AMD RDNA 3 Refresh Code

It was just a few hours ago that new graphics driver code for Linux was discovered. This code looks to give early support for an AMD RDNA 3 Refresh. According to Phoronix, the Mesa 23.3 version includes new code for supporting GFX11.5 with the RadeonSI Gallium3D driver. To provide some background, the GFX11 support has been enabled in the most recent version of the Linux Mesa 3D graphics library in order to increase the performance of OpenGL, Vulkan, and other graphics APIs when AMD RDNA 3 GPUs are in use.

An increase of 0.5 in the version number of the GFX11 library indicates that a very minor graphics update for RDNA 3 is on its way. According to the source, the GFX11.5 enablement code that will be included in the forthcoming Mesa 23.3 release is “quite small and mostly about adding GFX11.5 to proceed along the existing GFX11.0 / Navi 3x driver code paths.” This information lends credence to the notion that the future release will be a relatively minor update.

In the event that it takes place, the update of the AMD RDNA 3 shouldn’t be too far off in the distance. It is anticipated that Mesa 23.3 will come during this quarter. This release will include a new enabling code for GFX11.5.

Linux Mesa 23.3 Graphics Driver

There is very little supporting evidence beyond these Mesa driver modifications, thus any talk of an AMD RDNA 3 update should be treated with a grain or two of salt. If anything, you should consider these rumors with a pinch of salt. In addition, the preponderance of speculations suggest that any RDNA 3 upgrade that AMD may have been considering has been scrapped. Keep in mind that AMD’s Radeon RX 7700 XT and RX 7800 XT launches were far behind schedule.

An earlier article by Phoronix on Mesa’s GFX11.5 support said that the most likely reason for the driver modification was to prepare for the launch of the Ryzen 8000 ‘Strix Point’ series APUs. This was the explanation that received the most support. It’s possible that these new APUs have RDNA 3.5 architecture with somewhat modified RDNA 3 GPUs incorporated.

In conclusion, it seems as though the Mesa 23.3 version for Linux provides support for some new AMD GPU or another. On the other hand, the rumor mill would lead us to believe that we should not anticipate new discrete Radeon RX 7050 series GPUs but rather Ryzen 8000 APUs that enable RDNA 3.5 instead. In any event, it is encouraging to get the impression that Linux users should be able to profit from the most recent AMD technology from the very first day it is released