[forktheif]

The open source drivers for my ATI card are pretty good. Performance isn't spectacular but it's acceptable, and I've not run into any serious bugs for years, and I have no trouble changing resolution at all.

[velodrome]

The performance is acceptable. The problem is I have a weird flickering issue when I run Steam on a multi-monitor setup. The fix is to run a command like this:

xrandr --output DFP6 --auto --left-of DFP7 --output DFP6 --scale 1.0001x1.0001

I only had this issue with AMD (not Nvidia).

[moomin]

You're lucky. I get the choice of Steam or a laptop that can sleep. (nVidia)

In many ways it's a good thing, I get more code dOne this way.

[Maakuth]

Is there any kind of hardware acceleration for 3D graphics? If no, then those drivers are pretty much useless for gaming.

[forktheif]

Yes, there's hardware acceleration. For games like TF2 I never dip below 45fps and I'm usually up around 75fps

TF2 isn't exactly a new game, but neither is my graphics card.

[codygman]

There is hardware acceleration for the open source fglrx (radeon) drivers, nouveau (oss for nvidia), and closed source nvidia drivers.

[velodrome]

For me, the open source radeon drivers do not work at all. I am on an AMD 7790 on Ubuntu 13.10. Is the hardware not supported yet?

Is the AMD open source driver better than the closed source one?

[wtallis]

Support for the Radeon 7000 series in the open source driver arrived pretty slow. You should check to see what version of the driver is included with your distribution, as it could easily predate the 3d acceleration support.

For older hardware, the open source driver is getting competitive in terms of performance, and of course has the usual benefits of open source drivers.