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News Nvidia driver update doubles Linux gaming framerates

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Gareth Halfacree, 7 Nov 2012.

  1. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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  2. damien c

    damien c Mad FPS Gamer

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    As soon as the likes of Call Of Duty and Battlefield games are playable on Linux I will switch to it, but until then I am tied to Windows.
     
  3. Pookie

    Pookie Illegitimi non carborundum

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    It will be some time, but yes once mainstream titles have linux support it will be goodbye to windows for me.
     
  4. rocknroll237

    rocknroll237 What's a Dremel?

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    Yep, me too. :)
     
  5. jinq-sea

    jinq-sea 'write that down in your copy book' Super Moderator

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    It's a long way off, but it'll be a good day...!
     
  6. Snips

    Snips I can do dat, giz a job

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    What was it that Linux tosspot was saying?

    "Linus Torvalds, the man behind the Linux kernel, has called Nvidia 'the single worst company we have ever dealt with,' raising eyebrows - and his middle finger - during a presentation at the Aalto Centre for Entrepreneurship in Finland."

    A large serving of humble pie is on the cards me thinks o.0
     
  7. Aterius Gmork

    Aterius Gmork smell the ashes

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    Oh no, Nvidia is not doing this out of respect for the Linux community or good will. The Steam client beta is starting and they want good benchmarks all over the news sites, that's all. They simply see a return of investment now. I wouldn't be surprised if the other features of Nvidia cards such as the energy saving measures in laptops still won't be implemented properly.
     
  8. Snips

    Snips I can do dat, giz a job

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    You don't know that, any more than I do. That tosser needs to apologize as this single act by Nvidia will make the Steam client a success.
     
  9. jinq-sea

    jinq-sea 'write that down in your copy book' Super Moderator

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    I'd agree with Aterius - there's simply not the proper investment there. I recall trying to install proper nVidia drivers for a card in a Debian machine not three years ago and it was like trying to push water uphill... I've not really bothered since, but if the drivers are getting decent, I'll give it a try. But - the support base for gaming is so well-established for Windows, it'll be a long time until it's a viable option, IMHO.

    It's the same for Macs - I'd love to be able to use my music production rig for games (saves having umpteen machines), but the support isn't there. Or, I'd use my Windows machine for music production. Same problem....

    Anyway - apologies if that's a bit off-topic. It's good that there's development in decent Linux drivers!
     
  10. billysielu

    billysielu Minimodder

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    gamily? GAMILY?
     
  11. Aterius Gmork

    Aterius Gmork smell the ashes

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    I disagree - or rather I wholeheartedly agree, but for different reasons.

    Torwalds indeed has to apologize, because he has acted premature and unprofessional in a business environment to perform a media stunt. Torvalds should not be allowed to act like a rock star just because some Linux groupies think so or act like he is their messiah. (This is not intended as an insult or pointed at anyone in particular of the bit-tech community or a poster in this thread, but all my RL friends think that Torvalds is in the right no matter what because he is Torvalds.)

    Unfortunately he said a right thing the wrong way though. Nvidia's driver support has been terrible in the past, Optimus support for laptops still is not possible without 3rd party tools. Just because Valve (!!) releases Steam which will allow gamers to use Linux - which means more sales - something is done to increase the max framerate in games. Nothing else, and probably only to make sure they are not outperformed by AMD.

    In all other areas the drivers probably still will be bad.

    And yes, this is only a guess. But so is your idea.
     
  12. Phil Rhodes

    Phil Rhodes Hypernobber

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    And this is wrong somehow?
     
  13. Aterius Gmork

    Aterius Gmork smell the ashes

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    Nothing wrong with this at all. Capitalism ho!

    Don't get me wrong, it's a good thing that Nvidia are finally improving their drivers. I'm simply saying that they worked their numbers and deemed the improvement profitable - due to steam and also due to the media attention and free marketing they can get right now.

    It just irks me that people think Nvidia as a corporation care about Linux at all. That's like saying that they care about good games. They don't - they only care about profits.
     
  14. Aracos

    Aracos What's a Dremel?

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    Gaming performance was absolutely nothing to do with what he was talking about. He was asked about what his thoughts were on Nvidia flat out saying they will not support optimus on Linux and so people have to resort to an open source alternative. He talked about how they have so much trouble with Nvidia not supporting features that are on their own hardware on Linux or just being plain difficult to work with despite using Linux and trying to make a real effort in the Android market. Things like Optimus switchable graphics aren't supported and they've shown no signs of caring.

    Gaming performance hasn't really been an issue on Linux with Nvidia hardware.

    On topic though I would say I don't care about gaming performance improvements I just want AMD to pull their finger out and make better Linux drivers. Using an AMD graphics card is just a pain in the arse on Linux in almost every respect. I spent two hours trying find out why the unity interface wasn't loading with the any AMD proprietary drivers the other week. Nobody should have to do that.
     
  15. wafflesomd

    wafflesomd What's a Dremel?

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    When's the last time you used linux? I'm not saying it's bad, but it's no windows in terms of stability.

    I just can't see gaming being the only reason people stick to windows. Linux has problems too, and boy does it have them.
     
  16. Saivert

    Saivert Minimodder

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    Stop treating companies like they are people. They are money machines. Nothing else.
    The sooner you realize this the sooner you can get over yourself too and just accept things the way they are.
    The day gaming on Linux is profitable is the day Linux will get a bigger foothold and attention with game developers, graphics chip vendors, etc.
     
  17. sub routine

    sub routine Archie Gemel

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    lol, well i can hardly see them doing it if it was unprofitable. What you want to be sure is they make good on their actions and keep up the support, i`m all for making games betterer.
     
  18. fluxtatic

    fluxtatic What's a Dremel?

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    The case could be made that if AMD or Nvidia released honest-to-god OSS drivers, the Linux community would heartily ******* them and it might even spark the other to do the same, bringing much happiness to the land of Linux.

    But, honestly, why would they? Remember, we're talking roughly 1% of the desktop market on the entire frickin planet. And the prospects of it growing don't look that good - Windows is pretty solidly entrenched, other than the sliver of market share they've lost to Mac over the last 15-ish years. It isn't like the desktop or even laptop markets are going to grow much. Honestly, we'll be lucky if, 20 years from now, we're still able to buy and assemble parts as we do - it's not out of the realm of possibility that even the DIY market will collapse in the not-unforeseeable future. Why piss money at a market that won't make you money?

    That douche Mitt Romney made the phrase famous, although I've understood it to be true for a lot longer than I've been aware of him - "corporations are people" However, they're not people like you and me, with dreams and aspirations and a conscience - they're motivated only by profit. They have one of the basic urges of people - to be comfortable financially. They swing a lot closer to Carnegie than they do (post-MS, anyway) Bill Gates - they'd curbstomp Mother Theresa if it would make them a buck. Know mob mentality? The larger the mob the dumber it is? Corporations are like that, but the larger the corporation, the less heart they have - the board wants profit at all costs, and in a lot of cases doesn't stop at the line of criminality, much less ethics and morals (hard to instill those values in Frankenstein's monster).

    So, if you're a Linux sort, be happy for what you've got. For both AMD and Nvidia, even the closed-source blob drivers are a favor you should thank them for, not piss on their shoes about how you want open source.

    I've tried to like Linux, I really have. But the last couple times I tried Ubuntu, and when I tried Mint, it was unbelievably frustrating. Sad to say, they're nowhere near Windows in terms of being ready for prime time.

    Nvidia's getting some free press riding on the back of Gabe Newell's (slightly histrionic) freakout about how he's porting Steam to Linux as Windows 8 is a sign of the apocalypse or whatever. Take the bone your being thrown.
     
  19. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    1.58%, according to Wikimedia. Which, I'll grant you, is minuscule, but remember that the number of PCs in the world is estimated at between one billion and two billion - meaning 1.58% of that market represents between 15,800,000 and 31,600,000 PCs. That's a hell of a lot of potential customers: Nvidia reported revenue for the last financial year of $4 billion - helped, incidentally, by strong sales of its Linux-running Tegra chip family - and if it could sell a $50 dedicated GPU to half that potential audience next year it would make an additional $395,000,000 to $790,000,000. That's a 10 to 20 per cent revenue jump, just from selling to half the 1.58% of PC users running Linux.

    TL;DR: Linux may be small on the desktop, but the massive numbers involved mean it's not insignificant.
     
    Last edited: 8 Nov 2012
  20. blacko

    blacko What's a Dremel?

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    haha....linux tosser. I like that.

    Linus needs to apologize. We all knew the day linux would rise to become a viable contender to Windows and OSX was coming. Launching a preemptive strike on Nvidia was just stupid.

    I hope he sends nvidia a fluffy green penguin to say sorry dudez.
     

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