Linux News of the Week: AMD Brings Volcano Drivers for RX 9070 (XT), DXVK 2.6 8 Comments
AMD didn’t have its own Volcano driver in the RDNA 4 release, so until now, only the free-cycling driver remained. With AMDVLK 2025.Q1.3, AMD is catching up. With DXVK 2.6, NVIDIA is moving into Reflex for older DirectX 11 titles for Linux. The SteamOS preview talks about non-salient bridge workloads.
AMD Provides Linux Driver for RDNA 4
While the hardware of the RX 9070 (XT) graphics cards themselves is supported by the kernel, there has been no official driver for Volcano applications until now. Although the MESA project was independent and not developed by AMD, it did not include all the features of the new hardware. Raytracing, in particular, still lags behind Windows. While the RADV driver is generally recommended under Linux, as it generally provides better performance and compatibility than its AMD counterpart, an official driver is particularly interesting shortly after the release of the new hardware. This can now be found in the form of AMDVLK 2025.Q1.3 on GitHub and, depending on the distribution, also in the respective benchmarks.
Fan Speed for rDNA 4 with Kernel 6.15
Even though the hardware of current rDNA 4 graphics cards is already supported by the kernel, individual features are still missing. Currently, it is not possible to read the fan speed, which is particularly relevant for fan curve optimizations. With patches for the upcoming 6.15 kernel, driver developers have eliminated this vulnerability.
DXVK 2.6 Released with Nvidia Reflex
DXVK, as one of the core components of Linux gaming, has received a major update in version 2.6, which translates the Linux-readable Volcano commands from DirectX 8 to 11. A key feature here is support for Nvidia Reflex. This can now be enabled in DirectX 11-compatible games, including God of War, Overwatch 2, and Quake Champions. The developers emphasize that the feature will not work in most Unreal Engine 4 games, and users should instead upgrade to DirectX 12. The new version also includes numerous bug fixes and improvements: rendering errors in titles such as Assassin’s Creed 3/Black Flag, Watch Dogs, and Stalker: Clear Sky related to MSAA on Nvidia Graphics cards. The Volcano Swapchain implementation has also been revised and should now be more robust. A complete list of changes can be found on the project page. SteamOS 3.7.0 Preview with Support for Non-Steel Handhelds
With the preview of version 3.7.0, Valve is updating the Steam Deck operating system to Linux kernel 6.11, Plasma 6.2.5, a newer base, and a newer Mesa driver. However, one innovation stands out with the release:
Beginning of Support for Non-Steel Handhelds
While the SteamOS news has been available for a few months now, and is already in the emergency hardware patch as ROG Ally, SteamOS 3.7 is being revised for third-party handhelds. A complete list can be found in the corresponding Valve announcement.
Other Linux and Open Source releases
Openrazer: Razer Periphery’s free driver for controlling lighting and hardware features has received a minor update to 3.10.1. This adds support for additional devices, including the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro, Blade 15 Base (Late 2020), and Kraken Kitty V2.
With version 12.10, Debian 12 Bookwall receives numerous security updates and bug fixes. A complete list can be found in the blog post.
Topics: Operating Systems AMD Gaming Linux Nvidia Open Source Radeon RDNA 4 RX 9070 RX 9070 XT Vulkan Driver
A lifelong video game enthusiast, Julien reviews the latest releases and explores the technologies transforming the gaming world.
