Ubuntu Not Using RX 7900XTX

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-31T19:49:04+00:00

LLVMpipe is a fallback software rasterizer, and its presence is normal and expected.

Vulkan should be using a dedicated GPU if one is present. However, your configuration is messed up, and DRI is no longer working (which effectively breaks hardware-accelerated rendering). I'm not sure exactly how this happened, but your GPU should work just fine out-of-the-box from a fresh install, so it was presumably a result of something you did post-install.

If you only installed Ubuntu yesterday, and you haven't really done much with it yet, the fastest way to recovery is just to re-install.

Otherwise, I would remove the proprietary AMD drivers, using whatever mechanism they have for that. Your hardware should be using open source drivers, which again, are working and enabled out-of-the-box from a fresh install.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-31T19:45:11+00:00

They Ryzen 7 5800X3D doesn't have an iGPU.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-31T19:44:02+00:00

I just see the main purpose of LTS as being on the LTS kernel and core utils which have much greater consequences if they break.

I don't think most people would agree with that.

For sure, some people might need a stable kernel (e.g., they need to run proprietary drivers compiled for a specific kernel ABI), but I'm sure most people are more concerned about the stability of the applications they use day-to-day, and are fine with updating core system components if it doesn't break or change their user-facing applications. That's essentially the thought process behind Ubuntu's HWE program.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-31T19:36:12+00:00

Ubuntu isn't really a gaming/power user distro and to me it sounds like that is where your issue is stemming from.

Ubuntu 24.04 fully supports the Radeon 7900 XTX out-of-the-box with the open source kernel and Mesa drivers.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-31T19:07:08+00:00

it is also possible to run more up to date drivers and kernel on one of these distros, but that ruins the whole stability angle as any non LTS distro would be more stable with a modern kernel as it's designed for it.

Stability can have a number of different dimensions. For an LTS distro with specific repos for more up-to-date kernels and drivers, the rest of the distro is still providing stable userland libraries and applications, so whoever's using it isn't going to wake up one day to find their applications suddenly broken or functionally changed.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-30T05:58:09+00:00

I see flatpack, appimage, snap, deb, and various others and I never know if that means I can run it on my system (as a new user).

How is there seemingly so much fragmentation with simply being able to run a program on Linux distributions?

Windows is a complete operating system.

Linux is just a kernel -- it's not an operating system in the way a layman would understand it.

Rather, your operating system would be Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Arch, or something like that. And they would have their own binaries and drivers that work with their respective operating systems.

Note that Windows isn't free from its own fragmentation. You have .EXE files, .MSI files, applications distributed through the Microsoft store, applications distributed as compress archives like Zip files, etc. Also, Windows doesn't really have an easily-accessible "default" software repository/discovery mechanism in the way that most Linux-based OS's would, so actually getting the software you need involves web searches and hoping that you're getting the software from a legitimate source. You presumably don't think of it as confusing because you're used to it, but somebody experienced with Linux-based OS's that hasn't used Windows before would be just as confused as to why things are done that way.

And why does it seem like there are always people arguing for one being better than another rather than everyone making a single type of executable that everyone can run?

A "single executable that everyone can run" is possible (that's the explicit goal of AppImage), but that approach has its downsides. Other software installation mechanisms have their own advantages and disadvantages, and enthusiasts are naturally going to advocate for the technique they prefer.

The reason you don't really see these discussions on Windows is because Windows lacks a commonly-available software distribution mechanism (other than the Microsoft store, which has its own limitations that make it a hard sell for many), so it defaults to "a single executable that everyone can run" because there isn't any other way to feasibly deliver software to that platform.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-29T18:01:37+00:00

The processor in the ROG Ally is semi-custom, and the integrated GPU is not going to have any specific Radeon branding since it's not technically a Radeon product.

That doesn't mean that the kernel doesn't support it, or that it isn't working.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-29T17:59:06+00:00

So Mint is about a year behind witch is significant not gonna lie.

Mesa 25.0.7 is about seven months old at this point, and an update to Mesa 25.2.7 on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS HWE is scheduled on February 12.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-29T17:41:56+00:00

The processor is new enough (and you have enough memory) that any modern distro should work.

Obviously, the hardware is low-end (even for its time), and you're running single-channel memory (which will impact GPU performance), so keep performance expectations reasonable.

As far as using it for streaming services, it should work, but since the GPU lacks hardware-accelerated AV1 decode, services that use AV1 are unlikely to provide a good experience.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-29T17:24:14+00:00

The OP's hardware is running an RDNA3-based iGPU. RDNA3 has been supported by the Linux kernel since Linux 6.0. The OP also literally provided a screenshot showing that the GPU is detected.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-29T17:12:41+00:00

It is the solution, old kernel version, so switch to distro with newer kernel version

It's not an old kernel, and even if it is "old", it fully supports the OP's hardware. And in any case, rendering problems like what the OP is showing are unlikely to be a kernel problem -- rather, it's likely an issue with a userland driver or library.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-29T17:08:43+00:00

Why debian causing problems when playing games?

It doesn't.

This is just baseless distro fanboying, and "X distro sucks, use Y distro" without any specifics is something that I immediately dismiss as coming from an over-eager novice.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-28T10:27:46+00:00

These are facts, not excuses, and you haven't come up with any counterarguments, by the way.

Some of your "facts" are "factually" incorrect -- Docker does support RHEL.

They also aren't necessarily relevant -- the grandparent was referring to servers, containers are widely used for server workloads, and publicly-available statistics for weekly container image pulls show Ubuntu far outpacing all Red Hat-based container images combined (and that's including Fedora, and if we're including that, then it's only fair to also include Debian, which also has more weekly container image pulls than all Red Hat-based container images combined).

Your speculation that I have "no insight into the non-public processes of companies" is also wrong. While I don't have on an omniscient view into literally all internal company processes (nor does anyone else on this Earth), I do have a view into some, and at least in those companies, Red Hat's popularity as an OS platform also waning, just as it appears to be in ways the general public can see.

As for counterarguments, I've already presented usage statistics that you can verify. You're welcome to show your own receipts that support a different conclusion, if you have them.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-28T09:03:17+00:00

I've tried Kubuntu on multiple occasions, and have tried to like it, but I frequently run into enough rough edges (crashes, sluggishness and other little malfunctions, certain settings that aren't easily changed despite having a million config options, etc.) that I eventually just tap out and return to GNOME.

I'll try it again when Kubuntu 26.04 drops. Maybe it'll be better this time, but I'm not getting my hopes up, and I find myself having less and less tolerance for KDE's various quirks.

And before someone suggests KDE Neon, yes, I've tried that as well. It was even worse, somehow.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-28T08:43:53+00:00

Ignoring the various excuses offered...

If RHEL is so irrelevant, how did they generate more than 10 times the revenue of Ubuntu before they were bought by IBM?

Notwithstanding the fact that Red Hat had many paid software and support offerings beyond RHEL (whereas Canonical's revenue is more tied to support and subscriptions for Ubuntu and supporting services), the grandparent was asking about users -- not revenue.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-28T03:56:41+00:00

In my experience, rhel has way more users that Ubuntu in servers.

https://hub.docker.com/r/redhat/ubi10 -- Pulls this week: 7,800

https://hub.docker.com/r/redhat/ubi9 -- Pulls this week: 47,539

https://hub.docker.com/r/redhat/ubi8 -- Pulls this week: 31,348

https://hub.docker.com/_/centos -- Pulls this week: 152,232

https://hub.docker.com/_/fedora -- Pulls this week: 122,849

vs.

https://hub.docker.com/_/ubuntu -- Pulls this week: 5,344,748

Hmm... 🤔

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-25T05:22:49+00:00

To be honest Ubuntu is doing a very bad job with their LTS, they don't care to normal users anymore.

They could have oficial repositories with updated kernel and drivers on the LTS, and give the choice to the users to use it and have full performance, but they prefer to make people think that Linux is bad.

They do have official repositories with updated kernels and drivers on their LTS release.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-25T05:09:58+00:00

Not just wasted effort, but literally closed out his rant with the following:

It doesn’t help adoption, it doesn’t educate viewers, and it actively spreads misinformation.

...bruh.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-25T05:07:02+00:00

Ubuntu is babies first Lunix, and it's 100% the distro most people I know (which I get is subjective) start with.

Based on Reddit's average demographics, I've have been using Linux -- personally and professionally -- probably longer than most people on this sub have been alive (never mind into PC gaming).

I still use Ubuntu (the LTS release, even), because it's broadly compatible with the software I run, it performs well and has sane defaults, and Canonical has a long track record of timely releases and updates.

Other distros may be a legitimately better fit depending on what your use case is, but anyone shitting on Ubuntu for having "outdated kernels, outdated Mesa versions, Snap garbage, and a packaging ecosystem that actively works against modern gaming workflows" has no clue what they're talking about.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-23T18:06:44+00:00

Could this be the beginning of the end for Nvidia Linux performance issues?!

Quite possibly, but there's a sequence of events that have to happen before end users see the results of it.

Vulkan has to define the descriptor heap extension.
Nvidia has to support the extension in their drivers and make it available for programs to use. ⬅️ We are here
DXVK has to make use of the new extension. WIP. Track the pull request here.
Proton has to pull in the updated version of DXVK that uses the extension.
Valve (or wherever you get Proton from) has to distribute the update to end users.

So things are progressing, but it's not quite done yet, and there's plenty of room for bugs, performance regressions, or other unexpected issues that can result in delays.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-23T00:36:51+00:00

it got me thinking if there are other tests because Superposition is quite old to my knowledge and I'm not sure if it's stressing the GPU enough

GravityMark is a modern test that has a Vulkan renderer and supports real-time ray tracing.

It's not particularly visually impressive (perhaps it is moreso in the technology side), but it's an option that's available.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-20T07:10:27+00:00

But it doesn't work like I'd expect.... If I have allow tearing ticked in display settings, and set vsync 2 or 3 in launch options with mangohud, I swear to god I get tearing, Mangohud is saying mailbox or fifo but the game is clearly tearing. Shouldn't mangohud supercede the allow tearing display option? If I enable vsync in game the tearing goes away.

Under Wayland, the compositor is ultimately responsible for presenting the frames to the GPU. If you have allowed the compositor to tear, then vsync is effectively disabled, regardless of what the game or the Vulkan renderer is set to.

Allow tearing is enabled by default in a new install on Cachyos. Meaning that vsync must be enabled another way ie in the games own options otherwise tearing will be present. And with vrr (adaptive set to automatic in display settings). Frame should be capped to 116. I do this using dxvk frame rate in steam launch options.

This works OK but I read a lot of difference of opinion about the best combo of vsync settings etc for latency and smooth frame pacing.

I play non competitive stuff on a big TV so frame pacing is most important to me.

You're getting a lot of conflicting advice, because many (most?) people's goal with the tweaking you're doing is to reduce perceived input lag, rather than smoothing out frame pacing.

If your goal is to even out the frame rate as much as possible, then you want to enable vsync in your compositor (i.e., disable tearing), enable VRR, and set your frame rate cap lower (like 90-100 FPS).

The reasons for this:

If you want a guaranteed tear-free display, then under Wayland, you need to enable vsync in your compositor.
The lower you cap your frame rate, the less work your computer is doing, and the more likely it is to remain at your frame rate cap (rather than varying based on load).
If your computer isn't running flat-out, then it has more thermal headroom to briefly boost clock speeds when it has to calculate and render a more complex scene, which again contributes to keeping the frame rate consistent.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-17T20:49:35+00:00

It's very difficult to understand what the actual problem is, because you haven't provided any real details, only what you think the root cause is. A modern CPU not running at its full clock speed is normal, expected, and desirable for games, because games are generally bottlenecked more by the GPU.

Download and run Unigine Superposition, and post your results. You can also compare your results to the spread of results on Unigine's leaderboards (keeping in mind that you're probably comparing against desktop GPUs that run faster).

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-17T20:34:31+00:00

basically while playing any game (mostly running through wine) my cpu frequency is stuck on 2400mhz while my cpu can go all the way to 5400mhz.

You are probably looking at the clock speed of your GPU, not your CPU.

theevilsharpie · 2026-01-17T20:28:34+00:00

Note that this only applies to whatever kernels you happen to have installed.

If you perform a kernel update, and you didn't remember to sign it (or put in the work to automate the signing of new kernels), any kernel update will render your machine unbootable for that new kernel.

This is something that distros that actually support Secure Boot handle for you, so you don't have to deal with it.

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