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Note: Article updated to clarify what I meant by "newer cards".

Samuel Pitoiset (Valve developer) just put some fresh work into Mesa-git that enables OpenGL 4.3 with nouveau (NVIDIA) for Maxwell and above.

From the git commit:
QuoteAlthough, arb_shader_image_load_store-atomicity will most likely hang your box, I think it's now quite reasonable to enable GL 4.3 on Maxwell/Pascal GPUs. I suspect that test to be wrong because it doesn't even work on the NVIDIA blob.

I have tested a bunch of benchmarks (UE4 demos) and real games like Shadow of Mordor and they all work fine.

Even though this won't be useful for people like me on newer cards (a lot of Maxwell and Pascal don't have proper support yet in Mesa, as other features missing, like for my 980ti it has no re-clocking), it's good to see older generations of NVIDIA cards get better OpenGL support on the open source driver.

This is great, as it's another bit of progression that should make it in time for the next stable version of Mesa. So users of NVIDIA graphics cards that aren't using the proprietary driver should be able to play titles like the mentioned Shadow of Mordor in the next Mesa version. That's if your card has proper support in nouveau of course.

Samuel also managed to squeeze out some extra performance, as noted in this commit:
QuoteThis patch will increase performance on Maxwell GPUs by, at least, x1.5 up to x3.5 for some benchmarks.

Awesome work as always.

Mesa 17, the next stable version is due in February as detailed in the release plan.

Going by that plan, it seems that sadly, the on-disk shader cache will not make it in time for Mesa 17. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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18 comments
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Zlopez Jan 12, 2017
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I don't know why the NVIDIA doesn't help with open source driver and use they own proprietary driver.
Maokei Jan 12, 2017
Quoting: ZlopezI don't know why the NVIDIA doesn't help with open source driver and use they own proprietary driver.

Look at everything else nvidia does pretty much everything is proprietary gsync, drivers, tools, etc It's part of their strategy to not share anything allow nothing to benefit anyone else than nvidia. And lock customers into their ecosystem.


Last edited by Maokei on 12 January 2017 at 3:05 pm UTC
tuubi Jan 12, 2017
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Quoting: MaokeiLook at everything else nvidia does pretty much everything is proprietary gsync, drivers, tools, etc It's part of their strategy to not share anything allow nothing to benefit anyone else than nvidia. And lock customers into their ecosystem.
This has been pretty much everyone's strategy in the past. Market leaders tend to resist change, even if this ultimately tends to lead to their downfall. Even Nvidia will adapt as soon as they start losing market share. They're all in it for the money. Different strategies, same goal.
imdan12 Jan 12, 2017
Does the update will work also on Tesla card like Nvidia 820m?
tuubi Jan 12, 2017
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Quoting: imdan12Does the update will work also on Tesla card like Nvidia 820m?
Isn't the 820m a Fermi chip? Not "Maxwell or above" anyway, so not with OpenGL 4.3 support.
pete910 Jan 12, 2017
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Interesting to see pascal on this
Liam Dawe Jan 12, 2017
Quoting: pete910Interesting to see pascal on this
As I've explained on reddit though, having the OpenGL feature set is one thing, having re-clocking (for performance) and other card features are entirely different things.
pete910 Jan 12, 2017
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Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: pete910Interesting to see pascal on this
As I've explained on reddit though, having the OpenGL feature set is one thing, having re-clocking (for performance) and other card features are entirely different things.


Kinda what I was getting at, I mean how much testing could be done on Maxwell/Pascal GPU's

There effectively useless on the oss driver for the most part.
Liam Dawe Jan 12, 2017
Quoting: pete910
Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: pete910Interesting to see pascal on this
As I've explained on reddit though, having the OpenGL feature set is one thing, having re-clocking (for performance) and other card features are entirely different things.
Kinda what I was getting at, I mean how much testing could be done on Maxwell/Pascal GPU's

There effectively useless on the oss driver for the most part.
Well, not really. As soon as the re-clocking comes to bring up performance, they then already have the OpenGL needed for some recent games.
salamanderrake Jan 12, 2017
But is there any 2D/3D acceleration with the nouveau drivers yet?
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