Linux kernel 7.3 is out with some nice improvements for gaming

19 Oct 2026 at 6:49 am UTC | Last updated: 19 Oct 2026 at 7:56 am UTC
By Liam Squires-Hand

Linux kernel 7.3 has officially been released, bringing with it plenty of improvements for Linux gaming. Valve has been quite busy helping out too, with work on graphics memory, older AMD GPUs and game controllers.

Announcing the release Linus Torvalds said:

"It's Sunday afternoon, and this week I somehow kept my wits together long enough to keep track of the day of the week, so the release isn't randomly delayed. Will wonders never cease?

Anyway, nothing very special seems to have happened this last week, so as expected the final 7.3 is out, and thus tomorrow the merge window for 7.4 opens. Except I'm on my annual family vacation, so instead of merging anything first thing in the morning, I'll spend most of the day on a boat and under water. I'll get back to merging in the afternoon, but I expect my schedule to be a bit unusual for a while.

I hope I can still complete the merge window in the usual two weeks, but it may be that I'll end up with an extra week of merging just to catch up.

Note that that extra week doesn't mean that I'll accept pull requests that come in past the usual timing - the rules are still that what gets merged should be ready *before* the merge window opens, not some kind of late development *during* the merge window. So don't try any shenanigans."

The usual reminder - unlike other open source projects you don't get some nice highlights from the team with new kernel releases, this is mainly due to the insanely vast size of it, so we all have to sleuth over what we can gather from all the code requests sent in.

Across thousands of changes there's a lot packed into this release, so here's a quick look at some of the more interesting changes for gamers.

• Better VRAM handling: Valve-funded improvements help games make better use of limited VRAM, potentially reducing stuttering and performance drops. However, the full benefits require additional userspace tools, such as dmemcg-booster and plasma-foreground-booster, along with compatible GPU drivers. Simply upgrading to Linux 7.3 won't automatically enable everything.
• Potentially better gaming performance: CPU scheduling improvements that could help boost performance, especially on older hardware.
• Older AMD GPUs get some love: Better graphics compatibility for older Radeon cards, including the HD 7000 series through to Polaris and Fiji.
• Improved AMD GPU crash recovery: Some older Radeon GPUs can now recover more reliably from crashes without needing a full reboot.
• 2026 Steam Controller support: Initial built-in Linux driver support for Valve's newer Steam Controller.
• MSI Claw improvements: A new driver for the handheld's built-in gamepad.
• Intel graphics improvements: Next-generation Intel Nova Lake graphics are now enabled by default.
• NVIDIA improvements: The open-source Nouveau driver gains groundwork for Vulkan Video hardware decoding.
• Faster storage performance: Improvements to Btrfs, EXT4 and other storage operations.
• Better support for future AMD CPUs: More preparation for AMD's upcoming Zen 6 processors.

It's worth noting that this is only part of the planned VRAM improvements, with more work still to come in future kernel releases. Some of the graphics improvements also need newer Mesa drivers to make full use of them.

As always, don't expect a magical performance boost across every game. However, there's plenty of useful work here, especially if you're gaming on older hardware or have a graphics card with limited VRAM.

You can see all the changes in the full technical changelog.

🌐 External Sources: lkml.org Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com. Tags: Kernel, Misc, New Release, Open Source 28 Likes All posts need to follow our rules. Please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Readers can also email us for any issues or concerns.