Intel used AMD code to get a 10% frame-rate boost in some Linux games

This change will hopefully be incoming with a future Intel GPU driver

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Linux gamingcould soon get better for those usingIntelgraphics on their PC, thanks to tweaks which have reportedly boosted performance by around 10%.

How has this happened? AsPhoronix.com, that ever-present source of Linux info, reports, Jason Ekstrand – a member of Intel’s open source driver development team – has ported over an optimization taken from the ACO compiler (‘AMDCOmpiler’, a project in which Valve is collaborating with AMD) to the Intel driver on Linux.

The resulting honed Intel driver is apparently delivering a 10% boost in frame-rates for some OpenGL and Vulkan games running under Linux.

Some of the games which have seen the most impressive increases in terms of running more smoothly include Doom, Shadow of Mordor, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider among others. According to Ekstrand, it’s the Tomb Raider games which have benefited the most.

With any luck, this work should be validated and included in a future driver from Intel.

Step forward

This should be another promising step forward for gaming on Linux, then, at least for those who are using an Intel GPU (in other words, integrated graphics – although Intel does havediscrete Xe graphics cardsin the pipeline for the future at some point, which we’ve been hearing a lot about in recent times).

Of course, Valve has been pushing hard elsewhere in the Linux gaming arena, most notably with therelease of Proton(back in 2018) for allowingSteam(Windows) games to be played on Linux systems with a minimum of overhead and performance loss.

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ViaPC Gamer

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

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