Interestingly a batch of new AMD GPU firmware files were upstreamed to linux-firmware.git yesterday in preparing for the next AMD product launch of hardware featuring RDNA 3.5 integrated graphics.
Merged out of the blue yesterday to this de facto central repository for Linux firmware files were the firmware binaries needed for enabling different new AMD GPU IP blocks. This included enabling GFX/GC 11.5.3, PSP 14.0.5, SDMA 6.1.3, and DCN 3.6. As part of AMD’s modern block-by-block enablement strategy and all of the individual IP blocks of the GPU being versioned separately, it’s difficult to ascertain what products they correlate to in advance. The main takeaway though is seeing the new GFX 11.5.3 firmware that aligns with what is better known as another RDNA 3.5 revision.
Yesterday’s merge doesn’t shed any additional light into the product(s) for this firmware or any other details.
The GFX 11.5.3 IP began appearing in the open-source Linux driver code at the end of last year. As a reminder, the AMD Ryzen AI 300 series “Strix Point” uses GFX 11.5.0, AMD Ryzen AI Max 300 “Strix Halo” uses GFX 11.5.1, and the Ryzen AI 350 “Krakan Point” is GFX 11.5.2.
While AMD hasn’t confirmed what GFX 11.5.3 correlates to, given the lack of many other RDNA 3.5 options expected, it would be reasonable to assume GFX 11.5.3 could be “Gorgon Point” for the Ryzen 9000G series and Gorgon Point has also been rumored to be another Zen 5 + RDNA successor to the current Strix Point series. But with AMD already upstreaming these new firmware files is a bit interesting for the timing. Typically AMD doesn’t send the new firmware binaries into linux-firmware.git until much closer to product launches… Sometimes even post-launch such as recently with the Instinct MI350X series bits. But it is nice when these firmware files are published earlier as for giving Linux distribution vendors more time to package up the new linux-firmware files in order to ensure out-of-the-box support for new hardware. Without these files, the open-source driver support is inoperable.
Display Core Next 3.6 for this new RDNA 3.5 variant is also interesting. Strix Point and Krackan Point are on DCN 3.5 and Strix Halo on DCN 3.5.1. We’ll see what new display capabilities there may end up being with DCN 3.6.
So there isn’t much to definitively say now due to AMD’s IP block versioning but whether these files are for Gorgon Point or something else like a custom RDNA 3.5 APU, the necessary files are now upstream so that the Linux driver support is ready ahead of launch.
