Linux-amd no longer maintained - can anyone recommend an optimised alternative kernel for a Zen4 machine?

Issues & Assistance
1

The most recent comment on linux-amd AUR suggests that the linux-amd kernel package is now not maintained, and indeed it has not been updated since April.

Is linux-zen the next best alternative?

Also, now that linux-amd isn’t being maintained should it (has it) been removed from the Garuda Kernel tool so that others don’t get hung out to dry?

garuda-inxi
System:
Kernel: 6.8.8-AMD arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.1
clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-amd
root=UUID=9062b14e-e906-4b1c-bccd-19548297fa7c rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet resume=UUID=43e9fc5f-f600-42cb-ab98-964d52f04f80 loglevel=3
amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xfffd3fff ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.1.1 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.3.0
wm: kwin_wayland vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop Mobo: Gigabyte model: B650M K serial: <superuser required>
uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: FB1
date: 05/22/2024
CPU:
Info: model: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 4 gen: 5
level: v4 note: check built: 2022+ process: TSMC n5 (5nm) family: 0x19 (25)
model-id: 0x61 (97) stepping: 2 microcode: 0xA601206
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 8 tpc: 2 threads: 16 smt: enabled cache:
L1: 512 KiB desc: d-8x32 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 8 MiB desc: 8x1024 KiB
L3: 32 MiB desc: 1x32 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1325 high: 4341 min/max: 545/5573 scaling:
driver: amd-pstate-epp governor: powersave cores: 1: 545 2: 545 3: 545
4: 545 5: 545 6: 3191 7: 3433 8: 545 9: 545 10: 545 11: 545 12: 545
13: 4341 14: 545 15: 3699 16: 545 bogomips: 143805
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD Navi 22 [Radeon RX 6700/6700 XT/6750 XT / 6800M/6850M XT]
vendor: ASUSTeK driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: RDNA-2 code: Navi-2x
process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22 pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
lanes: 16 ports: active: DP-1,DP-3 empty: DP-2,HDMI-A-1,Writeback-1
bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:73df class-ID: 0300
Device-2: AMD Raphael vendor: Gigabyte driver: amdgpu v: kernel
arch: RDNA-2 code: Navi-2x process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22 pcie:
gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: none empty: DP-4, DP-5,
DP-6, HDMI-A-2, Writeback-2 bus-ID: 16:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:164e
class-ID: 0300 temp: 37.0 C
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.13 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.0
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
unloaded: modesetting,radeon alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: radeonsi
gpu: amdgpu,amdgpu d-rect: 5360x2520 display-ID: 0
Monitor-1: DP-1 pos: bottom-r res: 1920x1080 size: N/A modes: N/A
Monitor-2: DP-3 pos: primary,top-left res: 3440x1440 size: N/A modes: N/A
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0 drv: radeonsi
device: 1 drv: radeonsi device: 2 drv: swrast gbm: drv: kms_swrast
surfaceless: drv: radeonsi wayland: drv: radeonsi x11: drv: radeonsi
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 24.1.2-arch1.1
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (radeonsi
navi22 LLVM 17.0.6 DRM 3.57 6.8.8-AMD) device-ID: 1002:73df
memory: 11.72 GiB unified: no display-ID: :1.0
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.279 layers: 13 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: AMD
Radeon RX 6700 XT (RADV NAVI22) driver: mesa radv v: 24.1.2-arch1.1
device-ID: 1002:73df surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland device: 1
type: integrated-gpu name: AMD Radeon Graphics (RADV RAPHAEL_MENDOCINO)
driver: mesa radv v: 24.1.2-arch1.1 device-ID: 1002:164e
surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland device: 2 type: cpu name: llvmpipe (LLVM
17.0.6 256 bits) driver: mesa llvmpipe v: 24.1.2-arch1.1 (LLVM 17.0.6)
device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland
Audio:
Device-1: AMD Navi 21/23 HDMI/DP Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie:
gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 03:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab28
class-ID: 0403
Device-2: AMD Rembrandt Radeon High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 16:00.1
chip-ID: 1002:1640 class-ID: 0403
Device-3: AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio vendor: Gigabyte
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 16:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
Device-4: M-Audio M-Track driver: snd-usb-audio type: USB rev: 1.1
speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-11:8 chip-ID: 0763:4000
class-ID: 0103
Device-5: Logitech G435 Wireless Gaming Headset
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s
lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-12.4:11 chip-ID: 046d:0acb class-ID: 0300
serial: <filter>
API: ALSA v: k6.8.8-AMD status: kernel-api with: aoss type: oss-emulator
tools: N/A
Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off tools: aucat,midicat,sndioctl
Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.0.7 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169 v: kernel
pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000 bus-ID: 08:00.0
chip-ID: 10ec:8125 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp8s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager, smbd, sshd, systemd-timesyncd
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Realtek Bluetooth Radio driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 1.1
speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-12.2:10 chip-ID: 0bda:a725
class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.1
lmp-v: 10 status: discoverable: no pairing: no class-ID: 6c0104
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 10.46 TiB used: 8.29 TiB (79.2%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO 1TB
size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 2B2QEXE7 temp: 46.9 C
scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:4 vendor: Samsung
model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 500GB size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 2B2QEXM7 temp: 37.9 C
ID-3: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital
model: WD100EFAX-68LHPN0 size: 9.1 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B
logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 0A83 scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 863.06 GiB size: 1.3 TiB (153.97%) used: 705.6 GiB (53.1%)
fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
used: 592 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
ID-3: /home raw-size: 863.06 GiB size: 1.3 TiB (153.97%)
used: 705.6 GiB (53.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 863.06 GiB size: 1.3 TiB (153.97%)
used: 705.6 GiB (53.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 863.06 GiB size: 1.3 TiB (153.97%)
used: 705.6 GiB (53.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 61.78 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
comp: zstd avail: lzo,lzo-rle,lz4,lz4hc,842 max-streams: 16 dev: /dev/zram0
ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 68.15 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
priority: -2 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 41.1 C mobo: 29.0 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 561 fan-3: 754 fan-4: 750
GPU: device: amdgpu temp: 60.0 C mem: 44.0 C fan: 0 watts: 24.00
device: amdgpu temp: 37.0 C
Info:
Memory: total: 64 GiB note: est. available: 61.79 GiB
used: 10.54 GiB (17.1%)
Processes: 434 Power: uptime: 1h 12m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
suspend, test_resume image: 24.7 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 256 default: graphical
tool: systemctl
Packages: 2331 pm: pacman pkgs: 2326 libs: 607 tools: octopi,paru,yay
pm: flatpak pkgs: 5 Compilers: clang: 17.0.6 gcc: 14.1.1 Shell: garuda-inxi
default: fish v: 3.7.1 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.35
Garuda (2.6.26-1):
System install date:     2024-02-09
Last full system update: 2024-06-27
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut
Windows dual boot:       No/Undetected
Failed units:
2

Maybe?

1 Like
3

That post recommends using the linux-amd kernel package, exactly the kernel package I was pointing out is no longer maintained and is months out of date.

4

Thanks for the tip, I was wondering about the version of the AMD kernel recently.

As far as I know, there is no optimized alternative for the AMD Zen4 architecture. Simply install a kernel of your choice, for example linux-zen (this has nothing to do with the AMD Zen architecture), a kernel optimized for performance.

It is advisable to have a second kernel as a fallback in case something goes wrong, for example linux-lts.

2 Likes
5

Thanks for the reply.

I had suspected as much (my OP even mentions linux-zen), and I already had lts as a backup, though it’s worth saying, thankyou.

There is rather a sad tale told in the comments on the AUR site for linux-amd, though I will let people make up their own minds.

Hopefully linux-amd will get picked up in the future and worked on, but in the meantime linux-zen is stable and working well for me.

6

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