AMD Radeon GPU OpenCL poor perfomance

[jecaz]

It seems AMD Radeon 5000 series and newer GPUs continue to experience crippling performance in hardware accelerated tasks. On the left is a Ryzen 1600x + RX 6900 XT. On the right is a base model Macbook Air M1.

 

 

 

 

[MikeTO]

See the 1.10 benchmark comparison table I compiled in this thread - the final version of it was posted on October 18 so scroll until you find that version of it. Note that you can't compare 2.0 benchmarks to 1.10 benchmarks but the 1.10 information should provide directional guidance on how different systems will perform with Affinity.

 

[Rahora]

The main reason I upgraded to v2 was to trust the fixed OpenCL support with the ATI graphics card (when I upgraded my nVidia graphics card to an ATI, I didn't think how bad I would be in Affinity Photo). Really, everything that v1 can do is enough for my workflow, I would just appreciate the fluidity of the work. I was thinking about getting a refund and waiting "what will happen with the updates" when with v1 this has not been resolved even after a year. But I like Affinity programs, so I'll risk it and wait and hopefully I'll see.
Now the work in Photo is acceptable only with OpenCL disabled, but even then, it is not ideal (when I compare it against the old build with an old nVidia card).

Translated by Google Translate.

 

[baba_yu]

[Danimu]

On 11/10/2022 at 9:23 PM, jecaz said:

It seems AMD Radeon 5000 series and newer GPUs continue to experience crippling performance in hardware accelerated tasks. On the left is a Ryzen 1600x + RX 6900 XT. On the right is a base model Macbook Air M1.

 

 

 

 

Hope Serif / Affinity and AMD solve these problems with a patch or something because as you I just cannot work either

There is so much lag and stuttering
even with low pixel dimensions and few layers

My Rig specifications are:

AMD Ryzen 5 5600g

AMD Radeon RX 6600 8gb

32 GB RAM DDR4 3200mhz

500 GB SSD SATA

Edited November 13, 2022 by Daniel Muñoz

[ARTurek]

It's the same with me. I had to disable hardware acceleration because I couldn't work.

[Vasto7]

Continues to be an issue with me as well.  Disappointing this was not resolved with this major update.

 

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X

AMD Radeon RX 5700

32 GM RAM RAM

1 TB M.2 SSD

[Lee_T]

Hi, 

This is unfortunately down to poor support for OpenCL on ATI cards, not just with our software.

There's unfortunately nothing we can do to improve their card's performance.

Lee

[Rahora]

I am aware that you know more about the issue and I have no reason not to believe it.  However, it strikes me that in other programs I don't have the slightest problem with opencI.  The only problem I have is with Affinity, which I regret.  For example, in Capture One, opencl functionality is better with ATI than with nvidia, where I sometimes had problems.  Well, I'll probably sell the new ATI and buy nVidia again (use Google translator)

[herhey]

This is sad. I hope the developers are working on it.

A similar tier Nvidia card benchmarks 15x times higher.

 

Edited November 21, 2022 by herhey

[herhey]

Would be nice to hear some update from Affinity regarding this issue. I've read a post from February 2021 when they said that there was a bug in AMD drivers and they were waiting for a fix. But the thing is that other apps works just fine with OpenCL, there must be some workaround Affinity developers could implement.

[debraspicher]

1 hour ago, herhey said:

Would be nice to hear some update from Affinity regarding this issue. I've read a post from February 2021 when they said that there was a bug in AMD drivers and they were waiting for a fix. But the thing is that other apps works just fine with OpenCL, there must be some workaround Affinity developers could implement.

Possibly it is some part of the framework the apps are based and it has a conflict with AMD's implementation of OpenCL. There's little that can be done about that if it's not originating from their code but something proprietary to the system it is running on.

[ashf]

Just curious. Adobe apps such as Photoshop use OpenCL, so they are having the same problem with AMD?
 

[herhey]

7 hours ago, ashf said:

Just curious. Adobe apps such as Photoshop use OpenCL, so they are having the same problem with AMD?
 

I'm not sure but I also use Photoshop with hardware acceleration turned on and is much much faster than AF on every single task. 

[slizgi]

On 11/28/2022 at 2:32 PM, herhey said:

I'm not sure but I also use Photoshop with hardware acceleration turned on and is much much faster than AF on every single task. 

Adobe has waaay more money, and maybe already switched to HIP instead of OpenCL - I might be wrong about the latter, tho.

In one of latest drivers from AMD 22.11.1 (I believe) they have to changed something about OpenCL, because synthetic benchmark provided by @Mark Ingram (ex-affinity) give significantly improved times in real-time OpenCL compilation. Before that update, average time was ~1400 ms now it is ~180 ms on my RX6800XT (similar Nvidia card have score of ~50-70 ms, so AMD is still slower here).
Unfortunately, this changes provided by AMD in drivers did not change anything in the Photo Benchmark or V2 application itself. I don't know maybe Affinity need to address it in some V2 update, or something.
I hope something will finally move in this issue.

[Duskstalker]

for intel arc the scores are good. its an issue isolated to amd. intel arc is so fresh and unoptimized - if amd doesnt work with affinity, it seems the openCL of RDNA is just broken.

[slizgi]

1 hour ago, Duskstalker said:

for intel arc the scores are good. its an issue isolated to amd. intel arc is so fresh and unoptimized - if amd doesnt work with affinity, it seems the openCL of RDNA is just broken.

I know, only if Intel Arc would be a good product over all 🤣 but maybe in 2-3 generations if they not cancel it, it might be something to consider 😊
Yes, I think the same that something is not quite well in OpenCL implementation on AMD side, hopefully it is software thing not an architecture issue.
 

[Duskstalker]

the intel cards are way better than amd in any productivity task for the money and also really competitive against nvidia - the a770 is the only good productivity card with 16gb of vram for under $1000. the only pressing issue for arc is game support and some teething issues with the driver interface. ive been using two arc cards for a month - im still getting into it, but for video and photo editing those cards work better than my amd cards already.

[DenisD84]

Really, you're kidding me now!

in 2 years you don't get it right and then ask for money again and still don't get it on the chain.

It would be best if AMD writes on its website all application programs for creatives work only the products of Serif are not supported. 
Since Serif does not manage to communicate this correctly 

[SrPx]

I kind of can't agree ...even if trying. The lower performance happens with "many" apps, a lot of software applications, not just Affinity's. I indeed wanted to buy an AMD card for my graphic work, but have needed to stay with nvidia. The matter is crystal clear. AMD has focused their mainstream cards development to games. From a business point of view it -perhaps- makes sense. nVidia since very long time ago has partnerships and collaborations with many software developers (like intel did, too). Besides that, there's the glaring issue of many technologies used by 3D and 2D apps, that improve our workflow to crazy levels, aren't there: OptiX (many times faster GPU based renders), CUDA, NVENC, etc. They are slowly adding stuff similar those, but it won't be months but maybe years till they can compete with similar features and that those are integrated by software companies. But the difference in performance is well known among labs, companies and reviewers, at least the more technical ones than those caring for games, only.

This is documented  in many professional benchmark systems. In Davinci Resolve Studio video editor (the commercial version, which uses the GPUs till the last bit, compared to other apps) the benchmarks show a very significant difference between AMD and nVidia. The same cards from AMD that are trading blows or in some cases even getting more FPSs in games (in what is not ray tracing, ofc) are in  the bottom of the charts in those benchmarks. In Blender and other 3D apps is less the case, but still there's an important difference with nVidia cards. AMD created cards like the Radeon VII, that back in the day, and even being already EOL (End Of Line, no more production) would compete very well with a 2060 Super 8GB, which by the times, was a very nice card. Of course, still the 2070, 2080, 2080 ti and Titan would get much higher scores. I wouldn't complaint if  they kept sth with  the pricing and performance of that card in graphic apps, even if just one single SKU. As the nvidia Quadros and AMD Radeon Pros have a price tag that is incredibly high for what they really offer in real scenarios, and gotta get a very premium, expensive card if you need a high amount of VRAM.

This has not changed with the following AMD cards generations, sadly (I too would love healthy competition in the graphic cards area, for graphic work applications).

Serif communicates stuff a lot better (even in this very thread, just some posts above) and more frequently than what I remember from Autodesk and Adobe with very show-stopping issues in both of those 2 software industry giants. But they are much smaller company with way fewer resources.

 

[Rahora]

I honestly agree with most of them, and in video editing (especially here) and 3D, nVidia's support is definitely better. I disagree that this is the case with photography programs. I really don't know any other program for photo editing, it was like that, except for Affinity with the latest cards, older ATIs didn't have problems (and maybe they still don't).

[DylanGG]

@LeeThorpe Hi Lee, I bought a high end laptop with an RX 6700S and wasn't aware Affinity V2 wouldn't be able to utilize it. Are you guys still working with AMD to fix this issue? If I had known I would've just stuck with NVIDIA. I hope there is a resolution to this between Affinity and AMD.

Here's my previous GTX 1060 laptop vs my new one. The performance is extremely disappointing. Do you foresee this ever getting fixed?

[Lee_T]

Hi @DylanGG,

This isn't an issue with our software, but rather a graphics driver support issue with AMD for OpenCL. This affects any software using OpenCL heavily and as such there's nothing we can do, only they can resolve it.

Lee

[DylanGG]

Right. On another forum post an ex-Serif employee said you guys were in-touch with AMD about this. Are they still aware and working on a fix?

[Rahora]

2 hours ago, DylanGG said:

@LeeThorpe Hi Lee, I bought a high end laptop with an RX 6700S and wasn't aware Affinity V2 wouldn't be able to utilize it. Are you guys still working with AMD to fix this issue? If I had known I would've just stuck with NVIDIA. I hope there is a resolution to this between Affinity and AMD.

Here's my previous GTX 1060 laptop vs my new one. The performance is extremely disappointing. Do you foresee this ever getting fixed?

That's annoying. Nobody wants to deal with it. Even though Affinity was the only program that had a problem in my PC (for example OpenCL in Capture One works flawlessly with ATI) , I ended up selling the ATI RX 6700 XT and buying an nVidia 3060 Ti.