Linux 7.3 is out, and the biggest wins go to gamers on 8GB AMD graphics cards and anyone with a fast NVMe drive. Linus Torvalds announced the kernel on Sunday, October 18, 2026, according to OMG! Ubuntu. You don’t install it by hand; it reaches you through your distro’s updates.
Here are the facts worth knowing before you read on.
- Released: Sunday, October 18, 2026 (Linux 7.4 development started right after).
- Size: 18,765 non-merge commits from over 3,000 developers, per LWN figures.
- Headline gains: better VRAM handling on AMD GPUs, a smarter CPU scheduler default, faster ext4.
- Ubuntu 26.10 ships with it; Ubuntu 26.04 LTS gets it in early 2027.
That list is the short version. The rest of this post explains what each item means for a normal desktop or laptop.
What Linux 7.3 changes for gaming on AMD GPUs
If you game on an 8GB Radeon card, this is the change you’ll notice. The kernel can now push unprotected background data out of video memory to make room for higher-priority work.
OMG! Ubuntu tested this with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. An 8GB GPU ran the game well at settings that pushed memory needs toward 9GB.
The new scheduler default helps too. A cgroup mode called concur is now on by default, and you can switch back to the old behavior. In one test with eight heavy background processes, a game’s minimum frame rate rose from 3.8fps to 20.6fps, and its average from 48fps to 57.2fps.
Those are single tests, not a promise for every game. Still, it targets a real problem: stutter when something else hogs the CPU.
Faster ext4 and Btrfs for everyday storage
Most Linux desktops still use ext4, so speed gains there reach a lot of people. Linux 7.3 speeds up parallel direct I/O writes, fallocate(), and small direct reads, and it fixes a buffered-write regression.
A ByteDance test on a PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD raised 4K random reads from 1.92 million to 2.19 million IOPS. You won’t feel that in a web browser, but databases and build servers might.
Other filesystems got attention as well, as the table below shows.
| Filesystem | What changed in Linux 7.3 |
|---|---|
| Btrfs | fsync can be up to 5x faster in some scenarios; the legacy free-space cache v1 is removed. |
| ntfs3 | Basic alternate data streams support. |
| ntfs | Read-only WOF compression support. |
| ksmbd (SMB server) | Apple Time Machine backups, per-share SMB3 encryption. |
| OverlayFS | Support for id-mapped mounts. |
The Time Machine support is handy if you run a small Linux file server and have Macs at home. For more on the kernel’s features, Linuxiac has a longer rundown, including a new test filesystem called FailFS.
New hardware support in this Linux kernel update
Each kernel release adds drivers, and this one leans toward gaming gear and newer chips. The 2026 Steam Controller gets an initial driver, and there is a new MSI Claw gamepad driver.
Wi-Fi gets Realtek 8922DE and 8922DE-VS adapters. There is also HID++ 2.0 button support for the Logitech Signature M650 and mute reporting for the HyperX QuadCast 2.
Behind the scenes, AMD Zen 6 preparation continues and Intel Nova Lake graphics work landed. Early bring-up for Apple M3 Pro, Max and Ultra chips is in, though OMG! Ubuntu calls it not very usable yet.
Driver support is often the real barrier to Linux on new hardware. We covered one extreme case in how Claude Code wrote a Linux driver for a scanner Linux never supported.
When you’ll get Linux 7.3 on your distro
Timing depends entirely on your distribution. Only the Ubuntu dates below are confirmed; for other distros, check their release notes.
| Distro / release | When Linux 7.3 arrives | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | Ships with it | Final release arrives through updates within a week or two, per OMG! Ubuntu. |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | Early 2027 | Comes through the HWE (hardware enablement) update. |
| Other Ubuntu releases | Not advised | Mainline builds exist but lack Ubuntu patches and security updates. |
Our Ubuntu 26.10 guide covers the upgrade catch if you’re deciding whether to move. OMG! Ubuntu also expects Linux 7.3 to become the new Long Term Support kernel, which would keep it patched for years.
If you’re on a stable rolling distro such as Arch or Fedora, expect it within weeks, but that is a general pattern, not a dated promise.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Linux 7.3 safe to install right now?
Wait for your distro to ship it. Distro kernels carry extra patches and security fixes that a raw mainline build doesn’t, so updates through your package manager are the safer route.
Will Linux 7.3 make my games run faster?
Possibly, mainly if you have an 8GB AMD card or run heavy background tasks. The reported gains come from specific tests, so results will vary by game and setup.
Does Linux 7.3 work on Apple Silicon Macs?
Only in a very early form. Support for the M3 Pro, Max and Ultra chips has started, but it isn’t ready for daily use.
What comes after Linux 7.3?
Linux 7.4. Its merge window, where new code is accepted, opened right after the 7.3 release.
The verdict
Linux 7.3 is a solid, practical release rather than a flashy one. If you game on a mid-range AMD card or run ext4 on a fast SSD, it’s worth taking as soon as your distro offers it. Everyone else can let updates arrive on their own schedule and enjoy a quietly better system.
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