OpenGL and Vulkan

Sparrow

hello, i wondered if anyone could offer advice? i have a Core i5 intel and windows 10 but i cannot run Godot 4 due to vulkan... i have looked into drivers and they do support opengl, but not sure which versions, is it just a case of buying a new pc?? if so which type would be best? or could i replace the graphics card for a optiplex 9020?

thanks in advance Darryl

cybereality

You can use Godot 3.x, that supports OpenGL. Otherwise that PC sounds too old to run Godot 4.0.

Megalomaniak

Godot 4.0(specifically 4.0) is using vulkan and requires at least vulkan 1.2 support.

You can try running vulkaninfo in powershell and it should report the version of vulkan supported by your drivers.

For my RX 470 it reports: Vulkan Instance Version 1.2.162 - I haven't updated my drivers for perhaps about a year now, so probably not the latest vulkan version either.

cybereality

That machine is a 4th gen Intel iGPU. I'm pretty sure that is way too old. Even if you got the drivers working (unlikely) the performance would be too slow. I have an Intel from 2019 and even that is too slow to be usable (even though it supports Vulkan). And those small Dell machines usually can't be upgraded to a dGPU. Though maybe a small PCIe powered GPU could work. Something like this might work, but check that you have space in the case for it.

EDIT, corrected link: https://www.newegg.com/msi-radeon-rx-550-2gt-lp-oc/p/N82E16814137316

Calinou

Godot 4.0(specifically 4.0) is using vulkan and requires at least vulkan 1.2 support.

Godot 4.0 should be able to work with Vulkan 1.0 – anything after that is optional.

Megalomaniak

Ah, cool. I must have been misremembering something else then needing 1.2 on my end.

Megalomaniak

@cybereality said: And those small Dell machines usually can't be upgraded to a dGPU. Though maybe a small PCIe powered GPU could work. Something like this might work, but check that you have space in the case for it.

https://www.newegg.com/sapphire-radeon-rx-550-11268-03cpo/p/N82E16814202328

The key is to make sure of 2 things, 1) the particular dell will even recognize the card in it's bios(or the OS won't even be able to see it) and 2) that it is low profile(not just short in length but half height as opposed to full height in profile): https://www.amazon.com/PNY-NVIDIA-Quadro-K1200-VCQK1200DVI-PB/dp/B00UPHAUG2/ref=sr_1_43?crid=2KSY7T29PEW12

If you check the link you'll see it features 2 changable back brackets. One is about half the size of the other. I do not recommend that gpu, btw. It was just a random pick of something that featured what I was trying to illustrate here.

cybereality

Oh, yes, I'm sorry. This one should fit.

https://www.newegg.com/msi-radeon-rx-550-2gt-lp-oc/p/N82E16814137316

You just have to see if there is a slot on the motherboard. If it's there, it should recognize it.

fire7side

I'm not sure I'd spend 100 on that old of a computer. I wonder how old mine is? I should have wrote down when I bought it. I'm pretty sure it's at least five years old and was a budget computer so it just had an I3 in it. I haven't checked it with godot 4. If it won't run it I'm going to upgrade, even though it does actually still do everything I need. The games I play work fine, but I usually buy games that are older and I don't play that much anyway.

cybereality

Yeah, that's a good point. The OP might be better off getting a new PC, if they can afford it. However, if they can breathe life into that one for $100, still might be worth it.

fire7side

@cybereality said: Yeah, that's a good point. The OP might be better off getting a new PC, if they can afford it. However, if they can breathe life into that one for $100, still might be worth it.

Yeah, I could care less about 3k and all that, and they generally write things for low end computers because of hand helds and the various things that it might run on. It might last quite a while. Hard decision.

Megalomaniak

@cybereality said:

You just have to see if there is a slot on the motherboard. If it's there, it should recognize it.

I wouldn't count on that, these OEM dells are notorious for just not accepting uncertified add-in cards on a bios level. But good luck finding a list of certified ones, so it really is kind of a 50/50. Might work, might not. If the card is too new and bios is too old tho, you can be pretty sure it ain't going to work, you'll be left with a black screen.

dotted

ah pc h3ll. fun fun.

this is why gaming companies like consoles over pc-s generally. the matrix on desktop is an infinite dev nightmare..

cybereality

Honestly, I setup my PS5 again and I'd say it's a better experience than PC. You just boot a game and it works. Graphics are also really nice and probably better than my computer. But you can't do game development on a PS5.