Im about to change from a Nvidia to AMD video card

Its time to start updating my very ancient hardware. Right now I have a 78lmt-usb motherboard, an FX 4300 cpu and a Nvidia 550ti. I decided to start with the video card because of the good number of cards on the used market, I cant afford new. I just won a Rx 570 8gb card auction and it was likely used for mining so when it gets here I will clean it and reapply thermal paste.

On the software side I likely will start with a timeshift backup just in case. Then remove the Nvidia 390 drivers and other Nvidia software like the config gui. Remove the card and install the Rx 570. I know it wont give me the best performance running a PCIE 3.0 card on a PCIE 2.0 x16 motherboard, but from what I have read PCIE 3.0 is backwards compatible to 2.0. I am pretty sure it will handle Hearthstone, the only game I play and be better than the 550ti.
As far as I understand the drivers for the Rx 570 are open source and baked into the kernel, or is there something extra I need to install? I am not sure because I havent had an AMD video card since the ATI days.

Thanks for any advice.

Jim

you will need to have installed video-linux, check with mhwd -li if its listed there with the video-nvidia, you can install it with:
sudo mhwd -a pci free 0300

I tried the sudo mhwd -a pci free 0300 command with my Nvidia card installed, and it froze the screen. mhwd -li only shows the Nvidia 390 driver. I have a feeling Im going to have to run that when I get and install the rx 570 in a few days. Pacman cant find video-linux.
I think it might be a good idea to start the desktop on my house server and have this thread open when I do swap the cards.

the free 0300 command should be run after you removed the nvidia … otherwise you can installing it with this:
sudo mhwd -i pci video-linux
and when you get your card, you remove the nvidia drivers, shut down your pc, replace cards, and you should be able to boot automatically using the video-linux…
these packages are provided by mhwd, and not pacman…

is the card being connected via cable or directly plugged in the motherboard?

The card will be directly plugged into the motherboard. The plan is to buy the ram next, then a 3600 or 5600 cpu and a B550 motherboard at the same time. The current parts will replace even older hardware in my house server.

I tried the sudo mhwd -i pci video-linux command with the Nvidia card and got this,

Warning: a version of config 'video-linux' is already installed!
Use -f/--force to force installation...

I just closed the terminal as it appears to be installed and forcing in my experience tends to be a bad idea. Especially when I need the Nvidia card to work for a few more days.

check again with mhwd -li if the previous command (free 0300) didnt replace your nvidia with video linux drivers, or just installed them alongside…
when you replace your motherboard, dont forget to disable secure boot, enable ahci, and enable uefi or legacy mode, depending on what you are using right now

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Thanks for the info on the motherboard. Im likely to just enable legacy bios mode. Its likely to be easier since I want to keep my current highly customized install and its setup for a bios motherboard. I will eventually have to replace the install, and at that point will do an uefi setup.

Well the Rx 570 is installed and working. Though there were a few hiccup’s along the way. The first was I forgot to remove the nvidia xorg config. I deleted that and the 570 started working. Then the cooling fans wouldnt spin and the screen went black. I went on my house server and found a solution in CoreCtrl. Now the card works perfectly.
All in all I am super pleased with the performance and the open source driver. I ended up going up 7 tiers on most lists I looked at. I cant wait to try out some games that wouldnt run with the old card.

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