Linux' games performance on AMD GPU
hm11 May 13, 2016
I need some help with this, or more like some sort of confirmation because I'm at the point where i don't even know anymore. I've been a windows user from 2005-2015, fast-forward its 2016 and now I'm using a Linux desktop, id like to think I'm at the newbie-intermediate range because i know a lot of things, the Linux Distro i use its an arch derivative called Manjaro, i started using the xfce version and now i have around 3 months using the base install. Now, where the issue lies is in the video games. I use wine for like 4 games that i deemed important, and for everything else i got a Linux version if there was. The issue is that for the Linux versions of these games, i get significantly low performance,and games that would just perform better on windows (~60fps) would performed mediocre on Linux, I understand that Linux is different than windows, but this is just unacceptable.. is there something I'm doing wrong?? These are my specs ( and BTW, this is all i got, if I could i would get something better. )

AMD Phenom II x4 @ 3.40ghz BE
AMD Sapphire HD7850 2GB OC Edition (DDR5 or GDDR5 idk i forgot)
Asrock A785gxh/128M
8gb ddr2 (800mhz)
~ 2.5Tb total space from all disks
1 ADATA SP900 60gb SSD for OS
Manjaro x64 (Base)

*** GPU: Mesa with lib32 enabled ***
I'm not using catalyst because i get HORRIBLE performance even on the desktop -_- compared to what a desktop is supposed be like in terms of performance..
silverphil May 14, 2016
Hi, could you state what games cause performance issues, and the framerates they get? It is known that some AAA games don't perform very well on AMD cards on Linux as of now, but performance is constantly improving. Running a distro like Manjaro really helps in getting the latest drivers. One of the things you could try nevertheless is enabling DRI 3. See here for more info: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ATI#Driver_options http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=radeon-dri3-perf&num=4 it should also make your desktop snappier!
hm11 May 14, 2016
thanks silverphil ill look into all of this, The games that were under-performing were borderlands 2, trine 2 for some reason, natural selection 2 , phychonauts 2, and firewatch. These games run like arround 30-45s compared to windows which they run beautifully.
silverphil May 14, 2016
OK, so lets start:

for Borderlands 2 and Unreal Engine 3 games generally: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/3nieya/heres_a_fix_for_bioshocks_stuttering_and_texture/

for all other games i dont know any way you can increase their performance other than lowering settings it seems, although it should not matter much if they are playable with no stuttering IMHO.
You can try playing them through wine and gallium nine and see if they get better performance. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=192761
Also note that i dont have an AMD card and i just searched over the internet for those issues.
hm11 May 14, 2016
once again silverphil thanks, i was thinking of trying gallium nine ima give that one a try , and btw the DRI 3 options seem to be enabled already.
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