Intel is working on bringing resizable bar (or rebar) to its ARC graphics cards for Linux, which is good news for PC gamers switching from Windows 11.
According to Phoronix, DG2/Alchemist support is found in the Linux kernel and Mesa drivers, but performance optimization is still a work in progress. We expect to see a set of patches for small BAR recovery support for the Intel kernel graphics driver in the Linux V5.18 kernel, which were released for testing last week and are currently under review.
According to a note in the patch, "We will have resizable bar support for device local-memory starting with the DG2, but in some cases the final bar size may be smaller than the total local-memory size." In such cases only part of the local memory will be accessible to the CPU, the rest will be accessible only through the GPU. This chain links the fundamental enablers needed to make the full range of local memory usable."
Rebar is a PCI Express interface technology that gives your CPU full access to the frame buffer by removing the 256MB block read limit. This means that instead of smaller, 'chunked' data chunks being sent from the CPU to the GPU, the GPU can now request much larger files or data chunks and have them all sent by the CPU at once.
The only drawback at this time is that many games do not support rebar, despite the fact that there are many popular titles such as Hitman 3, Red Dead Redemption 2 and even Cyberpunk 2077, and some early tests resulted in Really improved performance.
Nvidia added Rebar support to the majority of its Ampere line in March 2021, and AMD has a similar technology called Smart Access Memory (SAM) that creates a digital switch within the BIOS. With Intel joining the rest of the market in offering Rebar, there is a chance that more games will support the feature, with existing games being updated to take advantage of the extra frames.
Analysis: Are Market Monopolies Bad?
If you look at the state of the market right now, Intel's imminent arrival on the graphics card scene may not be enough. Since AMD and Nvidia released their current generation of graphics cards 14 months ago, GPU stock has experienced ups and downs in both availability and pricing, with people scrambling to find budget-friendly GPUs for their systems. Huh.
While it's unlikely that Intel will come and save the day, Intel has a lot of interest in being part of the party. To some, Rebar may seem insignificant, but ensuring that all three cards deliver a similar experience in Linux can help those who are stuck on Windows 11 or earlier versions of Windows 10. Because Windows 11 has such high system requirements, older hardware that is physically unable to upgrade can become dedicated Linux machines.
It is also getting some attention, as Linux has gained its due in recent months, with SteamDeck running a Linux-based operating system and more companies expanding their drivers and ensuring support for Linux systems. To ensure compatibility.
While it's still early, all this increased support could encourage more people to choose Linux over other operating systems. Given the small market share of Linux users, Intel could have added rebar later or even dropped it altogether, but announcing that the drivers are working before the ARC GPU release is a sign that there is a lot to come. Linux users may see a boost over the years.