Are the AMD GPU Compatibility Problems Fully Resolved Yet?

[BryanB]

Hi, I have Version 1 and Version 2 (latest release versions) of Affinity Suite of apps. I now need to update my Windows 10 desktop pc's to machines that will run Windows 11. My current pc's are built around AsRock X99 Extreme 6 motherboards with intel i7 5820K cpu. graphic cards range from ASUS GTX 960 Strix and above. Lovely build but will not run Windows 11. My projected build specs are either AMD based using ASRock Steel Legend socket AM5 motherboards with either AMD Ryzen 9 7900X or Ryzen 9 7950X cpu. Alternative build route will be AsRock Steel Legend Socket 1700 with Intel Core i9 14900K cpu. I fancy the AMD build but I cannot find an answer as to whether the problems with the AMD graphics cards have been fully resolved and full functionality of the software/GPU reinstated. Can anyone please tell me if the AMD graphic card incompatibilities that have been discussed for the last couple of years have been FULLY resolved yet. If not can you please identify which graphic cards, either AMD or Nvidia are FULLY compatible and FULLY functional with Affinity programs?

Thanks for any help given

[Torstein]

I don't know anything about AMD GPUs in Affinity Photo, but at least there is nothing wrong to combine a Ryzen CPU with a Nvidia RTX GPU if that is an option.

[BryanB]

I have been looking at that arrangement. Possibilities are AMD Ryzen 9 7950X or 7900X with a RTX 3060 12 GB or an RTX 4060Ti 16GB.

Or I could just go with an Intel Core i9 14900K with either the 3060 or 4060 gpu. I just fancied trying an all AMD build for once.

I have had replies to the same question posted on Affinity Facebook, copied below,

 

Hi, I have Version 1 and Version 2 (latest release versions) of Affinity Suite of apps. I now need to update my Windows 10 desktop pc's to machines that will run Windows 11. Projected build specs are AMD based using ASRock motherboards with either AMD Ryzen 9 7900X or Ryzen 9 7950X cpu. Can you please tell me if the AMD graphic card incompatibilities that have been discussed for the last couple of years have been FULLY resolved yet. If not can you please identify which graphic cards, either AMD or Nvidia are FULLY compatible and FULLY functional with Affinity programs? Thanks, Bryan

 

Affinity

 

Hello! V2 had updates to the app's memory handling with hardware acceleration enabled which significantlyh improved performance on the AMD RX series cards, so provided that the GPU meets the Direct3D level 12.0 requirement (which most modern GPUS will) for Hardware acceleration it will be fully supported. I've linked to the thread below where this is discussed for more info. https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/136068-amd-radeon-rx-hardware-acceleration/&do=findComment&comment=1066614

 

 

Thank you for your response. I have followed the link provided and read the posts. Although there seems to be some improvements in benchmarks test results it seems that there were still some problems at the time. The last post to that thread was in May 2023. Are you telling me that there have been no further improvements, corrections or developments between May 2023 and February 2024 to fully correct this situation? Also what has been the response to date from AMD regarding this matter? Thanks again for your input.

 

Affinity

 

This update was to address the significant performance issues with the RX series cards, and as shown in the follow up posts resulted in drastically improved benchmark scores and therefore performance. Outside of this thread i'm not aware of another where issues have been specifically raised against performance on AMD. OpenCL support is likely to continue being improved as further software updates are released.

[Torstein]

For me it's all about power efficiency, that equals less noise and heat. Ryzen CPUs are a lot more energy efficient than Intel CPUs and Nvidia GPU's are better in that regard than AMD GPUs.

[BryanB]

I don't mind sacrificing a bit of power efficiency for a pc that is powerful enough to do what I need at the best speed possible for the hardware but it must be totally stable with my chosen software and give long term reliability. The whole reason for the original post was to try and get some information to ensure I could meet my requirements. I would be interested to hear from any Forum members who are running similar builds to what I am looking at as to what if any problems they are having with running Affinity software. 

Thank you Torstein for your input.

[James Ritson]

Hi @BryanB, we did address the main issue with Navi/Big Navi architecture cards—in conjunction with driver updates issued by AMD—which was OpenCL kernel compilation times (they were interminably slow). This was last year, for 2.2 release I believe. Photo accelerates the majority of its raster operations with OpenCL, so many kernels need to be loaded quickly when required. As you can imagine, this caused a bit of a bottleneck with those GPUs.

I did test on a typical AMD Ryzen/GPU combo last year (I think it was a 6000 series GPU) and found performance to be much more acceptable. I've also recently used one of the weaker workstation GPUs (7000 series) and that was OK as well. An nVIDIA card would still—for the time being—give you more peace of mind in terms of driver compatibility for the way OpenCL is leveraged in Photo. I've used a 2070, 3090 and 4090, and apart from a driver issue early last year which was mitigated in-app, they have all been reliable. This is, however, one person's experience, so do bear that in mind. I build my own PCs and start with a fresh Windows install, then keep any additional software outside of what I need to use to a minimum. There is often a recommendation to stick to the Studio drivers, but in practice I haven't found the general gaming ones to be any less reliable.

Hope the above is helpful in some way!

[BryanB]

Hi James, thank you for your very helpful response, it is really appreciated. From your information I get the impression that although the performance with Ryzen cards is much improved, in order to get the performance and reliability I am looking for I would still be better served with nVIDIA GPU cards. I am therefore  leaning towards sticking with Intel CPU's and nVidia GPU's in my replacement pc builds. Again I thank you for your comments.

[Torstein]

Just not what I would recommend...😀

In my view, the best combination for speed, stability and energy efficiency is a Ryzen CPU and a Nvidia RTX GPU.

Anyway, an Intel CPU also works  very well.

[BryanB]

Hi Torstein, I wanted to go with the Ryzen 9 7950X CPU, but since starting on the process of deciding build components I have discovered that there appears to be some problems with this CPU. It looks like quite a few of these processors are developing thermal issues with high temperatures both at idle and under load leading to instabilities. A great shame really, but with several machines to replace I cannot justify the risk. However I am going to look into the 7950X more seriously before making the final choice.