AMD’s RX 580 was once a popular graphics card that enjoyed the ‘fine wine‘ aging effect that Radeon cards tend to be famous for. Released back in 2017, the GPU was available in 4GB and 8GB, and according to the latest Steam hardware survey, 0.71% of users still have one installed in their system (or around 1.3% if you include the China-only 2048SP variant).

Most people have moved on to newer and more powerful options, but one famous face who has stuck it out with the Radeon GPU is Linus Torvalds, known as the creator of Linux. He has the aging card hooked up to an ASUS ProArt 5K monitor.

Linus has an RX 580 and an Intel laptop

As spotted in a DRM regression for Linux 6.17 back-and-forth, Linus notes he has an Intel i915 graphics-based laptop (a deviation from the Apple Silicon MacBook he once used) and the Radeon desktop fitted with what he calls the “same old boring Radeon RX 580“. This is brought up as a result of a bug report around Display Stream Compression (DSC), which is needed to comfortably run the RX 580 on a 5K monitor via DisplayPort. The AMDGPU DSC commit led to a regression in Linux 6.17 on Linus’ machine.

The Radeon RX 580 remains a solid option, and the excellent open-source driver support will no doubt go down a treat with Linux users. Linus isn’t known as a big gamer, so it’s not massively surprising to see him stick to something old, but reliable, and evidently useful for identifying bugs. The large 5K display would be far too demanding to run games on at native resolution on the RX 580, but it’s good enough for compiling kernels, once this regression gets fixed. According to Phoronix, Torvalds is running a Ryzen Threadripper system on his main rig, which the RX 580 is assumedly paired with.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.