[LAU] AMD graphics card

[Chris Caudle]

On Fri, January 12, 2018 7:48 am, Will Godfrey wrote:
> So, I'm now on kernel 14.4.7 :)

I think that was a typo, I assume it is 4.14.7.

I am currently running 4.14.12 modified with the RT patches installed (the
kernel provided for Fedora 27 by the CCRMA repository), and it is running
quite fine with an Asus HD5450 card.
That series of cards uses the older radeon driver and was previously
broken for a few releases around the 4.11.x time frame, at least in the
Fedora 26 kernels.  I do not think Fedora modifies the graphics drivers,
so I suspect that a regression with the older cards crept into the
mainline at some point and was corrected in later kernels after it was
noticed.

I pulled the HD5450 card from a machine retired recently, I have been
running a newer RX 460 card which uses the amdgpu driver (which replaced
the radeon driver for AMD GPU for the latest generation devices).  The
newer card was prompted primarily by my kids who wanted better graphics
for Minecraft, but with the working driver I do not see any noticeable
difference in desktop use with a browser, playing youtube videos, etc. 
The HD5450 is single width vs. dual width, passive heat sink vs. fan heat
sink, and lower power.  I can recommend it for anything not involving 3D
graphics, I used it for several years with no problems until the driver
regression in the 4.11.x series of kernels, which as far as I can tell is
completely corrected with the 4.14 kernel I am currently running.

-- 
Chris Caudle