Linux avid gamers will not be affected by RX 5000/6000 sequence driver shift — AMD modifications restricted to Windows due to separated growth

AMD confused the gaming neighborhood drastically after it introduced it could put RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 driver help in “maintenance mode”, however later corrected that the 2 architectures would nonetheless be receiving sport optimizations regardless. Apparently, this confusion additionally led some folks to imagine sport optimizations would additionally cease on AMD’s Linux drivers as nicely. Luckily, Phoronix has printed an article reaffirming that Linux help has not modified with this announcement, primarily as a result of Linux AMD drivers are developed individually from their Windows counterparts.

Linux driver help is maintained very in a different way on AMD GPU drivers in comparison with AMD’s GPU drivers for Windows. Linux driver help for AMD GPUs sometimes dwarfs what AMD helps formally in Windows. Kernel driver help reportedly dates again all the best way to AMD’s GCN 1.2 structure, which incorporates GPUs such because the R9 390X and R9 Fury X.

Helping issues is that AMD GPU driver help in Linux is closely reliant on open-source drivers. Up till September this yr, the AMDVLK driver was the official open-source Linux driver from AMD and was maintained by AMD straight. Community contributions are additionally carried out to assist enhance the driving force’s performance.

There can be the solely community-driven RADV driver that was began earlier than AMD acquired into the Linux sport with its personal AMDVLK driver. Being solely community-driven, RADV is maintained fully independently of AMD and is at the moment the de facto GPU driver for all Radeon GPUs for Linux. RADV is a very robust and well-built driver solution that is supported by many of the industry’s tech giants, including Valve, Google, and Red Hat.

This is why, starting on September 15th, 2025, AMD has opted to discontinue the AMDVLK driver altogether. Support for RADV has grown so much in strength that there is no need to have both AMDVLK and RADV co-existing. Performance on RADV also outshines AMDVLK in many situations. Instead, AMD is backing RADV fully and shifting all of its GPU driver development and maintenance to the RADV driver.

All of this is to say that Linux gamers can rest assured that any nasty driver support changes AMD makes on the Windows side won’t immediately be copied on the Linux side. Even if AMD wanted to start cutting support on the Linux side, it can’t anymore because it has discontinued its own official AMDVLK driver. Pulling the same stunt on RADV would be impossible because too many other companies and individuals are maintaining the driver. (In other words, if AMD stops development for certain GPUs, another company or individual would inevitably take over.)

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