The open-source MESA's RADV driver on Linux has started to receive enablement for AMD's upcoming "GFX12" RDNA 4 GPU architecture.
Open-Source MESA RADV Vulkan Driver Now Starts To Compete With AMD's Official Driver For RDNA 4 "GFX12" GPU Support
Linux has seen a massive influx of AMD's upcoming RDNA 4 GPU content over the platform, with AMD recently fulfilling a merge request for large patches that contribute to the support of the architecture. With that, it seems like open-source developers at Linux, such as Valve engineers, have now started to pour in RDNA 4 material at the higher-popular RADV Vulkan driver, ensuring complete enablement at official launch periods.
With the new update brought in MESA's RADV VULKAN, the driver has seen support for the GFX12 "RDNA 4" GPU assembler, along with making minor changes to ensure the architecture's support. The merge request was opened by RADV developer Samuel Pitoiset from Valve, and here is what the request said:
A bunch of context register moved on GFX12 and this MR contains small changes to simplify adding GFX12 support.
MESA's RADV driver recently has been top-notch when it comes to hardware support. It also enables and optimizes multiple features for a rather superior experience compared to the official AMDVLK. We recently disclosed how the driver saw faster ray-tracing performance for RDNA GPUs, which not only brought in massive performance bumps but also made it a viable alternative to mainstream options, which is why the MESA team has been proactive in ensuring complete support at Linux, for existing and upcoming products.
With this pace, it is expected that RDNA 4 "GFX12" GPU hardware support will drop with MESA's 24.2 quarterly update. If we see the official launch in later quarters of 2024, Linux may well be very set to host new GPUs with complete enablement. The previous ROCm patches also exposed the two SKUs, GFX1201 and GFX1200, which are reported to be the Navi 48 and Navi 44 dies.
AMD RDNA Generational GPU Lineup
| Radeon Lineup | Radeon RX 5000 | Radeon RX 6000 | Radeon RX 7000 | Radeon RX 8000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU Architecture | RDNA 1 | RDNA 2 | RDNA 3 / RDNA 2 | RDNA 4 |
| Process Node | 7nm | 7nm | 5nm/6nm | 5nm/3nm? |
| GPU Family | Navi 1X | Navi 2X | Navi 3X | Navi 4X |
| Flagship GPU | N/A | Navi 21 (5120 SPs) | Navi 31 (6144 SPs) | Navi 41 (Cancelled?) |
| High-End GPU | Navi 10 (2560 SPs) | Navi 22 (2560 SPs) | Navi 32 (4096 SPs) | Navi 48 (4 SEs?) |
| Mid-Tier GPU | Navi 12 (2560 SPs) | Navi 23 (2048 SPs) | Navi 33 (2048 SPs) | N/A? |
| Entry-Tier GPU | Navi 14 (1536 SPs) | Navi 24 (1024 SPs) | Navi 34 (1024 SPs)? | Navi 44 (2 SEs?) |
