AMD open-source Linux driver patches posted last summer enabled the new "VPE" IP block as a general purpose copy engine for future AMD GPUs. This VPE block might premiere in the upcoming AMD RDNA3.5 refresh (RDNA3+) integrated graphics but in any event AMD is already working on the incrementally improved VPE 1.1 IP with that now being supported by the Mesa 24.1 RadeonSI driver code.

The new VPE 1.1 engine is potentially for upcoming RDNA4 graphics processors given we've been seeing more IP enabled recently that appear destined for the next-gen Radeon graphics with GFX12 . VPE 1.1 appears to be just a minor update over VPE 1.0 but adds a new "collaborative sync" command for this copy engine.

This merge landed the VPE 1.1 support into the RadeonSI Gallium3D driver for Mesa 24.1. In any event it's great seeing AMD's continued early open-source upstream enabling for new Radeon graphics.