Table of Contents

Ubuntu - GPU - AMD GPU - Drivers - Enable AMDGPU Linux Driver

WARNING: This is not required for the newer amdgpu, but might be helpful for older systems.

  • It should not cause issues even on newer system, but usually not needed.

To enable amdgpu special kernel boot parameters should be set.

The easiest way is to make it permanent and apply it to all kernels (no messing around with grub.cfg), will be:

Requirements

Check to see if amdgpu is enabled

sudo lshw -c video

returns: 

  *-display                 
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
       vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:0c:00.0
       logical name: /dev/fb0
       version: c8
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom fb
       configuration: depth=32 driver=radeon latency=0 resolution=3440,1440
       resources: irq:128 memory:e0000000-efffffff memory:f0000000-f01fffff ioport:e000(size=256) memory:f7b00000-f7bfffff memory:c0000-dffff

NOTE: Check the configuration line, for the driver.

  • This shows that the amdgpu is not being used.
  • Instead, it shows that the radeon driver is currently being used.

Edit the defaults for GRUB

Edit /etc/default/grub.

Modify the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line to:

/etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash amdgpu.cik_support=1 amdgpu.si_support=1 radeon.si_support=0 radeon.cik_support=0"

Update GRUB

sudo update-grub

Remove old radeon.conf files

Old radeon.conf files should be removed as they may stop Xorg from starting. 

sudo mv /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-radeon.conf ~/

NOTE: The old files are just being moved, instead of being deleted.

  • This allows them to be moved back if needed.

Add a new amdgpu config file

Create a amdgpu.conf file, if it does not exist. 

sudo vi /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-amdgpu.conf

and populate: 

Section "OutputClass"
    Identifier "AMDgpu"
    MatchDriver "amdgpu"
    Driver "amdgpu"
EndSection
 
Section "Device"
    Identifier "Card0"
    Driver "amdgpu"
    Option "TearFree" "on"
    Option "DRI3" "1"
EndSection

Reboot

Reboot the system.

Check to see if amdgpu is enabled

sudo lshw -c video

returns: 

  *-display                 
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
       vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:0c:00.0
       logical name: /dev/fb0
       version: c8
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom fb
       configuration: depth=32 driver=amdgpu latency=0 resolution=3440,1440
       resources: irq:128 memory:e0000000-efffffff memory:f0000000-f01fffff ioport:e000(size=256) memory:f7b00000-f7bfffff memory:c0000-dffff

NOTE: Check the configuration line, for the driver.

  • This shows that the amdgpu is being used.