PowerVR-GPU
PowerVR is Imagination Technologies’ family of tile-based deferred rendering (TBDR) GPUs, licensed as IP to SoC vendors. All parts from Series6 onwards share the Rogue architecture lineage, continued by the A-, B-, C-, D- and E-Series. Every PowerVR core is identified by its BVNC (Branch.Version.Number.Config): one product name can cover several BVNCs with different features and errata, so driver support is tracked per BVNC, not per product name.
PowerVR GPU Userspace Driver
Proprietary IMG DDK
(Driver Development Kit)Imagination provides a proprietary userspace driver stack to its licensees, shipped in vendor BSPs.
Features:
- OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.3 and OpenCL 3.0 on current B-Series parts
- Used in production on commercial devices
Opensource PowerVR Vulkan inside MESA
The Mesa PowerVR driver is a Vulkan-only driver, developed by Imagination in upstream Mesa. There is no PowerVR OpenGL driver in Mesa.
Features:
- MIT-licensed (free and open)
- Vulkan 1.2, conformant on BXM-4-64 (
36.52.104.182) and BXS-4-64 - GPUs before Series6 lack the hardware features Vulkan needs and will not be supported
Official Website: Mesa PowerVR Driver
On GPUs that are not yet conformant to any Vulkan version, Mesa refuses to run unless
PVR_I_WANT_A_BROKEN_VULKAN_DRIVER=1is set in the environment.
PowerVR GPU Kernel Driver
Proprietary pvrsrvkm
The kernel side of the IMG DDK, an out-of-tree module shipped in vendor BSP kernels and used together with the proprietary userspace driver.
Downsides:
- Out-of-tree, tied to specific vendor kernel branches
Opensource powervr
powervr(drivers/gpu/drm/imagination) is the mainline Linux DRM driver for PowerVR Rogue-based GPUs, merged in Linux 6.8 and used by the Mesa PowerVR Vulkan driver. It needs GPU firmware from linux-firmware.Features:
- Part of the mainline Linux kernel
- Developed and maintained by Imagination
- RISC-V SoC support since Linux 6.18
PowerVR GPUs in Mesa
GPUs as listed in the Mesa PowerVR driver documentation, grouped by support status.
Actively developed
| Name | Series | BVNC |
|---|---|---|
| AXE-1-16M | A-Series | 33.15.11.3 |
| BXM-4-64 | B-Series | 36.52.104.182, 36.56.104.183 |
| BXS-4-64 | B-Series | 36.53.104.796 |
Partially supported
Core-specific features and workarounds are likely missing: simple Vulkan applications may run, but expect instability and corruption.
| Name | Series | BVNC |
|---|---|---|
| GX6250 | Series 6XT | 4.40.2.51 (4.45.2.58 unsupported) |
Unsupported
Device info and firmware exist in Mesa for these GPUs, usually out of community interest, but no support is guaranteed and they are not under active development.
| Name | Series | BVNC |
|---|---|---|
| G6110 | Series 6XE | 5.9.1.46 |
| GX6650 | Series 6XT | 4.46.6.62 |
| GE7800 | Series 7XE | 15.5.1.64 |
| GE8300 | Series 8XE | 22.67.54.30, 22.68.54.30, 22.102.54.38 |
| BXE-2-32 | B-Series | 36.29.52.182 |
| BXE-4-32 | B-Series | 36.50.54.182 |