Summary

  • Jeff Geerling ran AMD RX 6700 XT on Raspberry Pi for gaming in 4K resolution.
  • Performance for CPU-intensive games was lacking, hitting only 20-30FPS.
  • The Pi handled less demanding games like Portal 2 well, showing potential for an affordable gaming setup.

Have you been keeping an eye on the AMD for Linux community lately? If not, don't feel bad; with all the new LLM and product developments going on, it was very easy to miss just how quickly AMD cards got drivers that allow Linux machines to run games on 4K. And if you want a crash course on what that means for the gaming community, Jeff Geerling has a Raspberry Pi project he wants to show you.

👁 A lifestyle image of the Raspberry Pi 5
Raspberry Pi 5 review: The holy grail of DIY projects got even better (and rarer)

The Raspberry Pi 5 is one of the most powerful consumer-grade SBCs out there. Sadly, its limited stock means you'll have a hard time finding one.

Jeff Geerling got an AMD RX 6700 XT running on a Raspberry Pi, and it's surprisingly functional

Jeff Geerling is by no means a stranger to modifying Raspberry Pis. The last time we caught up with his hijinks, he was breaking the world record for overclocking a Raspberry Pi 5 (which was recently broken again by someone else). Now, it seems he has put that venture aside for a new one; beefing up his Pi 5 with an AMD RX 6700 XT so it can play games in 4K resolution.

As you might imagine, the biggest issue with running modern games on a Pi is the CPU and RAM. As such, Jeff Geerling didn't have an amazing time playing Doom Eternal or Crysis Remastered on the Pi, reaching about 20-30FPS at 4K. However, for a "gaming rig" that was basically a Pi with an AMD RX 6700 XT slapped on the top and nothing else, it's a really impressive feat. And before you ask, yes, Jeff tried overclocking the Pi, and all it did was make it crash more.

Still, if you throw less demanding tasks at it, you get good results. Jeff reported excellent FPS counts in both Portal 2 and SuperTuxKart, which makes this a cheap project for playing semi-modern games. And it could handle up to six external monitors, albeit not playing a 3D game on each one. However, with the AMD Linux drivers still hot out of the oven, who knows what people can achieve in a few months?