I just got hold of an AMD RX7800 XT to replace my current Nvidia RTX3080.
I’m likely overthinking this but from what I understand I should just be able to swap the cards then uninstall the Nvidia drivers correct?
I’m running EndeavourOS which I installed with the option to include the Nvidia drivers by default so dunno if that changes anything? I’ve been daily driving Linux for exactly a year as of this month but I still kinda feel like a newbie sometimes lmao. Thanks in advance!
(Update) I got my AMD card installed and loaded up Wayland with no issues, only thing I had to install was the AMD Vulkan drivers for Steam.
I’ve never done the process myself, but I would probably uninstall the nvidia drivers while the system is still running, install whatever amd packages you need I know there are some vulkan packages that people need that aren’t installed by default, and then power off and swap the cards.
You just got me to remember something about a Vulkan package when I first installed Steam so gonna find the AMD package for that. Thanks!
You shouldn’t need to install anything for the amd gpu
Most distros have a vk package that steam depends on that varies based on hardware, there is a system different package for amd than Nvidia or Intel.
Oh right. Do you have a distro specific example of this?
Here’s what you need for Arch, for more context: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AMDGPU
Isn’t this the kernel driver included by default?
The wiki tells you what you need on arch, and what you need it for. Those packages also don’t seem to have kernel-specific or dkms versions, so seems like they’re not kernel modules.
Mind you, the setup is clearly not monolithic, with different components for different purposes, including alternative options. On top of that, each distro will make different choices - Arch provides the components as packages and puts the responsibility of installing the right ones on you. Some features might be built into kernel drivers, like working video output, but Vulkan support clearly wants a dedicated driver.
I’ve encountered the issue on arch and fedora, don’t have the package name off the top of my head but both package managers ask you to pick a package to fulfill the dependency.
I see, appreciate the info. I’ll have a poke around on fedora later today
Even if you install the drivers while the system is running, it is not recommended to remove the card while the system is running.
I never suggested that they remove the card while the system is running. You must have skipped the part in my comment that says
power off and swap the cardsDon’t worry I wasn’t planning on sticking my hands into a powered up PC anyway haha.
I’m not familiar with these vulkan packages, what should I look for?
I don’t have an AMD card, so I don’t know, but I recall reading on the endeavourOS forums of people solving their AMD gaming issues by installing the proper vulkan packages. That is to say. You should head to the endeavourOS forums and peruse around there. You will probably find that information very quickly there.
Thanks! I’ve not been having many problems, but if it’s causing a performance loss it would be good to take care of it, I’ll check that out