PC Graphics

[KiraSol]

Hello, pals and gals! I'm advanced hardware/software user with 20 years of experience. I need advanced help with my mini desktop.

I use AMD Athlon 3000G APU on ASRock A320M-ITX motherboard. And there is a strange bug with integrated AMD Vega 3 GPU. When I start to play any games on Linux or Windows the PC lockups more or less randomly so I have to press reset button.

I've started an investigation. When I launch various CPU or graphical stress tests both on Linux and Windows everything works absolutely stable without lockups. Of course I don't overclock APU because of limited A320 chipset. Changing of any BIOS settings doesn't help and I use fresh 6.60 version. As I said the bug is OS independent.

I need to investigate this problem more deeply with your assistance. Is it hardware malfunction of Athlon and/or motherboard? I have an argument against such proposition. If I add driver's parameter amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xfffd7fff to Linux kernel settings everything works just fine: no lockups, no any other bugs. As far as I know this string enables Radeon OverDrive technology in official AMD Linux driver. And I have to just activate this mode — no need to actually overclock or downclock GPU. So this fact make me think that the problem is rather software related. And I remember that there were no lockups in SuperTuxKart game on Linux when I used older version of Mesa library in the beginning of 2021.

Maybe it's an exclusive bug in AMD drivers for Linux and Windows that reveals itself only with this unique combination of Vega 3 and particular motherboard? Or maybe it's a problem with cooperation between AMD drivers and BIOS?

What does Linux driver's amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xfffd7fff parameter actually change? Why does it solve my problem? How could I activate the same thing on Windows? Radeon control panel doesn't provide me overclocking tab (new integrated iteration of Radeon OverDrive for Windows) because Vega 3 is integrated graphics. MSI Afterburner doesn't help too because of A320 chipset. Also I can't enable overclocking mode in BIOS.

If I try to play Tomb Raider 2013 on Windows nowadays the system still lockups but rather in some particular moments (for example when Lara takes a torch in the beginning of game) and reboots automatically after a few seconds. I have no useful games' logs both on Linux and Windows — everything looks like it used to be. No strange statistics when I enable AMD's hardware overlay on Windows. The temperature of GPU is under 60 C before the lockups of Tomb Raider.

I think that we need to understand the core point of that amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xfffd7fff trick which helps me to avoid GPU lockups on Linux. Maybe it's a hardware issue. Maybe I need to set up some non-obvious BIOS settings (although I've already tried all of them). Maybe it's a problem with AMD drivers both on Linux and Windows (of course I've already checked various drivers' versions). Maybe I just need to activate this ppfeaturemask trick on Windows somehow.

Please help! Thanks in advance.

[elstaci]

I really can't help you when it comes to Linux OS but did find this Fedora googling your Linux Parameter: https://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?325825-A-quick-guide-to-throttle-AMD-GPUs

Seems like that parameter throttles the GPU thus preventing it from overheating and freezing up on the User's RX590 GPU card.

He explains what each line of code does when using that specific  parameter.

By the way, your AMD APU Athlon 3000G Maximum Operating Temperature is 95c and it is unlocked for Overclocking: https://www.amd.com/en/products/apu/amd-athlon-3000g

EDIT: Found that Radeon Settings Performance Tuning Options you can over or under clock the integrated graphics of a APU: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/dh2-020

[KiraSol]

Thanks for your response!

Yes, the article from Fedora's forum proves my information. This parameter enables possibility for overclocking or downclocking but to actually do this you need to make additional steps. You don't over/downclock GPU using just this kernel parameter on Linux — you enable OverDrive mode that gives such possibility and magically prevents lockups in my case.

My APU doesn't overheat. The temperature is under 60 C all the time in any circumstances.

Yes, Athlon 3000G officially supports overclocking but I doubt that overclocking on Windows will work because A320 chipset doesn't support it. In third-party MSI Afterburner I can't save any frequencies other than original. BIOS also doesn't save overclocking parameters after reboot.

Quote from Performance Tuning page you mentioned: “Performance Tuning is not supported on APU Graphics (graphics integrated on a CPU)”.

[elstaci]

I didn't see that statement in Performance Tuning . I guess they were talking about the Processor and not the Integrated Graphics.

So I wonder how Linux is able to over or under clock a APU Integrated Graphics when no other software can including AMD own tuning software.

Open a AMD Support ticket and ask them that question and see what they reply back with from here: https://www.amd.com/en/support/contact-email-form

EDIT: So in BIOS you were able to change the IGPU frequency except that it would go back to default after your rebooted again?

Found this YouTube about overclocking the IGPU of your APU using a Gigabyte BIOS settings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKyc1F6T8C0

If it goes back to default it must meant that BIOS sees something it doesn't like a reverts back to default settings. But that generally happens when it is booting into BIOS.

NOTE: I also see that the Athlon 3000G is a low budget APU. I see that is sell around $50.0 USD.

[KiraSol]

I've already messaged AMD's technical support and still haven't received any useful tips.

You can't overclock on Linux if motherboard or CPU/GPU doesn't support overclocking. But nothing prevents you from enabling Radeon OverDrive mode in driver.

My BIOS saves new iGPU frequency but after reboot reverts it back to default. And this is expected behaviour of A320 chipset that basically doesn't support overclocking.

[KiraSol]

I was wrong! BIOS saves iGPU frequency and doesn't revert it after rebooting but Vega 3 actually works with original 1100 MHz if I check in OSes. And this non-working BIOS overclocking doesn't solve my problem.

[KiraSol]

Maybe someone here has knowledge about AMD GPU drivers for Linux and Windows? Maybe AMD hardware/software engineers read this forum or someone who would ask them? Please help!

[KiraSol · Accepted solution]

Hoorah! Finally I've found a cause of the problem and useful solution. System lockups were caused by RAM profile in BIOS. Too high frequency for my CPU/motherboard combination or unsufficient memory voltage for this frequency. After choosing lower setting everything works just fine on Linux and Windows.

I didn't consider RAM as a potential root of the problem because it worked absolutely stable in other tasks. Also I checked RAM with this BIOS settings many times using various stress tests (including mandatory MemTest). So I thought that RAM chips and memory settings are OK indeed.

So everything is alright with my Athlon, motherboard, BIOS, AMD GPU drivers for Linux and Windows. The only riddle is why amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xfffd7fff driver parameter on Linux fixes this problem at OS level. Some kind of magic…

[deekk]

Hey ,

Iam deekk , 

I am using AMD Athlon 3000G with Radeon vega 3 graphics , And Asus EX-A320M-Gaming Motherboard , Windows 10 Home 64Bit , Now after I installed display drivers of amd from its official site : Link of display drivers of amd  , I also downloaded older 5 versions of it from the last bottom to top , and the latest one 23.11.1 , I also installed chipset drivers of amd from Asus official site : Link to Asus official site   , after the installation , restarts the pc , then full black screen , even mouse cursor is not showing , then I have to go to safe mode and uninstall the drivers , but without drivers screen is very laggy , and pc stucks a lot , so I want to install the display drivers of amd Athlon 3000g with vega 3 graphics , I don't have any graphics card , using 12gb Ram with 2666mhz , please help me with this problem, facing this problem since 2 years , please help me with this .