

AMD Posts A Horde Of New 3D GPU Documentation - samwilliams
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTQ3NDU

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nkurz
Direct links from
[http://www.botchco.com/agd5f/?p=58](http://www.botchco.com/agd5f/?p=58):

AMD R6xx/R7xx 3D Register Reference:
[http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/R6xx_3D_Registers.pdf](http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/R6xx_3D_Registers.pdf)

AMD R6xx/R7xx Acceleration:
[http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/R6xx_R7xx_3D.pdf](http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/R6xx_R7xx_3D.pdf)

AMD Evergreen 3D Register Reference:
[http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/evergreen_3D_registers_v2.pdf](http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/evergreen_3D_registers_v2.pdf)

AMD Cayman/Trinity 3D Register Reference:
[http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/cayman_3D_registers_v2.pdf](http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/cayman_3D_registers_v2.pdf)

AMD Evergreen/Northern Islands Acceleration:
[http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/evergreen_cayman_programming_guide...](http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/evergreen_cayman_programming_guide.pdf)

AMD Southern Islands 3D Register Reference:
[http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/SI_3D_registers.pdf](http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/SI_3D_registers.pdf)

AMD Sea Islands 3D Register Reference:
[http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/CIK_3D_registers_v2.pdf](http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/CIK_3D_registers_v2.pdf)

AMD Southern Islands/Sea Islands Acceleration:
[http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/si_programming_guide_v2.pdf](http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/si_programming_guide_v2.pdf)

AMD HDA audio verbs:
[http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/AMD_HDA_verbs_v2.pdf](http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/AMD_HDA_verbs_v2.pdf)

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gtaylor
I bought an ATI 5870 a few years ago. At the time, it was a pretty beefy card,
and drives my three 23" monitors really well... in Windows.

Late 2012 is when I found that enough bugs were fixed in the [now AMD]
proprietary drivers to where I could get serious work done in Linux. The
crashes were mostly fixed, but there are still lots of performance issues, as
well as a lot of fun bugs (like my cursor randomly turning into a 20x50 block
of randomly colored pixels when moving between monitors).

It's been a dreadful experience. The AMD driver releases stopped coming with
changelogs for about 6 months, and they still don't always release them (or
when they do, they leave a lot out). When a new version of Xorg comes out, it
takes them at least two months to add support (while nvidia often has support
ready before release, or very shortly after). nvidia, even with their own
issues, shows them up enough to make me envious. Intel is really taking things
to a higher level with their drivers + OpenGL performance lately, too.

If you have to use proprietary drivers (like I do for 3D/OpenGL), stay the
heck away from AMD. They do an awful job with their Linux drivers. Linus likes
to bitch at nvidia, but their binary Linux drivers are leagues better than
AMD's. They've got issues, too, but are by far the lesser of two evils for
higher end GPUs + Linux.

~~~
dmm
Just use the in-kernel free drivers. They have improved immensely the past few
years. The Radeon HD 5870 is called 'Evergreen', you can check out the feature
support here:

[http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/RadeonFeature](http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/RadeonFeature)

In my experience the free drivers have slightly slower 3d performance and much
faster 2d performance.

~~~
VMG
Still hit and miss though. Bought a laptop that even had somewhat decent 3d
acceleration, but would horribly lag on 2d terminal output.

Returned it and been using Intel and Nvidia exclusively now - no problems
whatsoever.

~~~
mhurron
There are some things that can be done to fix that -

[https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Radeon#Slow_performance...](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Radeon#Slow_performance_with_open-
source_drivers)

~~~
VMG
I tinkered around for a few hours and gave up. Not worth my time.

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benjamincburns
I wonder how much of this is "business as usual" for AMD's GPU team, and how
much of it is in reaction to nVidia recently beginning to open up? My limited
understanding is that AMD/ATI has been far more more open than nVidia for much
longer, but if they see nVidia starting to open up, maybe they're lengthening
their stride on these efforts?

Either way, my inner optimist/FOSS fanboy is really hoping that there's a
convergence of things happening right now (championed by Valve, I think) that
will make GPUs become as open and well-documented as main processors. It's
rare to see, but I get all excited any time openness is even a minor basis for
competition.

~~~
sho_hn
I'd assume "business as usual"; preparing a publication like this takes far,
far longer than the time delta to nVidia's announcement allows for.

~~~
benjamincburns
I think the lead-time issue depends on how they document internally. If they
provide 'first-class' documentation for their partners to consume which has
already been sanitized of NDA-restricted disclosures, maybe all they need to
do is remove the 'CONFIDENTIAL' header.

Though to be fair, I'd be shocked if this was the case. Most companies don't
do the IP sanitization bit, which is why NDAs in those types of industries are
viral in the same way as the GPL.

~~~
kllrnohj
> If they provide 'first-class' documentation for their partners to consume
> which has already been sanitized of NDA-restricted disclosures, maybe all
> they need to do is remove the 'CONFIDENTIAL' header.

What partners? The only ones writing AMD GPU drivers is AMD, and internal
documentation tends to universally be crap.

~~~
eropple
_> What partners? The only ones writing AMD GPU drivers is AMD, and internal
documentation tends to universally be crap._

Don't quote me on this, but it was my impression that vendors AMD's GPUs
should have source access to the drivers.

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tobych
A hoard, surely, rather than a horde.

Hacker News readers are a horde. The newly-released documentation is a hoard.

Assuming this is correct: [http://grammarist.com/spelling/hoard-
horde/](http://grammarist.com/spelling/hoard-horde/)

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kenbellows
Anyone else disappointed that the GPU documentation isn't somehow rendered in
3D?

~~~
Arelius
No.

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twotwotwo
Thanks Valve.

