Xorg also includes a generic modesetting driver, which is used in the absence of the card specific xorg DDX. Both that and amdgpu use roughly the same technologies for providing xorg/2D acceleration, so unless you need a specific functionality xf86-video-amdgpu provides you might indeed be able to simply sustain on the modesetting driver alone. E.g. one option the xf86-video-amdgpu provides is tearfree in order to help with tearing for non-composited xorg setups, which the modesetting driver doesn't. It won't really have as much of an impact if you're using GNOME anyway as that is composited Answer from V1del on reddit.com
Arch Linux
archlinux.org › packages › extra › x86_64 › xf86-video-amdgpu
Arch Linux - xf86-video-amdgpu 25.0.0-1 (x86_64)
View the file list for xf86-video-amdgpu · View the soname list for xf86-video-amdgpu · Copyright © 2002-2025 Judd Vinet, Aaron Griffin and Levente Polyák. The Arch Linux name and logo are recognized trademarks. Some rights reserved.
FreshPorts
freshports.org › x11-drivers › xf86-video-amdgpu
FreshPorts -- x11-drivers/xf86-video-amdgpu: X.Org amdgpu display driver
This package contains the X.Org xf86-video-amdgpu driver. The amdgpu driver supports AMD Radeon chipsets: OLAND, HAINAN, TAHITI, PITCAIRN, VERDE, BONAIRE, KABINI, MULLINS, KAVERI, HAWAII, TOPAZ, TONGA, CARRIZO, FIJI, STONEY, POLARIS11, POLARIS10 On FreeBSD requires amdgpu KMS driver from graphics/drm-kmod.
Do I need the xf86-video-amdgpu?
Xorg also includes a generic modesetting driver, which is used in the absence of the card specific xorg DDX. Both that and amdgpu use roughly the same technologies for providing xorg/2D acceleration, so unless you need a specific functionality xf86-video-amdgpu provides you might indeed be able to simply sustain on the modesetting driver alone. E.g. one option the xf86-video-amdgpu provides is tearfree in order to help with tearing for non-composited xorg setups, which the modesetting driver doesn't. It won't really have as much of an impact if you're using GNOME anyway as that is composited More on reddit.com
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September 13, 2018What use for xf86-video-amdgpu? | The FreeBSD Forums
Hello, I’m running FreeBSD 14.2-RELEASE on an AMD Ryzen 7 7840U w/ Radeon 780M Graphics. Xorg + Xfce4 works great with drm-61-kmod + gpu-firmware-amd-kmod-* Would the installation of x11-drivers/xf86-video-amdgpu bring any benefits? More on forums.freebsd.org
What am I missing by **not** installing `xf86-video-amdgpu`?
You are not missing out on anything. If the amdgpu video driver module is not there, Xorg will fall back to using the modesetting driver module that's part of the xorg-server package. The modesetting module can do everything that the amdgpu module can do, including variable-refresh for your FreeSync monitor. You can find a listing of the Xorg config settings of the module with man modesetting. More on reddit.com
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December 12, 2022What is the state of xf86-video-amdgpu?
xf86-video-amdgpu
Slight clarification that is an Xorg driver and is mostly meaningless.
The amdgpu kernel driver is where you get HDMI/DP audio support which is not merged as idonotknowwhyiamhere posted.
OpenGL is provided by the radeonsi driver in Mesa and does support modern OpenGL on modern hardware. In some games its faster, in some its slower, in a few it won't work at all (such as those requiring compatibility profiles). It is generally the recommended driver for consumers though.
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January 14, 2017Phoronix
phoronix.com › news › xf86-video-amdgpu-25.0.0
xf86-video-amdgpu 25.0.0 Released With Two Years Worth Of Fixes - Phoronix
July 29, 2025 - It had been two years since the last update to the AMDGPU X.Org DDX driver but now xf86-video-amdgpu 25.0.0 is now available for those relying on this driver/hardware-specific driver for X.Org enabled Linux systems rather than the xf86-video-modesetting generic driver or a Wayland-based desktop.
Gentoo
packages.gentoo.org › packages › x11-drivers › xf86-video-amdgpu
x11-drivers/xf86-video-amdgpu – Gentoo Packages
Accelerated Open Source driver for AMDGPU cards · https://www.x.org/wiki/ Other homepage(s) https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/driver/xf86-video-amdgpu · Upstream · USE flags · Global Use Flags · udev · License · MIT · Maintainer(s) X11 · Related bugs ·
Reddit
reddit.com › r/archlinux › do i need the xf86-video-amdgpu?
r/archlinux on Reddit: Do I need the xf86-video-amdgpu?
September 13, 2018 -
Hi!
I am fairly new here so this might come across as a stupid question but still I am wondering: do I need the xf86-video-amdgpu if im rocking a Vega64? I always hear about AMD pushing their driver right into the kernel so mesa should be all I need right? Thanks!
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The driver in the kernel is just the minimal 2D driver. What you need is "mesa". That includes the AMD driver. "xf86-video-amdgpu" is the xorg driver.
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Xorg also includes a generic modesetting driver, which is used in the absence of the card specific xorg DDX. Both that and amdgpu use roughly the same technologies for providing xorg/2D acceleration, so unless you need a specific functionality xf86-video-amdgpu provides you might indeed be able to simply sustain on the modesetting driver alone. E.g. one option the xf86-video-amdgpu provides is tearfree in order to help with tearing for non-composited xorg setups, which the modesetting driver doesn't. It won't really have as much of an impact if you're using GNOME anyway as that is composited
freedesktop.org
cgit.freedesktop.org › xorg › driver › xf86-video-amdgpu
xorg/driver/xf86-video-amdgpu - AMD Xorg video driver (mirrored from https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/driver/xf86-video-amdgpu)
generated by cgit v1.2.3 (git 2.39.1) at 2025-12-04 15:14:51 +0000
FreeBSD
forums.freebsd.org › desktop usage › display servers
What use for xf86-video-amdgpu? | The FreeBSD Forums
May 27, 2025 - xf86-video-intel - Xorg driver (deprecated) xf86-video-amdgpu - Xorg driver (for amdgpu) xf86-video-modesetting - Xorg driver (for amdgpu, intel and more) amdgpu - KMS Graphics driver i915kms - KMS Graphics driver The Xorg drivers still require the underlying kms graphics drivers.
GitHub
github.com › ronsaldo › xf86-video-amdgpu
GitHub - ronsaldo/xf86-video-amdgpu: Xorg amdgpu ddx driver modified for southern island.
xf86-video-amdgpu - AMD Radeon video driver for the Xorg X server All questions regarding this software should be directed at the Xorg mailing list: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/xorg Please submit bug reports to the Xorg bugzilla: ...
Author ronsaldo
ArchWiki
wiki.archlinux.org › title › AMDGPU
AMDGPU - ArchWiki
May 28, 2026 - For 2D acceleration under Xorg, you may optionally install the xf86-video-amdgpu package, which provides the AMD-specific DDX driver. Most Xorg systems using the amdgpu kernel driver will work correctly with the generic modesetting DDX built into xorg-server.
X.org
lists.x.org › archives › xorg-announce › 2019-October › 003026.html
[ANNOUNCE] xf86-video-amdgpu 19.1.0 - Mailing Lists - X.Org
I'm pleased to announce the 19.1.0 release of xf86-video-amdgpu, the Xorg driver for AMD Radeon GPUs supported by the amdgpu kernel driver. This release supports xserver versions 1.13-1.20. There are no big changes in this release, just fixes and other minor improvements.
Ubunlog
en.ubunlog.com › software › recorders › the new version of the xf86-video-amdgpu 19.0.0 drivers arrives
The new version of the xf86-video-amdgpu 19.0.0 drivers arrives
March 9, 2019 - The new version of the free driver ... hybrid drivers. The xf86-video-amdgpu driver It is designed for use with GPU families such as Tonga, Carrizo, Iceland, Fiji, and Stoney....
openSUSE
software.opensuse.org › package › xf86-video-amdgpu
xf86-video-amdgpu
amdgpu is an Xorg driver for AMD video cards.
Arch Linux ARM
archlinuxarm.org › packages › aarch64 › xf86-video-amdgpu
xf86-video-amdgpu (aarch64) | Packages | Arch Linux ARM
Copyright ©2009-2025 Arch Linux ARM The registered trademark Linux® is used pursuant to a sublicense from LMI, the exclusive licensee of Linus Torvalds, owner of the mark on a world-wide basis. The Arch Linux™ name and logo are used under permission of the Arch Linux Project Lead
Debian
packages.debian.org › sid › x11 › xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu
Debian -- Details of package xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu in sid
This package provides the 'amdgpu' driver for the AMD Radeon cards. The following chip families should be supported: Bonaire, Hawaii, Kaveri, Kabini Mullins, Iceland, Tonga, Carrizo, Fiji, Stoney. More information about X.Org can be found at: <URL:http://www.X.org> This package is built from ...
GitHub
github.com › tdaven › xf86-video-amdgpu
GitHub - tdaven/xf86-video-amdgpu
xf86-video-amdgpu - AMD Radeon video driver for the Xorg X server All questions regarding this software should be directed at the Xorg mailing list: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/xorg Please submit bug reports to the Xorg bugzilla: ...
Author tdaven
GitHub
github.com › X11Libre › xf86-video-amdgpu
GitHub - X11Libre/xf86-video-amdgpu
Contribute to X11Libre/xf86-video-amdgpu development by creating an account on GitHub.
Starred by 20 users
Forked by 5 users
Languages C 95.3% | M4 2.0% | Makefile 1.3% | Meson 1.3% | Shell 0.1% | C 95.3% | M4 2.0% | Makefile 1.3% | Meson 1.3% | Shell 0.1%
Reddit
reddit.com › r/archlinux › what am i missing by **not** installing `xf86-video-amdgpu`?
r/archlinux on Reddit: What am I missing by **not** installing `xf86-video-amdgpu`?
December 12, 2022 -
So I've bought a new laptop and cloned the disk from the old one to the new one. Everything seems fine except for one thing:
When setting the external monitor as the primary one then most applications (mostly Chromium based ones) are being rendered with 1FPS. A few applications like Firefox and the terminal are working fine.
The old laptop didn't have these issues.
That doesn't happen in the following scenarios:
When I use Wayland instead of X11 (can't use it though because I need to record and screen share with MS Teams)
When I set the internal display as the primary one (can't use that because I need workspaces on the external display that is independent from the internal one and GNOME does not support it)
It turns out that - after some online search - the issue might be xf86-video-amdgpu. So I've uninstalled it, rebooted, et voilà, everything works fine now.
I can work, I can watch, I can play (light 3D) games with no issues so far.
So what am I missing by not installing xf86-video-amdgpu?
Should I solve the "issue"? If yes, how?
Specs:
Old Laptop:
Screen: 1920x1080p@60Hz
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
iGPU: AMD Radeon Vega
New Laptop:
Screen: 3840x2160@120Hz with FreeSync
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX
iGPU: AMD Radeon Navi
dGPU: AMD 6850M XT
Monitor:
2560x1440p@144Hz
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You are not missing out on anything. If the amdgpu video driver module is not there, Xorg will fall back to using the modesetting driver module that's part of the xorg-server package. The modesetting module can do everything that the amdgpu module can do, including variable-refresh for your FreeSync monitor. You can find a listing of the Xorg config settings of the module with man modesetting.
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The xf86-video-amdgpu is the AMD GPU video driver for x11. Are you running in x11 mode? If yes, then I believe you do need this driver for hardware acceleration. There are still many apps that depend on this at the moment. I would suggest you to keep it installed. As for why some apps are lagging, I'm not too knowledgeable in that field. Maybe, it is because of the new GPU ... the drivers are not yet ready for it ?
X.org
lists.x.org › archives › xorg-announce › 2018-September › 002918.html
[ANNOUNCE] xf86-video-amdgpu 18.1.0 - Mailing Lists - X.Org
September 14, 2018 - I'm pleased to announce the 18.1.0 release of xf86-video-amdgpu, the Xorg driver for AMD Radeon GPUs supported by the amdgpu kernel driver. This release supports xserver versions 1.13-1.20. Highlights: * When using DC as of Linux 4.17: - Support advanced colour management functionality.
X.org
lists.x.org › archives › xorg-announce › 2016-November › 002741.html
[ANNOUNCE] xf86-video-amdgpu 1.2.0 - Mailing Lists - X.Org
November 17, 2016 - I'm pleased to announce the 1.2.0 release of xf86-video-amdgpu, the Xorg driver for AMD Radeon GPUs supported by the amdgpu kernel driver. This release supports xserver versions 1.10-1.19. Highlights: * Significant 2D compositing performance increase. * Option "TearFree" can now prevent tearing ...