steam Deck is once again prett
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I don't expect Nvidia to admit it ( that would be disastrous for sales ) but I would be surprised if they didn't do more optimisation for Intel CPUs.
Are there any benchmarks to show ( or debunk ) this?
Re: Drivers (Score:2)
What would be NVIDIA's financial motivation to treat the CPUs differently?
There may be an issue with the availability of information from either CPU manufacturer, but I can't see NVIDIA choosing to disadvantage/underserve users of a certain family of processors.
That would be like Exxon refining gasoline to work better in Ford vehicles and worse in Chrysler/GM cars...
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To encourage people not to buy AMD processors, thus harming AMD, their main competitor.
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We're only talking about Linux gaming here. We are not talking about the entire gaming industry. Just Linux. We don't care if 99.99% of the other people run Windows or PS4/5 or Nintendo or some other system. We're just talking about Linux here.
And in Linux gaming, AMD CPU usage is getting closer to overtaking Intel CPU usage. That's all this is about.
Personally, I've been doing AMD+Nvidia for a very longtime. While I don't recall what GPU I was using 20 years ago, it wouldn't surprise me if it was in fact m