DXVK 2.7 Optimizations Give Intel Arc GPUs a Performance Boost on Linux

[AleksandarK]

Intel GPU-based Linux gamers are about to receive a performance uplift. According to the latest update to DXVK, a Vulkan-based translation layer for DirectX 8/9/10/11, Intel's "Battlemage" dGPUs and "Lunar Lake" Arc iGPUs now support memory defragmentation by default, helping Intel GPUs reduce VRAM usage and increase performance, which provides a smoother gaming experience when using the DXVK translation layer. In version 2.7, DXVK forces discrete GPUs to adhere to driver-set memory budgets whenever possible and dynamically frees unused resources to system memory when applications place a significant VRAM load. DXVK v2.7 release notes state that this will be particularly beneficial to Unity Engine and VRAM-constrained titles. This optimization will also enable higher texture quality in game settings, maintaining the same performance as before, and further building upon the memory optimization.

As a critical component of Valve's Proton software stack, this DXVK update also provides Intel-based handhelds, such as the MSI Claw, with increased performance when running SteamOS. Given that we measured a sizable crowd, comprising 3.4% of all handheld users, playing with MSI Claw, many handheld gamers considering running SteamOS on their device will find this DXVK update quite welcome.



Here is a complete DXVK v2.7 changelog.


Bug fixes and Improvements:

• Added support for planar video output views. This is required for video playback in JR EAST Train Simulator.
• D3D11 shaders will now zero-initialize all variables and groupshared memory by default in order to work around game bugs resulting in undefined behavior. The d3d11.zeroWorkgroupMemory option was removed accordingly.
• Optimized D3D9 StretchRect in certain multisample resolve cases encountered in Source Engine.
• Fixed an instance of invalid Vulkan usage in Modulus, and possibly other Unity Engine games that use the D3D11 video API.
• Implemented support for the ID3DDestructionNotifier interface.
• Vulkan devices that lack the required feature support to run DXVK will no longer be listed as DXGI / D3D9 adapters. This may fix crashes in case an outdated graphics driver or an unsupported integrated GPU are present on the system.
• Trying to build DXVK in a MinGW environment with AVX enabled will now result in a compile-time error. We cannot support AVX builds due to toolchain issues, nor is it expected to be beneficial.
• Astebreed: Fixed crash when changing graphics options.
• GTR - FIA GT Racing Game: Worked around a game issue that would cause it to not start.
• LEGO City Undercover: Worked around a game issue that would cause the intro video to be broken.
• Star Trek: Starfleet Command III: Worked around resource leak in GOG build.
• Test Drive Unlimited 2: Worked around alt-tab issue causing input loss.
• Wargame: European Escalation: Worked around gamma issue when the game detects an NVIDIA GPU.

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[ixi]

Need comparison or never happened.

 

[Event Horizon]

Proton can pretty much run my entire library now. Ditching Windows has never been easier.

 

[Jeager]

Need comparison or never happened.

Let's wait first for a Arc user AND kindly ask him to install Linux

Proton can pretty much run my entire library now. Ditching Windows has never been easier.

Even if I like it it's becoming a joke as many thing in Linux, when you start ProtonPlus and see all the proton stuff...

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Let's wait first for a Arc user AND kindly ask him to install Linux


Even if I like it it's becoming a joke as many thing in Linux, when you start ProtonPlus and see all the proton stuff...

Proton is a joke? How is software that works this well a joke? I'd love to hear this justification.

 

[vbq7qK68eyYAH4iR]

Just remember that Intel is also using DXVK on Windows, to translate DX9/10/11 games. This was how they got some huge performance bumps in the past. Given that this is the case, i would think that some of these gains will also be felt by users in Windows.

 

[DudeBeFishing]

It depends on the game, but DXVK tends to run DX9 better on Linux than the games run natively on modern Windows. Glad to see Intel taking advantage of it. Maybe this will force anti-cheat devs to allow games to use DXVK, regardless of OS environment.

As for Proton, it's often horribly configured by default, and Steam's overlay still causes performance loss. I recommend using Bottles or Wine, whichever you feel is easier to configure.

 

[Erratic4^2]

Let's wait first for a Arc user AND kindly ask him to install Linux

Raises hand. Unfortunately not going to install Linux yet, but that is the plan eventually!

 

[Cheeseball]

It depends on the game, but DXVK tends to run DX9 better on Linux than the games run natively on modern Windows. Glad to see Intel taking advantage of it. Maybe this will force anti-cheat devs to allow games to use DXVK, regardless of OS environment.

As for Proton, it's often horribly configured by default, and Steam's overlay still causes performance loss. I recommend using Bottles or Wine, whichever you feel is easier to configure.

Any overlay will always cause a performance loss since its rendering alongside the compositor, but it is relatively minimal (e.g. around a 0.1% hit), even with iGPUs.

When using Proton on a new system (regardless of distro), yes it does require a bunch of tinkering to get working, but once it's working it's good to go. Bottles just makes it easier to run stuff since it's a sandbox. Performance should be around the same. Majority of any performance improvement will always be from the Mesa implementation (Intel is not good on this yet, at least with Lunar Lake's Arc) and architecture/chipset support (Intel is good on this).

That being said, this will be a welcome addition to MSI Claw 7/8 AI+ users as it has already shown to be at par with AMD's HX 370 on Windows 11 when it comes to gaming. Sadly, MSI Center still needs much improvement, but it is slowly getting there.