AMD Vulkan Standalone VS AMD Vulkan Pro Why Such Performance Difference?

[niereklamuj]

Very quick topic/question.

If I install only Vulkan packages like:

amdvlk
lib32-amdvlk
vulkan-headers

The performance in CS:GO is worse than if I install additional packages like:

vulkan-amdgpu-pro
lib32-vulkan-amdgpu-pro

With all this packages, performance is better.
Those are screenshots:

1. Without vulkan-amdgpu-pro:

2. With all packages installed with vulkan-amdgpu-pro:

I’ve tested it with the same configuration and with the same process after the restart.
Launch options in CS:GO:
-novid -nojoy -vulkan

uname -r:
6.0.1-270-tkg-pds

System updated to the fullest.

Why so much difference in performance?
And, if it’s possible to not use amdgpu-pro to have the same performance?
From what I understand, andgpu-pro is the closed source driver.

[dalto]

What is your GPU?

[anon74621442]

I suggest to use Proton GE for even more performance.

[Echoa]

Because the amdvlk and amdgpu-pro packages are not the same. AMDVLK is AMDs own open source bits they maintain and AMDGPU-Pro is the closed source driver. The AMDGPU-pro drivers have specific tuning from AMD that the vlk driver doesnt and they want to keep closed source.

Honestly you really shouldnt be using either unless you need the opengl performance of the amdgpu-pro package. Mesa/RADV out performs both of them 9 times out of 10 with the occasional outlier and the rest of the time amdvlk and amdgpu-pro are plain broken for gaming.

[niereklamuj]

@Echoa I don’t care about gaming. I have 500+ games, but play only CS:GO, why shouldn’t I use it then?

@anon91611908 Why Proton if the game runs natively?
@dalto AMD RX 470. Very old.

[Echoa]

@niereklamuj

@Echoa I don’t care about gaming. I have 500+ games, but play only CS:GO, why shouldn’t I use it then

Because CS:GO is a GAME and RADV is faster? Lol

That is literally gaming xD

They’re slower, not officially supported on Arch, and more likely to break with updates

@niereklamuj

AMD RX 470. Very old.

Polaris is even more reason to use RADV, Polaris is at its best with RADV/Mesa. AMD has dropped most of the features of the pro driver in regards to polaris anyway (no opencl, no hip, AMF is questionable). I have an RX480 and the best and most tested driver is Mesa.

Mesa is more optimized and has a better shader compiler by miles than amdgpu-pro or amdvlk.

[niereklamuj]

OK then.
So what do you suggest for better performance to be at par or better than amdgpu-pro?

I’m little confused. From your last post, it seems to me that you are mentioning 3 drivers:

andgpu-pro
mesa
amdvlk

I’m confused. I’ve read so much about it, but still cannot grasp what is going on.

Which packages should I install to have the best performance in CS:GO in Vulkan?

Also, if I uninstall andgpu-pro I won’t have AMF support for recording in OBS, what should I use alternatively then?

[Echoa]

@niereklamuj

OK then.
So what do you suggest for better performance to be at par or better than amdgpu-pro?

I’m little confused. From your last post, it seems to me that you are mentioning 3 drivers:

andgpu-pro
mesa
amdvlk

I’m confused. I’ve read so much about it, but still cannot grasp what is going on.

Which packages should I install to have the best performance in CS:GO in Vulkan?

Also, if I uninstall andgpu-pro I won’t have AMF support for recording in OBS, what should I use alternatively then?

AMD has 3 linux drivers

Closed Source AMGPU-pro
Opensource driver made by AMD AMDVlk
Opensource driver made by OSS devs Mesa/RADV

Mesa comes installed on default and thats what you want, but to make sure you have all the bits

sudo pacman -S --needed lib32-mesa vulkan-radeon lib32-vulkan-radeon vulkan-icd-loader lib32-vulkan-icd-loader

to keep AMDGPU-pro for AMF but use RADV for games and such you can add this to your /etc/environment file

VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/radeon_icd.i686.json:/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/radeon_icd.x86_64.json

and in the com.obsproject.Studio.desktop change the Exec= line to
Exec=env VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/amd_pro_icd32.json:/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/amd_pro_icd64.json obs

make sure to uninstall AMDVlk and youll have AMF for OBS/Encoding and RADV/Mesa for rendering/games/etc.

[niereklamuj]

Thank You, I will try it, and report performance difference.

[Echoa]

Mesa should be faster than AMDGPU-pro as Valve tests against mesa and helps develop mesa. Its what the steam deck uses and most of the community. I havent encountered any situation that AMDGPU-pro was better for Vulkan, it use to be far better for OpenGL but mesa close the gap on that last i knew.

[niereklamuj]

@Echoa You were right. Now it’s on par with amdgpu-pro or even slightly better. Thank You!

After uninstalling every amdgpu pro package:

I uninstalled xf86-video-amdgpu in the process, and now I’m on xf86-video-ati and my desktop is lagging, but CS:GO working perfectly. What package should I install for open source xf86-video? Which I assume is for accelerating the desktop environment.

[Echoa]

@niereklamuj

uninstalled xf86-video-amdgpu in the process, and now I’m on xf86-video-ati and my desktop is lagging, but CS:GO working perfectly. What package should I install for open source xf86-video? Which I assume is for accelerating the desktop environment.

reinstall xf86-video-amdgpu thats the open source one.

[niereklamuj]

Thank You so much!