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Linux 7.3 improves vRAM performance
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Linux 7.3 will include initial vRAM management improvements from Valve's Natalie Vock.
The patches aim to reduce performance drops when games exceed physical VRAM.
Background
Linux 7.3 is the upcoming kernel version, and its merge window is open. Natalie Vock of Valve's Linux graphics team has been working on improving video memory (vRAM) management for gaming, especially for systems with limited vRAM. Her initial patches have been queued into DRM-Next and are slated for merging into Linux 7.3. The work is already shipping in the SteamOS kernel.
How it unfolded
- earlier this yearNatalie Vock laid out patches for improving Linux gaming experience on systems with limited vRAM.
- recentlyThe initial patches were queued into DRM-Next and slated for merging within the next two weeks for the Linux 7.3 merge window.
- recentlyVock published a new blog post outlining the latest work and results on bettering Linux vRAM management, especially for the AMDGPU driver.
Who’s saying what
- Developer
- Natalie Vock says running out of VRAM should be a performance issue, not a stability one, and the patches aim to make it suck as little as possible.
- Analysts
- Phoronix notes that while the initial code is for Linux 7.3, further improvements are still being worked on for a future mainline kernel release.