ROCm 7.2.2 is out — and it finally has an official RDNA 3.5 optimization guide

[rigid scarab]

ROCm 7.2.2 dropped a couple days ago. The release itself is small (ROCTracer bug fix), but the big deal is what shipped on the docs side: AMD finally published an official system optimization guide for RDNA 3.5 hardware (Strix Halo / Strix Point). A year late, but it's here.

If you're running a Strix Halo or Strix Point system for AI workloads, this is worth reading. Here's what's in it and what actually matters.

Memory: it's mapped, not partitioned

The guide confirms what the community already figured out: on RDNA 3.5 APUs, GPU memory is mapped system RAM, not a separate VRAM pool. The terms VRAM/GART/GTT that show up in BIOS menus are all pointing at the same physical memory. Key takeaway: keep the BIOS "VRAM" reservation small (0.5 GB) and increase the shared TTM/GTT limit instead. That way you're not permanently locking memory away from the OS.

There's now an official tool to do this without manual sysfs poking:

sudo apt install pipx && pipx ensurepath && pipx install amd-debug-tools
amd-ttm                  # check current settings
amd-ttm --set 100        # set 100 GB usable for GPU

Reboot after changing. The default GTT limit is ~50% of system RAM, so on a 128 GB Strix Halo you'd only get ~63 GB for GPU by default. Bumping it to 100 GB makes a real difference for loading large models.

Kernel version matters more than you'd think

The guide lists specific minimum kernel versions for Strix Halo (gfx1151):
• Ubuntu 24.04 HWE: 6.17.0-19.19~24.04.2 or later
• Ubuntu 24.04 OEM: 6.14.0-1018 or later
• Everything else: Linux 6.18.4 or later

Below these versions, ROCm on Strix Halo is marked unstable or unsupported. If you've been hitting weird GPU init failures or random crashes, check your kernel version first.

Fedora 43, Ubuntu 26.04, and Arch Linux 2026.02.01+ already include the required fixes.

ROCm version compatibility

Quick reference for Strix Halo users:
• ROCm 7.2.1 / 7.2.2 → supported (with right kernel)
• ROCm 7.2.0 → supported but had two SIGSEGV bugs (fixed in 7.2.1)
• ROCm 7.1.x and 6.4.x → not supported on Strix Halo

If you're still on 7.2.0, upgrade to 7.2.1+ to get the segfault fixes.

What about the ROCTracer fix?

If you use profiling tools (rocprof, ROCTracer), 7.2.1 had a bug where some kernel operations didn't show up in traces. 7.2.2 fixes that. If you're not profiling, this doesn't affect you.

TL;DR
• ROCm 7.2.2 is out with an official RDNA 3.5 optimization guide
• Keep BIOS VRAM small, use amd-ttm to increase shared GPU memory instead
• Check your kernel version — Strix Halo needs 6.17+ (Ubuntu HWE) or 6.18.4+ (others)
• ROCm 7.2.1+ is the minimum recommended version for Strix Halo
• Full guide: https://rocm.docs.amd.com/en/latest/how-to/system-optimization/rdna3-5.html