Valve's VRAM Hack Could Save Millions of 8GB GPU Owners From Stutters

Valve engineer Natalie Vock found a GPU memory optimization for Linux that greatly improves memory handling on AMD GPUs. It's unclear how (if at all) the benefits could carry over to the upcoming Valve Steam Machine, which uses an AMD iGPU, but any memory optimization is a good thing in the current market.

As Natalie describes it, "it takes exceedingly strong resilience and determination to face the stutters and slowdowns bound to occur when the system starts running low on free VRAM. Carnage erupts inside the kernel driver as every application fights for as much GPU memory as it can hold on to. Any game caught up in this battle for resources will surely not leave unscathed. That is, until now. Because I fixed it."

Prior to the fix, Natalie ...