For those that have been wondering about the Linux support and more details around the Ryzen AI Max 300 “Strix Halo” APUs on Linux, here’s a brief update.
Posted to the DRI mailing list today was a patch updating the AMDGPU Linux kernel graphics driver documentation for the Ryzen AI Max 300 “Strix Halo” series.
While it’s widely known to be another RDNA 3.5 “GFX11.5” graphics part like the other Ryzen AI 300 series SoCs, the documentation patch confirms that it’s AMD GFX 11.5.1. The Strix Point SoCs are GFX 11.5.0 IP and Krackan Point at GFX 11.5.2. Knowing GFX 11.5.1 is useful relative to older Phoronix articles when that GFX 11.5.1 bring-up began in early 2024 and now definitively being able to correlate it to Strix Halo.
Today’s patch also confirms the Display Core Next (DCN) IP version at 3.5.1 for Strix Halo compared to 3.5.0 with Strix Point and Krackan Point. The Video Core Next (VCN) IP block is at version 4.0.6 for Strix Halo compared to 4.0.5 with the other Ryzen AI 300 series. The SDMA IP is also slightly different at version 6.1.1 and then MP0 version at 14.0.1. Again, not particularly interesting or useful but if just trying to compare to older articles and estimate Linux kernel version support baselines and the like. These IP versions became more important under their modern block-by-block enablement strategy for new graphics/accelerator hardware in individually enabling new hardware IP blocks rather than big monolithic patch series with colorful fishy codenames for unreleased hardware.
The other purpose of this article is to let you know I should be soon reviewing the HP ZBook Ultra G1a laptop with Ryzen AI Max 300 series. Many Phoronix readers have been asking about the Linux support and performance under Strix Halo. I’ve been eagerly waiting to test out Strix Halo under Linux too. It looks like soon I should have my hands on the HP ZBook Ultra G1a for being able to dive into the Linux support and performance. Further down the line is hopefully the Framework Desktop with Ryzen AI Max 300 series in Q3.
