Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech.
Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart, Listverse, and MakeTechEasier. However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics.
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Summary
- Linux 7.3 is finally out after the usual two-month wait.
- The spotlight tweak means that low-VRAM AMD GPUs get kernel tweaks to boost gaming performance.
- The fix, spotted in April, has finally landed in 7.3; update your distro if you game on older AMD GPUs.
Well, it's finally here. After the usual two months of waiting, Linux 7.3 has been released, and it's a real mix of features this time around. However, this one is especially useful if you're running an AMD GPU that doesn't have a ton of VRAM, as this finally adds a feature that has been sitting on the sidelines since April.
Linux 7.3 gives low-VRAM AMD GPUs some nice performance tweaks
We've been waiting months for it to appear
Linus Torvalds announced the release on Sunday, after Linux 7.3 successfully went through the standard rounds of release candidates. It took around two months for 7.3 to come out, which is the norm for a build that doesn't put up too strong a fight during testing.
It seems Torvalds is pretty chill about 7.3's release, too:
"Anyway, nothing very special seems to have happened this last week, so as expected the final 7.3 is out, and thus tomorrow the merge window for 7.4 opens. Except I'm on my annual family vacation, so instead of merging anything first thing in the morning, I'll spend most of the day on a boat and under water. I'll get back to merging in the afternoon, but I expect my schedule to be a bit unusual for a while."
The spotlight feature this time around is a powerful tweak to how the Linux kernel handles AMD GPUs without much VRAM. We first spotted the fix from Valve engineer Natalie Vock back in April of this year, and it seems it took a little while to go through the pipeline. Well, it's finally here with Linux 7.3, so if you've been gaming on an older AMD GPU, be sure to download it as soon as you can and see if you notice a performance boost.