linux-drivers/
drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/dc

AMD Display Core (DC/DCN) for Radeon GPUs

Hardware support for the display pipeline (scanout, mode setting, multi-monitor, HDR, audio over HDMI/DisplayPort) on AMD Radeon GPUs spanning the DCE and DCN generations, from older GCN-era cards through the latest RDNA 4 Radeon RX 9000 desktop cards and Radeon PRO W-series workstation GPUs. It is the code path that lights up the screen on essentially every AMD GPU sold over the last decade.

keep conf=0.97 deploy=high replacement=none subsystem=gpu category=graphics-display
97%

recommendation

It should stay because this is the active display engine code for every modern Radeon and Radeon PRO GPU, including the RDNA 4 RX 9000 series that AMD launched in February 2025. The directory has seen over 2,300 commits from nearly 280 contributors in the last five years, making it one of the most actively maintained corners of the kernel.

repository signals

991 files
474,327 source lines
4,921 commits, 5y
+370,217 / −128,179 lines added / removed, 5y
412 authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 4,921 total · active in 60/61 months
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2021-04: 60 commits · +2,475 −931 2021-05: 92 commits · +20,237 −1,529 2021-06: 77 commits · +4,961 −860 2021-07: 65 commits · +1,184 −553 2021-08: 56 commits · +5,858 −1,048 2021-09: 81 commits · +7,586 −1,645 2021-10: 60 commits · +1,754 −775 2021-11: 84 commits · +1,737 −762 2021-12: 40 commits · +1,514 −1,110 2022-01: 100 commits · +7,293 −3,584 2022-02: 90 commits · +38,149 −3,656 2022-03: 101 commits · +2,805 −1,482 2022-04: 73 commits · +923 −688 2022-05: 67 commits · +4,289 −1,478 2022-06: 99 commits · +18,007 −915 2022-07: 138 commits · +8,532 −6,546 2022-08: 151 commits · +3,413 −5,049 2022-09: 153 commits · +2,317 −2,159 2022-10: 112 commits · +2,094 −1,295 2022-11: 98 commits · +1,910 −673 2022-12: 63 commits · +10,550 −9,223 2023-01: 71 commits · +9,275 −7,661 2023-02: 90 commits · +4,416 −2,983 2023-03: 97 commits · +2,318 −1,722 2023-04: 92 commits · +1,241 −565 2023-05: 82 commits · +2,668 −1,069 2023-06: 79 commits · +2,212 −736 2023-07: 61 commits · +21,894 −1,408 2023-08: 154 commits · +16,819 −2,487 2023-09: 76 commits · +1,686 −1,143 2023-10: 89 commits · +3,919 −2,872 2023-11: 60 commits · +3,815 −1,603 2023-12: 121 commits · +3,327 −1,087 2024-01: 81 commits · +1,198 −980 2024-02: 82 commits · +5,277 −1,541 2024-03: 124 commits · +5,035 −1,509 2024-04: 185 commits · +66,459 −3,028 2024-05: 119 commits · +2,146 −1,407 2024-06: 115 commits · +5,620 −1,939 2024-07: 143 commits · +6,616 −7,872 2024-08: 72 commits · +7,158 −2,324 2024-09: 71 commits · +1,116 −645 2024-10: 62 commits · +874 −570 2024-11: 58 commits · +4,274 −2,506 2024-12: 57 commits · +3,133 −1,731 2025-01: 65 commits · +4,782 −13,874 2025-02: 71 commits · +1,516 −1,545 2025-03: 49 commits · +3,152 −2,674 2025-04: 59 commits · +2,628 −1,721 2025-05: 55 commits · +1,538 −1,686 2025-06: 42 commits · +1,755 −860 2025-07: 55 commits · +1,025 −678 2025-08: 49 commits · +2,191 −984 2025-09: 82 commits · +8,124 −1,046 2025-10: 64 commits · +4,115 −1,044 2025-11: 54 commits · +1,363 −917 2025-12: 51 commits · +1,268 −1,394 2026-01: 48 commits · +917 −409 2026-02: 26 commits · +1,712 −1,644 2026-03: 4 commits · +717 −10 2026-04: 0 commits · +0 −0

sources

  1. kernel.org

    Kernel documentation describes DC as the AMDGPU Display Core driver, initialized by default for supported ASICs and integrated as the active display path via amdgpu_dm.

  2. cateee.net

    LKDDb shows CONFIG_DRM_AMD_DC has remained present from Linux 4.15 through 7.0-rc+HEAD, consistent with an actively maintained in-tree driver option rather than a deprecated legacy path.

  3. amd.com

    AMD's February 28, 2025 RDNA 4 launch states new RX 9000 GPUs use an updated display engine, showing the driver family still maps to newly sold hardware in 2025.

  4. amd.com

    AMD product page for Radeon RX 9070 XT shows a current retail GPU generation with Linux support, indicating ongoing new deployments that depend on the AMDGPU display stack.

  5. amd.com

    AMD Radeon PRO W7800 workstation product page lists Linux support and modern display capabilities, showing continued professional deployment of supported AMD display hardware.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

Local source inspection shows this directory is the core AMD display-engine implementation under DRM/AMDGPU, spanning DCE and DCN generations with active Kconfig enablement; provided history metadata shows 2309 substantive commits in 5 years, latest on 2026-02-19, with 277 authors, which is strong live-maintenance evidence. I attempted upstream-history verification first via local `lei` shell fallback, but `lei` is not installed in this environment; direct web searches against lore returned no removal/deprecation hits for this path, and there is no evidence here of an active removal track. URLs were obtained by web search/open (`kernel.org`, `cateee.net`, `amd.com`), plus local file inspection of `drivers/gpu/drm/amd/display/Kconfig`. This is current production code for AMDGPU display on still-sold Radeon and Radeon PRO hardware, so the correct recommendation is to keep it.