AMD Radeon VII on Linux, how?

Hi
Got such a good price on a Radeon VII, delivery next week, couldn't resist it
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I have two Resolve Studio machines on Linux

1. Threadripper CPU 16 core, GPU 1080ti, Ubuntu Studio, works so well!
2. Older 2xXeon CPU total 16 core, GPU 1080ti, Centos BMD 'reference ISO', works so well but boring OS!
I'm tempted to switch it to Ubuntu Studio

Both boot on SSD, same ram amount, both 10 Gbit ethernet
Both could take both GPU 1080ti cards 'with some shoehorning...'
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What is your experience, serious recommendation etc

Should I use the AMD Radeon VII on AMD or Intel?

I know CPU high speed decoding of 'drone clips etc' is not supported on Xeon and there is probably more differences between CPU's regarding AMD/Intel of source codec/file container format

But that should be irrelevant to the GPU
So, which of my Linux platforms would be best for the Radeon VII?
And of course, why?
Björn

What is the PCIe version of the older 2xXeon?
Use the Radeon VII for final delivery when you do a lot of TNR, it's blazing fast with those kind of workloads.

Hi Micha
It's a Dell Precision T7600
Users guide says PCIe 3.0 and Power supply is 1300W, so a bit old but worth keeping

Björn

Just try what is best for your workflow (Dual 1080ti vs. 1 Radeon VII).

The Radeon VII came yesterday
Something I took for granted was reallly a problem - the card is much higher than the 1080ti and the power connector are facing upwards, on the older Xeon machine I could not put back the side cover if connecting the cables

So focus on the AMD Theadripper, became really complex with drivers and resolve
I tried CentOS and different Ubuntu Studio clean installs
The package from AMD was a failure

Today after searching a lot more on sites I got it to work
By looking in dmesg I could see the GPU was recognised at boot but a firmware part was missing
It caused Resolve to do a core dump

This worked:
Ubuntu Studio 19.04 and rocm (A space in the URL)
https:// rocm.github.io/ROCmInstall.html#known-issues--workarounds

Followed this part:
Ubuntu Support - installing from a Debian repository

I didn't have to do all the steps like 'video group'
After installing Resolve Studio I had to install libopencl (running ./resolve from a terminal window in /opt/resolve/bin gave a clear errror message)

Resolve Studio is very fast, tried some clips with stabilisation and NR, 4k and braw 4.6k

I can give more info if needed
Björn

Hello Björn
Thank you for your posts, i am thinking of changing for W10 to linux for editing with Resolve.
Would you advise it after your testing time?
Best regards
Albrecht
p.s. i have also the Radeon VII and the 3950x

Hi Albrecht
You should check the support for file formats/codecs when you change operating system!
Same with CPU support for h.254
Use the Resolve Studio version, not the free one

I have not altered between the Radeon VII and the 1080ti on the current OS install to measure processing time - lot of risk uninstalling/reinstalling drivers
But I have updated Ubuntu Studio several times and also Resolve Studio after the 'clean install' without problems

The Radeon VII is fast!
But it's very slow to show thumbnails when you open a project, also seems to think a while when you Deliver/Start render, and when you start stabilisation on a clip (compared to the 1080 ti as I remember it)

It's safest to just replace boot SSD disk with a clean one when you try OS combinations, also nice to have the dongle so there is no problem with the network license of Resolve Studio when shifting boot disk

It's just time spent to do it (no extra costs except a small spare SSD) and you will learn and be more able to fix problems later on

Yes, I recommend you to try it!
Björn

Hello bjornzitting,

Do you recommand more Ubuntu 19.10 than 18.04.3 LTS?

I'll also build a workstation with 2 Radeon VII.

Thanks.

Hi Lucius
Read my text from 3/9 again, as I wrote I did not get the VII to load correctly with pre 19.10 Ubuntu Studio
Remember this was late summer last year!
Before Ubuntu Studio/VII I've tried several other dists and of course several Ubuntu dists
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I'm happy if a later distribution/later kernel is stable and works for me
If you prefer an older dist - you didn't specify anything about which dist, it's up to you

Sometimes it's safer to stay longtime on same level with only security patches, sometimes it's safer to do the jump to a major version when it's first patch has arrived

You know afterwards what was best
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If I had a serious problem with it now (half a year later), I would replace the boot disk with a clean SSD and do a clean install of latest/latest to see if it was overall working and seemed stable

If so, do a proper clean install of all new on a reliable SSD
Else read a bit more on the net and try a compromise 'upgrade'

Good luck with your choice, do come back with your experience, good or bad...
And please explain enough so we understand the context and the experience you got

Lifelong learning
Björn