AMD, NVIDIA GPU Drivers - Windows 7 vs. Ubuntu 12.04 Linux
Benchmarking of an AMD Radeon HD 7950 Southern Islands graphics card under Microsoft Windows 7 Pro x64 and under Ubuntu 12.04 LTS x86_64 Linux. Testing with stock distributions on same hardware. Benchmarking for a future article on Phoronix.com. Results from the GeForce GTX 680 benchmarking on the same system were also tossed in for reference.


Radeon HD 7950: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS: 

	Processor: Intel Core i7-3770K @ 3.50GHz (8 Cores), Motherboard: ECS Z77H2-A2X v1.0, Chipset: Intel Ivy Bridge DRAM, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 240GB OCZ VERTEX3, Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 7900 3072MB (900/1375MHz), Audio: Realtek ALC892, Monitor: SyncMaster, Network: Realtek RTL8111/8168B

	OS: Ubuntu 12.04, Kernel: 3.2.0-23-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 5.10.0, Display Server: X Server 1.11.3, Display Driver: fglrx 8.96.4 Catalyst 12.4, OpenGL: 4.2.11631, Compiler: GCC 4.6, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 2560x1600

Radeon HD 7950: Windows 7: 

	Processor: Intel Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9 Intel (8 Cores), Disk: 56GB

	OS: Windows NT, Kernel: 6.1 (x86_64)

GeForce GTX 680: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS: 

	Processor: Intel Core i7-3770K @ 3.50GHz (8 Cores), Motherboard: ECS Z77H2-A2X v1.0, Chipset: Intel Ivy Bridge DRAM, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 240GB OCZ VERTEX3, Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2048MB (705/3004MHz), Audio: Realtek ALC892, Network: Realtek RTL8111/8168B

	OS: Ubuntu 12.04, Kernel: 3.2.0-23-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 5.10.0, Display Server: X Server 1.11.3, Display Driver: NVIDIA 295.40, OpenGL: 4.2.0 NVIDIA 295.40, Compiler: GCC 4.6, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 2560x1600

GeForce GTX 680: Windows 7: 

	Processor: Intel Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9 Intel (8 Cores), Disk: 56GB

	OS: Windows NT, Kernel: 6.1 (x86_64)


Lightsmark 2008
Resolution: 2560 x 1600
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
Radeon HD 7950: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS .. 456.19 |===================
Radeon HD 7950: Windows 7 ......... 804.71 |=================================
GeForce GTX 680: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . 597.43 |=========================
GeForce GTX 680: Windows 7 ........ 848.66 |===================================


Nexuiz 2.5.2
Resolution: 2560 x 1600 - HDR: Yes - Sound: On
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
Radeon HD 7950: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS .. 123.14 |=====================
Radeon HD 7950: Windows 7 ......... 135.05 |=======================
GeForce GTX 680: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . 201.66 |===================================
GeForce GTX 680: Windows 7 ........ 171.04 |==============================


Unigine Heaven 2.1
Resolution: 1400 x 1050
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
Radeon HD 7950: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS .. 79.34  |========================
Radeon HD 7950: Windows 7 ......... 80.77  |=========================
GeForce GTX 680: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . 104.67 |================================
GeForce GTX 680: Windows 7 ........ 115.27 |===================================


Unigine Heaven 2.1
Resolution: 1600 x 1200
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
Radeon HD 7950: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS .. 71.08 |===========================
Radeon HD 7950: Windows 7 ......... 69.21 |==========================
GeForce GTX 680: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . 91.76 |==================================
GeForce GTX 680: Windows 7 ........ 96.25 |====================================


Unigine Heaven 2.1
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
Radeon HD 7950: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS .. 66.60 |===========================
Radeon HD 7950: Windows 7 ......... 65.01 |===========================
GeForce GTX 680: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . 84.83 |===================================
GeForce GTX 680: Windows 7 ........ 88.23 |====================================


Unigine Heaven 2.1
Resolution: 2560 x 1600
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
Radeon HD 7950: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS .. 44.85 |============================
Radeon HD 7950: Windows 7 ......... 43.91 |============================
GeForce GTX 680: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . 51.38 |================================
GeForce GTX 680: Windows 7 ........ 57.47 |====================================


Unigine Sanctuary 2.3
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
Radeon HD 7950: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS .. 197.96 |=================================
Radeon HD 7950: Windows 7 ......... 190.29 |===============================
GeForce GTX 680: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . 212.58 |===================================
GeForce GTX 680: Windows 7 ........ 207.90 |==================================


Unigine Sanctuary 2.3
Resolution: 2560 x 1600
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
Radeon HD 7950: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS .. 121.89 |==================================
Radeon HD 7950: Windows 7 ......... 120.38 |=================================
GeForce GTX 680: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . 121.87 |==================================
GeForce GTX 680: Windows 7 ........ 127.16 |===================================


Unigine Tropics 1.3
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
Radeon HD 7950: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS .. 153.57 |===============================
Radeon HD 7950: Windows 7 ......... 148.58 |==============================
GeForce GTX 680: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . 172.26 |==================================
GeForce GTX 680: Windows 7 ........ 174.90 |===================================


Unigine Tropics 1.3
Resolution: 2560 x 1600
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
Radeon HD 7950: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS .. 102.49 |================================
Radeon HD 7950: Windows 7 ......... 101.37 |================================
GeForce GTX 680: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . 105.98 |=================================
GeForce GTX 680: Windows 7 ........ 112.34 |===================================


Warsow 0.61
Resolution: 2560 x 1600
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
Radeon HD 7950: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS .. 319.50 |===========================
Radeon HD 7950: Windows 7 ......... 347.73 |=============================
GeForce GTX 680: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . 417.60 |===================================
GeForce GTX 680: Windows 7 ........ 406.50 |==================================


Xonotic 0.6
Resolution: 2560 x 1600 - Effects Quality: High
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
Radeon HD 7950: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS .. 174.89 |========================
Radeon HD 7950: Windows 7 ......... 199.61 |===========================
GeForce GTX 680: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . 257.56 |===================================
GeForce GTX 680: Windows 7 ........ 236.77 |================================


Xonotic 0.6
Resolution: 2560 x 1600 - Effects Quality: Ultra
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
Radeon HD 7950: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS .. 128.26 |==========================
Radeon HD 7950: Windows 7 ......... 137.40 |============================
GeForce GTX 680: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . 172.00 |===================================
GeForce GTX 680: Windows 7 ........ 167.98 |==================================


Xonotic 0.6
Resolution: 2560 x 1600 - Effects Quality: Ultimate
Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better
Radeon HD 7950: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS .. 109.89 |================================
Radeon HD 7950: Windows 7 ......... 113.81 |=================================
GeForce GTX 680: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . 117.18 |==================================
GeForce GTX 680: Windows 7 ........ 120.68 |===================================