Linux 7.3 improves AMD low-VRAM gaming and CPU scheduling

Linux 7.3 has been released as the latest stable kernel, introducing improvements to graphics performance, CPU scheduling, filesystems, and hardware support. One of the main changes targets AMD GPUs with limited VRAM, potentially improving gaming performance on older or lower-memory graphics cards through work originally developed by Valve engineer Natalie Vock.

The release also reworks CPU group scheduling to reduce overhead and improve performance under heavy workloads, while sched_ext gains complete subscheduler support for custom BPF scheduling policies. Filesystem changes include the new FailFS for process isolation, the fchroot() system call, id-mapped mounts in OverlayFS, removal of Btrfs free-space cache v1, and initial support for alternative data streams in NTFS3. Other improvements include Apple Time Machine backup support and SMB3 encryption updates in ksmbd, more zero-copy I/O optimizations in FUSE, and working-set tracking for virtual machines.

Hardware updates cover AMD Zen 6, Intel Nova Lake graphics, Realtek wireless adapters, gaming handhelds, and ARM and RISC-V systems. Additional changes include improvements to DAMON memory monitoring, BPF, ext4, NVMe storage, AppArmor, Landlock, and Rust support, including initial PowerPC work.

Linux 7.3 is available from kernel.org, and the merge window for Linux 7.4 opened on October 19.