--- title: Linux 7.3 To Land Initial Code Improving vRAM... description: Initial kernel patches improving video memory (vRAM) management for the AMDGPU driver are queued for the Linux 7.3 merge window, building on work by Valve's... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-to-land-initial-code-improving-vram-management-more-improvements-coming-zniqpt1d0 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Linux 7.3 To Land Initial Code Improving vRAM Management, More Improvements Coming | daily.dev og:description: Initial kernel patches improving video memory (vRAM) management for the AMDGPU driver are queued for the Linux 7.3 merge window, building on work by Valve's... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-to-land-initial-code-improving-vram-management-more-improvements-coming-zniqpt1d0 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ZniqpT1D0.png og:image:alt: Linux 7.3 To Land Initial Code Improving vRAM Management, More Improvements Coming og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Linux 7.3 To Land Initial Code Improving vRAM Management, More Improvements Coming **[Phoronix](https://daily.dev/sources/phoronix)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Initial kernel patches improving video memory (vRAM) management for the AMDGPU driver are queued for the Linux 7.3 merge window, building on work by Valve's Natalie Vock to make Linux gaming more resilient on systems with limited vRAM. A new blog post details eviction handling nuances and testing with Indiana Jones: The Great Circle, showing that even 1GB of vRAM overcommit on an 8GB card remained playable. The work already ships in SteamOS's stable and preview kernels, with further improvements still being upstreamed for a future mainline release. A test branch is available for those wanting to try the patches outside SteamOS. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What vRAM management improvements are coming in Linux 7.3 for AMD GPUs? Linux 7.3 will land initial kernel patches improving vRAM eviction handling for the AMDGPU driver, developed by Valve's Natalie Vock to help Linux gaming on systems with limited video memory. Testing with Indiana Jones: The Great Circle showed that even 1GB of vRAM overcommit on an 8GB card remained quite playable. This work already ships in SteamOS's stable and preview kernels, with further improvements still being upstreamed. _Follow daily.dev for kernel updates before shipping GPU-dependent Linux gaming or graphics workloads._ ### Where can I test the upcoming AMDGPU vRAM eviction patches before they land in mainline Linux? A branch named vramstuff-rebase on Natalie Vock's kernel fork at gitlab.freedesktop.org/pixelcluster/kernel contains all the vRAM overcommit patches for testing outside of SteamOS. These patches are already shipping in the SteamOS stable and preview kernel channels, and initial versions are queued into DRM-Next for the Linux 7.3 merge window. _daily.dev keeps kernel tinkerers ahead of GPU driver patches worth testing early._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Linux 7.3 is giving my decade-old AMD GPU features it never had on Windows](https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-is-giving-my-decade-old-amd-gpu-features-it-never-had-on-windows-da0i4agni) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Linux just made 8GB VRAM feel like enough for the Steam Machine](https://daily.dev/posts/linux-just-made-8gb-vram-feel-like-enough-for-the-steam-machine-gq7ecqznd) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 1 comments - [Intel Drivers With Mesa 26.2 Ready With Xe In Linux 7.1 To Better Handle vRAM Pressure](https://daily.dev/posts/intel-drivers-with-mesa-26-2-ready-with-xe-in-linux-7-1-to-better-handle-vram-pressure-uvna1kfb4) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#gaming](https://daily.dev/tags/gaming), [#gpu](https://daily.dev/tags/gpu), [#steamos](https://daily.dev/tags/steamos) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-to-land-initial-code-improving-vram-management-more-improvements-coming-zniqpt1d0) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Linux 7.3 To Land Initial Code Improving vRAM Management, More Improvements Coming","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-to-land-initial-code-improving-vram-management-more-improvements-coming-zniqpt1d0","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-to-land-initial-code-improving-vram-management-more-improvements-coming-zniqpt1d0"},"datePublished":"2026-08-17T21:23:52.433Z","dateModified":"2026-08-17T21:24:16.803Z","description":"Initial kernel patches improving video memory (vRAM) management for the AMDGPU driver are queued for the Linux 7.3 merge window, building on work by Valve's...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8a2d3c7792112e93b249193bd420371c?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8a2d3c7792112e93b249193bd420371c?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Phoronix","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Phoronix","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/6a26ba379dd64932830aa0c9803dd7ee","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/phoronix"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-to-land-initial-code-improving-vram-management-more-improvements-coming-zniqpt1d0","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"linux,gaming,gpu,steamos","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Phoronix","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/phoronix"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Linux 7.3 To Land Initial Code Improving vRAM Management, More Improvements Coming"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-to-land-initial-code-improving-vram-management-more-improvements-coming-zniqpt1d0#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What vRAM management improvements are coming in Linux 7.3 for AMD GPUs?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Linux 7.3 will land initial kernel patches improving vRAM eviction handling for the AMDGPU driver, developed by Valve's Natalie Vock to help Linux gaming on systems with limited video memory. Testing with Indiana Jones: The Great Circle showed that even 1GB of vRAM overcommit on an 8GB card remained quite playable. This work already ships in SteamOS's stable and preview kernels, with further improvements still being upstreamed. Follow daily.dev for kernel updates before shipping GPU-dependent Linux gaming or graphics workloads."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Where can I test the upcoming AMDGPU vRAM eviction patches before they land in mainline Linux?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"A branch named vramstuff-rebase on Natalie Vock's kernel fork at gitlab.freedesktop.org/pixelcluster/kernel contains all the vRAM overcommit patches for testing outside of SteamOS. These patches are already shipping in the SteamOS stable and preview kernel channels, and initial versions are queued into DRM-Next for the Linux 7.3 merge window. daily.dev keeps kernel tinkerers ahead of GPU driver patches worth testing early."}}]} ```