Least expensive GPU that works with AMDGPU drivers?

Lounge
1

So someone is asking my advice for an inexpensive desktop build, and won’t take “wait until prices drop back to reasonable levels” as the correct answer. So they don’t want to do any gaming, and it will be an AMD build. They want at least a 1600AF/2600 (Zen+ w/ 6-cores), so APU’s aren’t a possibility. I’m simply not good on the pre-polaris AMD graphics what’s what, since so much of it is recycled earlier chipsets. So the question is, what is the least expensive discrete GPU that DEFINITELY functions correctly with amdgpu drivers (preferably out of the box without grub options to force it, but that’s not a disqualifier)? Thanks!!!

2

I tried over the last few weeks and couldn’t find anything I thought wasn’t a total rip-off. If they are only willing to buy new from a reputable vendor (vs taking a chance on used or ebay), it will be hard to find anything in stock.

… prices are so bad I pulled out an old Radeon HD 6950 card from 10 years ago to hold me over … it works with no special drivers, but then again I haven’t done any gaming with it … so perhaps I need to do some tweaking that I just don’t yet know I need?

Maybe something like this is ‘good enough’ as a stop gap? ATI HD6770 … it should work with the AMDGPU drivers … but it would still be a gamble.

3

Something starting with r7 or r9 in the name?

4

I always use the Radeon feature chart on wikipedia to make sense of the AMD GPU alphabet soup.

Arch wiki says full AMDGPU support (no asterisks - automatically activated) requires GCN 3, which with the chart above points to RX300 or newer.

Personally I have run old GCN 1 cards (asterisks - manually activated) on AMDGPU without problems.

5

Cheapest to get new might be a RX550/2GB starting at ~80 quid.
Personally i wouldn’t do that and instead buy a NVIDIA GT710 for ~30 and wait for better times.

6

Rx550 used market goes for around 60 USD.

7

Lucky Americans. : )

8

Really? I hadn’t seen those that cheap, that’s definitely my recommendation. I can’t EVER recommend Nvidia to anyone who uses Linux. Simply put, with no functional open source driver, I won’t touch Nvidia’s offering regardless of how much actually better their hardware is.

9

I did not check the US prices, sorry. : )
That’s absurd calling these prices for an entry level GPU.

I ran the GT 710 GPU using nouveau drivers on Ubuntu back in the day btw, it was OK.
I would love to replace my GTX1060 with something new AMD but the prices are not acceptable for me, it’s well beyond the €1000 mark here.
I’ll wait.