UHD 4K Linux Catalyst vs. RadeonSI AMD Performance

RadeonSI Gallium3D graphics testing on Linux 3.17 kernel with Ubuntu of different AMD graphics cards running at HDMI 4K resolution compared to proprietary AMD Catalyst Linux driver. Benchmarks by Michael Larabel for a future article on Phoronix.com. The HD 7850 was left out due to apparent re-clocking / performance issues with RadeonSI while the Radeon HD 7950 was left out since under the Catalyst driver tested there was frequent flickering / mode-setting issues at 3840 x 2160.

Compare your own system(s) to this result file with the Phoronix Test Suite by running the command: phoronix-test-suite benchmark 1409122-LI-4KOPENSOU16
Jump To Table - Results

View

Do Not Show Noisy Results
Do Not Show Results With Incomplete Data
Do Not Show Results With Little Change/Spread
List Notable Results

Limit displaying results to tests within:

Desktop Graphics 3 Tests
OpenGL Demos Test Suite 2 Tests
Unigine Test Suite 2 Tests

Statistics

Show Overall Harmonic Mean(s)
Show Overall Geometric Mean
Show Geometric Means Per-Suite/Category
Show Wins / Losses Counts (Pie Chart)
Normalize Results
Remove Outliers Before Calculating Averages

Graph Settings

Force Line Graphs Where Applicable
Convert To Scalar Where Applicable
Disable Color Branding
Prefer Vertical Bar Graphs
On Line Graphs With Missing Data, Connect The Line Gaps

Multi-Way Comparison

Condense Comparison
Transpose Comparison

Table

Show Detailed System Result Table

Run Management

Highlight
Result
Hide
Result
Result
Identifier
View Logs
Performance Per
Dollar
Date
Run
  Test
  Duration
RadeonSI: Radeon R7 260X
September 11 2014
 
RadeonSI: Radeon R9 270X
September 11 2014
 
RadeonSI: Radeon R9 290
September 11 2014
 
Catalyst: Radeon R7 260X
September 12 2014
 
Catalyst: Radeon R9 270X
September 12 2014
 
Catalyst: Radeon R9 290
September 12 2014
 
Invert Hiding All Results Option
 

Only show results where is faster than
Only show results matching title/arguments (delimit multiple options with a comma):
Do not show results matching title/arguments (delimit multiple options with a comma):

RadeonSI: Radeon R7 260X

Processor: Intel Core i7-5960X @ 3.50GHz (16 Cores), Motherboard: Gigabyte X99-UD4-CF, Chipset: Intel Haswell-E DMI2, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 128GB Crucial_CT128MX1, Graphics: Sapphire AMD Radeon R7 260X 2048MB, Audio: Intel Wellsburg HD Audio, Monitor: SE39UY04, Network: Intel Connection

OS: Ubuntu 14.10, Kernel: 3.17.0-999-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 7.3.1, Display Server: X Server 1.15.1, Display Driver: radeon 7.4.0, OpenGL: 3.3 Mesa 10.4.0-devel (git-82edcb9 2014-09-11 utopic-oibaf-ppa) Gallium 0.4, Compiler: GCC 4.9.1, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 3840x2160

Processor Notes: Scaling Governor: intel_pstate powersave
Graphics Notes: GLAMOR

RadeonSI: Radeon R9 270X

Changed Graphics to Gigabyte AMD Radeon R9 270X 2048MB.

RadeonSI: Radeon R9 290

Changed Graphics to XFX AMD Radeon R9 290 4096MB.

Catalyst: Radeon R7 260X

Processor: Intel Core i7-5960X @ 3.50GHz (16 Cores), Motherboard: Gigabyte X99-UD4-CF, Chipset: Intel Haswell-E DMI2, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 128GB Crucial_CT128MX1, Graphics: Sapphire AMD Radeon R7 200 2048MB, Audio: Intel Wellsburg HD Audio, Monitor: SE39UY04, Network: Intel Connection

OS: Ubuntu 14.10, Kernel: 3.16.0-14-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 7.3.1, Display Server: X Server 1.15.1, Display Driver: fglrx 14.20.7, OpenGL: 4.4.12968, Compiler: GCC 4.9.1, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 3840x2160

Environment Notes: LIBGL_DRIVERS_PATH=/usr/lib/fglrx/dri:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri:/usr/lib/dri:/usr/lib32/fglrx/dri:/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dri
Processor Notes: Scaling Governor: intel_pstate powersave

Catalyst: Radeon R9 270X

Changed Graphics to Gigabyte AMD Radeon R9 200 2048MB.

Catalyst: Radeon R9 290

Changed Graphics to XFX AMD Radeon R9 200 4096MB.

UHD 4K Linux Catalyst vs. RadeonSI AMD PerformanceOpenBenchmarking.orgPhoronix Test SuiteIntel Core i7-5960X @ 3.50GHz (16 Cores)Gigabyte X99-UD4-CFIntel Haswell-E DMI216384MB128GB Crucial_CT128MX1Sapphire AMD Radeon R7 260X 2048MBGigabyte AMD Radeon R9 270X 2048MBXFX AMD Radeon R9 290 4096MBSapphire AMD Radeon R7 200 2048MBGigabyte AMD Radeon R9 200 2048MBXFX AMD Radeon R9 200 4096MBIntel Wellsburg HD AudioSE39UY04Intel ConnectionUbuntu 14.103.17.0-999-generic (x86_64)3.16.0-14-generic (x86_64)Unity 7.3.1X Server 1.15.1radeon 7.4.0fglrx 14.20.73.3 Mesa 10.4.0-devel (git-82edcb9 2014-09-11 utopic-oibaf-ppa) Gallium 0.44.4.12968GCC 4.9.1ext43840x2160ProcessorMotherboardChipsetMemoryDiskGraphicsAudioMonitorNetworkOSKernelsDesktopDisplay ServerDisplay DriversOpenGLsCompilerFile-SystemScreen ResolutionUHD 4K Linux Catalyst Vs. RadeonSI AMD Performance BenchmarksSystem Logs- Scaling Governor: intel_pstate powersave- RadeonSI: Radeon R7 260X, RadeonSI: Radeon R9 270X, RadeonSI: Radeon R9 290: GLAMOR- Catalyst: Radeon R7 260X, Catalyst: Radeon R9 270X, Catalyst: Radeon R9 290: LIBGL_DRIVERS_PATH=/usr/lib/fglrx/dri:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri:/usr/lib/dri:/usr/lib32/fglrx/dri:/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dri

tesseract: 3840 x 2160warsow: 3840 x 2160xonotic: 3840 x 2160 - Highxonotic: 3840 x 2160 - Ultraxonotic: 3840 x 2160 - Ultimateunigine-tropics: 3840 x 2160unigine-valley: 3840 x 2160RadeonSICatalyst Radeon R7 260X Radeon R9 270X Radeon R9 290 Radeon R7 260X Radeon R9 270X Radeon R9 29038.3372.8076.5462.9045.1421.9355.57102.97103.7482.7556.9933.3921.2643.6832.5030.1025.8610.0962.4282.90103.9090.3668.0732.717.3487.35108.60145.17124.2890.9250.8610.91109.12136.37170.60148.55111.7671.8617.77OpenBenchmarking.org

Tesseract

Tesseract is a fork of Cube 2 Sauerbraten with numerous graphics and game-play improvements. Tesseract has been in development since 2012 while its first release happened in May of 2014. Learn more via the OpenBenchmarking.org test page.

RadeonSICatalystOpenBenchmarking.orgFrames Per Second, More Is BetterTesseract 2014-05-12Resolution: 3840 x 2160Radeon R7 260XRadeon R9 270XRadeon R9 29020406080100SE +/- 0.14, N = 3SE +/- 0.08, N = 3SE +/- 0.03, N = 3SE +/- 0.16, N = 3SE +/- 1.23, N = 3SE +/- 1.58, N = 638.3355.5721.2662.4287.35109.12
RadeonSICatalystOpenBenchmarking.orgFrames Per Second, More Is BetterTesseract 2014-05-12Resolution: 3840 x 2160Radeon R7 260XRadeon R9 270XRadeon R9 29020406080100Min: 38.13 / Avg: 38.33 / Max: 38.6Min: 55.41 / Avg: 55.57 / Max: 55.66Min: 21.2 / Avg: 21.26 / Max: 21.3Min: 62.15 / Avg: 62.42 / Max: 62.72Min: 85.23 / Avg: 87.35 / Max: 89.47Min: 105.95 / Avg: 109.12 / Max: 116.51

Warsow

This is a benchmark of Warsow, a popular open-source first-person shooter. This game uses the QFusion engine. Learn more via the OpenBenchmarking.org test page.

RadeonSICatalystOpenBenchmarking.orgFrames Per Second, More Is BetterWarsow 1.51Resolution: 3840 x 2160Radeon R7 260XRadeon R9 270XRadeon R9 290306090120150SE +/- 1.35, N = 3SE +/- 1.33, N = 3SE +/- 1.01, N = 6SE +/- 0.15, N = 3SE +/- 0.35, N = 3SE +/- 0.03, N = 372.80102.9743.6882.90108.60136.37
RadeonSICatalystOpenBenchmarking.orgFrames Per Second, More Is BetterWarsow 1.51Resolution: 3840 x 2160Radeon R7 260XRadeon R9 270XRadeon R9 290306090120150Min: 70.2 / Avg: 72.8 / Max: 74.7Min: 100.8 / Avg: 102.97 / Max: 105.4Min: 40.3 / Avg: 43.68 / Max: 47Min: 82.7 / Avg: 82.9 / Max: 83.2Min: 107.9 / Avg: 108.6 / Max: 109Min: 136.3 / Avg: 136.37 / Max: 136.4

Xonotic

RadeonSICatalystOpenBenchmarking.orgFrames Per Second, More Is BetterXonotic 0.7Resolution: 3840 x 2160 - Effects Quality: HighRadeon R7 260XRadeon R9 270XRadeon R9 2904080120160200SE +/- 0.39, N = 3SE +/- 0.35, N = 3SE +/- 0.03, N = 3SE +/- 0.37, N = 3SE +/- 0.34, N = 3SE +/- 0.44, N = 376.54103.7432.50103.90145.17170.60
RadeonSICatalystOpenBenchmarking.orgFrames Per Second, More Is BetterXonotic 0.7Resolution: 3840 x 2160 - Effects Quality: HighRadeon R7 260XRadeon R9 270XRadeon R9 290306090120150Min: 75.92 / Avg: 76.54 / Max: 77.25Min: 103.06 / Avg: 103.74 / Max: 104.21Min: 32.46 / Avg: 32.5 / Max: 32.56Min: 103.26 / Avg: 103.9 / Max: 104.53Min: 144.5 / Avg: 145.17 / Max: 145.6Min: 169.89 / Avg: 170.6 / Max: 171.41

RadeonSICatalystOpenBenchmarking.orgFrames Per Second, More Is BetterXonotic 0.7Resolution: 3840 x 2160 - Effects Quality: UltraRadeon R7 260XRadeon R9 270XRadeon R9 290306090120150SE +/- 0.21, N = 3SE +/- 0.15, N = 3SE +/- 0.08, N = 3SE +/- 0.16, N = 3SE +/- 0.42, N = 3SE +/- 0.77, N = 362.9082.7530.1090.36124.28148.55
RadeonSICatalystOpenBenchmarking.orgFrames Per Second, More Is BetterXonotic 0.7Resolution: 3840 x 2160 - Effects Quality: UltraRadeon R7 260XRadeon R9 270XRadeon R9 290306090120150Min: 62.5 / Avg: 62.9 / Max: 63.2Min: 82.47 / Avg: 82.75 / Max: 82.95Min: 29.94 / Avg: 30.1 / Max: 30.21Min: 90.11 / Avg: 90.36 / Max: 90.67Min: 123.64 / Avg: 124.28 / Max: 125.08Min: 147 / Avg: 148.55 / Max: 149.39

RadeonSICatalystOpenBenchmarking.orgFrames Per Second, More Is BetterXonotic 0.7Resolution: 3840 x 2160 - Effects Quality: UltimateRadeon R7 260XRadeon R9 270XRadeon R9 290306090120150SE +/- 0.72, N = 4SE +/- 0.78, N = 6SE +/- 0.23, N = 3SE +/- 0.15, N = 3SE +/- 0.36, N = 3SE +/- 0.15, N = 345.1456.9925.8668.0790.92111.76
RadeonSICatalystOpenBenchmarking.orgFrames Per Second, More Is BetterXonotic 0.7Resolution: 3840 x 2160 - Effects Quality: UltimateRadeon R7 260XRadeon R9 270XRadeon R9 29020406080100Min: 43.12 / Avg: 45.14 / Max: 46.45Min: 54.73 / Avg: 56.99 / Max: 59.79Min: 25.4 / Avg: 25.86 / Max: 26.13Min: 67.79 / Avg: 68.07 / Max: 68.31Min: 90.33 / Avg: 90.92 / Max: 91.58Min: 111.47 / Avg: 111.76 / Max: 111.94

Unigine Tropics

RadeonSICatalystOpenBenchmarking.orgFrames Per Second, More Is BetterUnigine Tropics 1.3Resolution: 3840 x 2160Radeon R7 260XRadeon R9 270XRadeon R9 2901632486480SE +/- 0.01, N = 3SE +/- 0.01, N = 3SE +/- 0.00, N = 3SE +/- 0.08, N = 3SE +/- 0.00, N = 3SE +/- 0.03, N = 321.9333.3910.0932.7150.8671.86
RadeonSICatalystOpenBenchmarking.orgFrames Per Second, More Is BetterUnigine Tropics 1.3Resolution: 3840 x 2160Radeon R7 260XRadeon R9 270XRadeon R9 2901428425670Min: 21.92 / Avg: 21.93 / Max: 21.96Min: 33.37 / Avg: 33.39 / Max: 33.42Min: 10.09 / Avg: 10.09 / Max: 10.1Min: 32.56 / Avg: 32.71 / Max: 32.8Min: 50.85 / Avg: 50.86 / Max: 50.86Min: 71.82 / Avg: 71.86 / Max: 71.91

Unigine Valley

OpenBenchmarking.orgFrames Per Second, More Is BetterUnigine Valley 1.0Resolution: 3840 x 2160Radeon R7 260XRadeon R9 270XRadeon R9 29048121620SE +/- 0.03, N = 3SE +/- 0.11, N = 3SE +/- 0.01, N = 37.3410.9117.77
OpenBenchmarking.orgFrames Per Second, More Is BetterUnigine Valley 1.0Resolution: 3840 x 2160Radeon R7 260XRadeon R9 270XRadeon R9 29048121620Min: 7.27 / Avg: 7.34 / Max: 7.37Min: 10.69 / Avg: 10.91 / Max: 11.02Min: 17.75 / Avg: 17.77 / Max: 17.79

RadeonSI: Radeon R7 260X

Processor: Intel Core i7-5960X @ 3.50GHz (16 Cores), Motherboard: Gigabyte X99-UD4-CF, Chipset: Intel Haswell-E DMI2, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 128GB Crucial_CT128MX1, Graphics: Sapphire AMD Radeon R7 260X 2048MB, Audio: Intel Wellsburg HD Audio, Monitor: SE39UY04, Network: Intel Connection

OS: Ubuntu 14.10, Kernel: 3.17.0-999-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 7.3.1, Display Server: X Server 1.15.1, Display Driver: radeon 7.4.0, OpenGL: 3.3 Mesa 10.4.0-devel (git-82edcb9 2014-09-11 utopic-oibaf-ppa) Gallium 0.4, Compiler: GCC 4.9.1, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 3840x2160

Processor Notes: Scaling Governor: intel_pstate powersave
Graphics Notes: GLAMOR

Testing initiated at 11 September 2014 13:31 by user pts.

RadeonSI: Radeon R9 270X

Processor: Intel Core i7-5960X @ 3.50GHz (16 Cores), Motherboard: Gigabyte X99-UD4-CF, Chipset: Intel Haswell-E DMI2, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 128GB Crucial_CT128MX1, Graphics: Gigabyte AMD Radeon R9 270X 2048MB, Audio: Intel Wellsburg HD Audio, Monitor: SE39UY04, Network: Intel Connection

OS: Ubuntu 14.10, Kernel: 3.17.0-999-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 7.3.1, Display Server: X Server 1.15.1, Display Driver: radeon 7.4.0, OpenGL: 3.3 Mesa 10.4.0-devel (git-82edcb9 2014-09-11 utopic-oibaf-ppa) Gallium 0.4, Compiler: GCC 4.9.1, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 3840x2160

Processor Notes: Scaling Governor: intel_pstate powersave
Graphics Notes: GLAMOR

Testing initiated at 11 September 2014 14:46 by user pts.

RadeonSI: Radeon R9 290

Processor: Intel Core i7-5960X @ 3.50GHz (16 Cores), Motherboard: Gigabyte X99-UD4-CF, Chipset: Intel Haswell-E DMI2, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 128GB Crucial_CT128MX1, Graphics: XFX AMD Radeon R9 290 4096MB, Audio: Intel Wellsburg HD Audio, Monitor: SE39UY04, Network: Intel Connection

OS: Ubuntu 14.10, Kernel: 3.17.0-999-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 7.3.1, Display Server: X Server 1.15.1, Display Driver: radeon 7.4.0, OpenGL: 3.3 Mesa 10.4.0-devel (git-82edcb9 2014-09-11 utopic-oibaf-ppa) Gallium 0.4, Compiler: GCC 4.9.1, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 3840x2160

Processor Notes: Scaling Governor: intel_pstate powersave
Graphics Notes: GLAMOR

Testing initiated at 11 September 2014 16:32 by user pts.

Catalyst: Radeon R7 260X

Processor: Intel Core i7-5960X @ 3.50GHz (16 Cores), Motherboard: Gigabyte X99-UD4-CF, Chipset: Intel Haswell-E DMI2, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 128GB Crucial_CT128MX1, Graphics: Sapphire AMD Radeon R7 200 2048MB, Audio: Intel Wellsburg HD Audio, Monitor: SE39UY04, Network: Intel Connection

OS: Ubuntu 14.10, Kernel: 3.16.0-14-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 7.3.1, Display Server: X Server 1.15.1, Display Driver: fglrx 14.20.7, OpenGL: 4.4.12968, Compiler: GCC 4.9.1, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 3840x2160

Environment Notes: LIBGL_DRIVERS_PATH=/usr/lib/fglrx/dri:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri:/usr/lib/dri:/usr/lib32/fglrx/dri:/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dri
Processor Notes: Scaling Governor: intel_pstate powersave

Testing initiated at 12 September 2014 08:55 by user phoronix.

Catalyst: Radeon R9 270X

Processor: Intel Core i7-5960X @ 3.50GHz (16 Cores), Motherboard: Gigabyte X99-UD4-CF, Chipset: Intel Haswell-E DMI2, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 128GB Crucial_CT128MX1, Graphics: Gigabyte AMD Radeon R9 200 2048MB, Audio: Intel Wellsburg HD Audio, Monitor: SE39UY04, Network: Intel Connection

OS: Ubuntu 14.10, Kernel: 3.16.0-14-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 7.3.1, Display Server: X Server 1.15.1, Display Driver: fglrx 14.20.7, OpenGL: 4.4.12968, Compiler: GCC 4.9.1, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 3840x2160

Environment Notes: LIBGL_DRIVERS_PATH=/usr/lib/fglrx/dri:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri:/usr/lib/dri:/usr/lib32/fglrx/dri:/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dri
Processor Notes: Scaling Governor: intel_pstate powersave

Testing initiated at 12 September 2014 09:58 by user phoronix.

Catalyst: Radeon R9 290

Processor: Intel Core i7-5960X @ 3.50GHz (16 Cores), Motherboard: Gigabyte X99-UD4-CF, Chipset: Intel Haswell-E DMI2, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 128GB Crucial_CT128MX1, Graphics: XFX AMD Radeon R9 200 4096MB, Audio: Intel Wellsburg HD Audio, Monitor: SE39UY04, Network: Intel Connection

OS: Ubuntu 14.10, Kernel: 3.16.0-14-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 7.3.1, Display Server: X Server 1.15.1, Display Driver: fglrx 14.20.7, OpenGL: 4.4.12968, Compiler: GCC 4.9.1, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 3840x2160

Environment Notes: LIBGL_DRIVERS_PATH=/usr/lib/fglrx/dri:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri:/usr/lib/dri:/usr/lib32/fglrx/dri:/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dri
Processor Notes: Scaling Governor: intel_pstate powersave

Testing initiated at 12 September 2014 10:47 by user phoronix.