Proper way to replace NVIDIA gpu with AMD gpu

Support Graphics & Display
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I found a similar post here but the steps mentioned didn’t seem right, so I thought I would ask again and bookmark the reply.

As I understand it I must remove the nvidia drivers with mhwd -r video-nvidia or the settings gui before replacing gpu.
swap the gpu with amd and boot.
And thats it, as the mesa drivers are already installed anyway?
Or do I have to enable the mesa drivers in some way?

The other post said we have to go into a live usb before boot and chroot in, then install drivers. But that seems like that would need to be done with nvidia only… right?

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The most critical part is to switch to the video-linux driver before switching the GPU. Both Nvidia and AMD GPUs can work with open-source drivers, albeit less efficiently in Nvidia’s case.
The recommended driver for current AMD GPUs is amdgpu, which is included in video-linux, so indeed you shouldn’t have anything to install after the switch.

If you switch to Nvidia instead, you should still be able to boot and install the proprietary driver, the GPU using the open-source driver in the meantime.

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Simple Solution:

  1. Delete the xorg config for nvidia.
  2. Shutdown.
  3. Replace the GPU.
  4. Boot up.

Xorg will choose the correct driver automatically. Only the proprietary nvidia driver needs instructions in the xorg config file.

EDIT: ok that is not a proper way, but it works if all drivers are installed. If no nvidia card is detected, then the nvidia driver will not be loaded. However this worked everytime for me… :man_shrugging:

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maybe also to update by terminal or TTY

sudo mhwd -a pci free 0300
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Thanks for the reply everyone.

video-linux is already installed so it looks like I just need to remove the nvidia drivers. That should also remove the xorg nvidia setting I would think.

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Uninstall nvidia drivers and left over configs. Replace gpu and boot.

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I should leave the nvidia configs?

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How to do that in command line?

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boot on USB live manjaro
and chroot under terminal

sudo manjaro-chroot -a 
pacman -Syyu ( check internet is ok )
mhwd -a pci free 0300
sync
exit ( end chroot )
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