Mesa 22.2 Allows Users To Disable AMD Infinity Cache & Brings Additional Changes in RadeonSI Update For RDNA 3 GPU Enablement

The AMD open-source development team has continued their hard work to incorporate not only recent advancements, such as VCN4 and GFX11 but has also worked to usher in support for the upcoming RDNA 3 GPU line coming out later this year. The team has added further support in the upcoming Linux kernel and the Mesa 22.2 version.

Recently, Marek Olsak, one of the developers of AMD RadeonSI, has added a new merge to the website Freedesktop that will alter the Gallium3D driver heap handling as well as integrate new functionalities.

The merge is connected to the new updates for AMD hardware released later this year. The patches set BIG_PAGE to the attribute ring of the GFX11, which is the graphics block for the next-gen RDNA3 technology.

The code also allows RadeonSI to utilize the flag, "AMDGPU_GEM_CREATE_DISCARDABLE," found in AMD's recent AMDGPU driver code for the Linux kernel. Michael Larabel of Phoronix explains that "the AMDGPU_GEM_CREATE_DISCARDABLE flag for GEM memory management allows for creating the buffer object in dedicated video memory. Still, evictions under memory pressure or similar scenarios will cause it to be discarded rather than preserving/copying it to slower system memory/placement in other memory."

Linux end-users that want to test and evaluate the newest features from the recent merge should note that the AMD Infinity Cache can now be disabled manually. Readers will remember that AMD revealed their Infinity Cache technology with the current RDNA2 graphics cards to increase efficiency and performance with games with much higher resolutions. AMD Infinity Cache offers up to 3.25 times the bandwidth for GDDR6 video memory in some designations.

The disabling of the AMD Infinity Cache comes as a surprise, however, due to the company's heavy promotion of the technology when introducing the new Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards.

To disable the Infinity Cache, users will need to locate the AMD_DEBUG=mall_noalloc debug choice in Mesa 22.2-devel & a compatible AMDGPU driver that supports AMDGPU_VM_PAGE_NOALLOC. The ability to disable Users should only use the AMD Infinity Cache disabling for profiling or debugging purposes. Anyone who deactivates the feature can see its effect while running certain games, but individuals with experience should only activate it. The newest Mesa 22.2 will release in August 2022 and is anticipated to be the minimum requirement for use with AMD's RDNA3 graphics cards.

Source: Phoronix