Hey everyone! I’ve been rocking Linux Mint on my old laptop for quite some time, and it’s been great for everyday tasks. However, I’ve noticed Mint uses older Linux kernels. I’m planning to build a new gaming PC and want to stick with Mint, but I’m concerned about support for the new AMD 9070 GPU. Do I need a more recent OS with a newer kernel to make it work? Any insights would be appreciated! Cheers!
1 Answer
Mint typically uses stable kernels from the Ubuntu LTS HWE repository, which currently supports up to kernel 6.8 and is moving to 6.11 with Mint 22.2. While Mint isn’t using ‘old’ kernels per se, they focus on long-term stability rather than the latest hardware support. To fully utilize the 9070 or 9070XT, you’ll need at least a kernel version 6.13 and Mesa 25. You could consider swapping to a rolling release distro like Fedora or Arch for better compatibility with cutting-edge hardware. Most will have the necessary tools for gaming if you’re willing to switch things up!
Good point! I’ve heard that regular updates make a big difference for gaming. Thanks for the suggestion!