Don't.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amdgpu-gtx-1080&num=3

Thanks for the reply damarrin. Looks like AMD is still lagging behind Nvidia. The 1080 did look amazing. I'm sure the 1070 will be impressive too. I think they're also single gpu too. I'm gonna wait for the benchmarks for the RX 480 anyway, but thank you for this link!

I would for sure wait until the new AMD GPU's drop, as they will not only be decent cards, but older cards should become cheaper.

On top of that, I would wait for their new driver system to mature a little more.

I'm waiting for the benchmarks of the RX480 myself. I would love to go back to AMD but not until the drivers get where they need to be. I switched recently to a GTX 960 from a R9 390 and even though the 390 is the more powerful card on Windows it gets blown away on Linux by the GTX 960 because of AMD's poor drivers. Getting the open source drivers working properly for the 390 was a pain and the Catalyst drivers were just abysmal. I despise Nvidia as a company but sadly they're the only easy option on Linux at the moment.

IMO if you aren't using the AMDGPU-PRO Beta 2 Driver (at the moment) then you're doing it wrong, in saying that it does have issues installing for some setups unfortunately which results in lost gamers for AMD. (for example 370s appear to not work with it)

Once it's out of beta and perhaps has a build source tgz then it should be easier for distros to package it up better.

It's quite surprising how many people are still trying to get FGLRX/Crimson drivers working on Linux. Bit sad as those people are going to have a horrible experience and either move to NVIDIA or back to Windows.

Linux probably loses as many gamers a day as it does gain due to all these issues.

I'm debating getting the RX480X 8GB even thought I have a 390x atm, wouldn't mind the lower temps and power usage to tie me over until Vega (still long way off).

Quoting: damarrinDon't.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amdgpu-gtx-1080&num=3

I'd say the opposite. RX 480 isn't even out yet, so no point to decide anything until benchmarks will show up.

And I'd second what others said above. amdgpu + radeonsi should get in shape, but it might happen soon already.

I got burned by AMD graphics too many times (most recently 2 weeks ago where the system wouldn't even boot properly without editing grub config - and even then only software rendering would work) to risk buying their stuff, but I really hope you're right. :-)

I have been burned again, and again, and again by ATi/AMD with every single video card I've had from them since 1999. I've never had an AMD video device for more than 18 months before official support was dropped, and I had to use the "legacy" driver, often requiring Xorg and kernel downgrades.

I switched to NVidia about two years ago, and it's been nothing but smooth sailing. The difference has been night and day. Everything works out-of-the box with the proprietary driver. No serious issues. In some cases they've supported cards for nearly a decade. It looks like the oldest desktop cards currently supported in the 364 driver are GeForce 400 series stuff from circa 2010.

I would need to see a turnaround which stays in effect for at least five years before I could ever trust them again (with current cards still being supported in the official drivers five years from now). Unless Nvidia really screws up, I would not even consider switching to AMD before 2020. In performance terms, AMD has been getting a little better recently, but my old wounds are still sore and I remain suspicious of them.

AMD started seriously supporting Linux only recently, so previous experiences aren't helpful in showing where they are moving. But whether they'll succeed in making things much better - time will tell.