AMDVLK 2021.Q1.1 Brings Switchable Graphics Layer, RDNA 2 Tuning

AMDVLK 2021.Q1.1 is out this morning as the first update of the year for the open-source official AMD Vulkan Linux driver and it's an exciting update.

AMDVLK 2021.Q1.1 brings the recently reported on Vulkan layer that makes it very easy to switch between AMDVLK and RADV drivers. With the new driver installed and the Vulkan layer activated, setting the AMD_VULKAN_ICD=RADV environment variable instead will cause RADV to be used.

Switching between Vulkan drivers with their ICD approach is already quite easy and much better off than the pre-GLVND OpenGL days, but this approach makes it even easier for on a per-game/application basis to flip the environment variable depending upon the desired driver.

For Navi 21 (Radeon RX 6800/6900 series RDNA 2) there is also performance tuning for the likes of X-Plane 11, Mad Max, The Talos Principle, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and F1 2017. There is also a fix for corruption with RPCS3 on Navi 10.

This updated AMDVLK driver can be downloaded from GitHub in source form as well as RHEL and Ubuntu binaries. I'll have up some fresh AMDVLK vs. RADV comparison Linux gaming benchmarks shortly.