Natalie Vock, a Valve Linux graphics contractor, has open-sourced kernel patches that use Linux dmem cgroups to protect foreground games.
Background apps and overlays now spill to system RAM first instead of evicting the game’s critical VRAM assets.
In real testing with Cyberpunk 2077 on high settings, this resulted in stable frame times with zero gradual stutters, keeping around 7.4 GB in fast VRAM.
It could make affordable SteamOS gaming far more viable than the specs alone suggest.
Valve to make 8 GB enough in 2026 with optimizations like this