ROCm Installation¶

Install AMD ROCm stack natively on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS for the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU.

26.04 ships ROCm in the archive

Ubuntu 26.04 ships ROCm 7.1.0 in the Universe repo, so sudo apt install rocm gives you a working stack with no third-party repository. The in-distro version trails upstream by roughly one minor release; use the AMD repo path below only if you need newer than 7.1.0.

APU Support Status¶

Strix Halo Support

As of ROCm 7.x, AMD officially supports gfx1151 (Strix Halo / Strix Point). The HSA_OVERRIDE_GFX_VERSION workaround is no longer needed.

Current Compatibility¶

Component	Support Level	Notes
amdgpu kernel driver	Good	Linux 7.0 (26.04 default) covers gfx1151; min for upstream is 6.18.4 / 6.17 HWE
ROCm runtime	Supported (ROCm 7.x)	Native gfx1151 support
HIP	Supported	Applications work natively
OpenCL	Good	Generally functional

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 uses the RDNA 3.5 architecture with GPU ID gfx1151.

APU vs Discrete GPU¶

Aspect	APU	Discrete GPU
ROCm support	Newer, less tested	Mature
Memory	Shared system RAM	Dedicated VRAM
Device nodes	`/dev/kfd`, `/dev/dri`	Same
Performance	Memory bandwidth limited	Higher bandwidth

Prerequisites¶

Kernel Requirements¶

Ubuntu 26.04 ships Linux 7.0, which has full gfx1151 support out of the box. The 26.04 server installer also auto-installs HWE/OEM metapackages when matching hardware is detected, so no manual kernel install is needed on the MS-S1 Max.

Verify:

uname -r
# Should show 7.0.x or newer

If you are still on an older release, AMD's published minimum for gfx1151 is kernel 6.18.4 mainline or 6.17 HWE.

Check GPU Detection¶

Verify the APU is recognized:

# Check for AMD GPU
lspci | grep -i vga
# Output should include AMD Radeon

# Check DRI devices
ls -la /dev/dri/
# Should show card0 and renderD128

Required Groups¶

# Add user to required groups
sudo usermod -aG video,render $USER

# Apply group changes (or log out and back in)
newgrp video
newgrp render

Installation Methods¶

Method 1: In-distro `apt install rocm` (Recommended for 26.04)¶

sudo apt update
sudo apt install rocm

This pulls ROCm 7.1.0 from Ubuntu's Universe repo. It includes the runtime, HIP, OpenCL, and Lemonade Server. Use this unless you specifically need a newer ROCm than 7.1.0.

Method 2: amdgpu-install (Newer ROCm via AMD's repo)¶

The amdgpu-install script tracks upstream ROCm faster than the Ubuntu archive.

Download the installer:

# AMD's resolute (26.04) path may not be published yet. Check repo.radeon.com first;
# fall back to the noble (24.04) installer if needed.
wget https://repo.radeon.com/amdgpu-install/latest/ubuntu/noble/amdgpu-install_7.1.1.70101-1_all.deb

# Install the installer package
sudo apt install ./amdgpu-install_7.1.1.70101-1_all.deb

Version Numbers

The version (7.1.1.70101-1) changes with ROCm releases. Check repo.radeon.com for the latest.

Install ROCm:

# Install ROCm with all common components
sudo amdgpu-install --usecase=rocm,hip,opencl,graphics,dkms

DKMS is optional on 26.04

The 7.0 kernel includes upstream amdgpu support for gfx1151, so DKMS is no longer strictly required to make ROCm work. Including dkms is still useful when you need a fresher amdgpu than the in-tree driver — for example to pick up a Strix-Halo-specific fix that hasn't landed in the running kernel yet.

Available use cases:

Use Case	Components
`rocm`	Full ROCm stack
`graphics`	Graphics drivers only
`opencl`	OpenCL runtime
`hip`	HIP development
`rocmdev`	ROCm development tools

Method 2: Manual Installation¶

For more control over components:

Add AMD repository:

# Import GPG key
wget -qO - https://repo.radeon.com/rocm/rocm.gpg.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/rocm.gpg

# Add repository
echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/rocm.gpg] https://repo.radeon.com/rocm/apt/7.1 noble main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rocm.list
# AMD's repo may not yet publish a 'resolute' suite at 26.04 launch. The noble (24.04) suite typically works
# on 26.04 since ROCm packages are largely libstdc++/glibc-compatible across versions; switch to 'resolute'
# once it appears.

# Update package lists
sudo apt update

Install components:

# Core ROCm runtime
sudo apt install rocm-hip-runtime

# ROCm SMI for monitoring
sudo apt install rocm-smi-lib

# Development tools (optional)
sudo apt install rocm-dev

# OpenCL runtime
sudo apt install rocm-opencl-runtime

Environment Configuration¶

Path Setup¶

Add ROCm to your PATH:

# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.profile
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/rocm/bin' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/opt/rocm/lib' >> ~/.bashrc

# Apply changes
source ~/.bashrc

HSA_OVERRIDE_GFX_VERSION (Legacy)¶

ROCm 7.x -- Not Needed

ROCm 7.x has native gfx1151 support. The HSA_OVERRIDE_GFX_VERSION override is not needed and should not be set. If you have it in your ~/.bashrc, remove it.

For users still on ROCm 6.x (not recommended), the override was required:

# ROCm 6.x only -- not needed for ROCm 7.x
export HSA_OVERRIDE_GFX_VERSION=11.0.0

The HSA_OVERRIDE_GFX_VERSION variable tells ROCm to treat the GPU as a different (supported) architecture. This causes instability and reduced performance compared to native support.

Other Useful Variables¶

Variable	Purpose	Example
`HSA_OVERRIDE_GFX_VERSION`	Force GPU architecture	`11.0.0`
`HIP_VISIBLE_DEVICES`	Limit visible GPUs	`0`
`ROCR_VISIBLE_DEVICES`	Alternative device selection	`0`
`GPU_MAX_HW_QUEUES`	Hardware queue limit	`8`

Verification¶

rocminfo¶

Check ROCm detects the GPU:

rocminfo

Expected output includes:

ROCk module is loaded
HSA System Attributes:
  ...
Agent 1:
  Name:                    gfx1151
  Marketing Name:          AMD Radeon Graphics
  ...
  Pool Info:
    Segment:               GLOBAL; FLAGS: FINE GRAINED
    Size:                  XX(XXX)KB

You should see gfx1151 listed as a detected agent.

rocm-smi¶

Monitor GPU status:

# Basic status
rocm-smi

# Detailed info
rocm-smi --showallinfo

# Memory usage
rocm-smi --showmeminfo vram

# Watch in real-time
watch -n 1 rocm-smi

clinfo (OpenCL)¶

Verify OpenCL functionality:

# Install clinfo if needed
sudo apt install clinfo

# Check OpenCL devices
clinfo

Look for your AMD device in the output.

Simple GPU Test¶

Run a basic HIP test:

# Install ROCm examples
sudo apt install rocm-hip-sdk

# Run device query
/opt/rocm/bin/hipInfo

Troubleshooting¶

GPU Not Detected¶

# Check if amdgpu module is loaded
lsmod | grep amdgpu

# If not loaded, try loading it
sudo modprobe amdgpu

# Check for errors
dmesg | grep -i amdgpu

Permission Denied¶

# Verify group membership
groups $USER
# Should include: video render

# Check device permissions
ls -la /dev/kfd /dev/dri/*

# If permissions wrong, add udev rule
echo 'KERNEL=="kfd", GROUP="render", MODE="0660"' | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/70-kfd.rules
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

HSA Error: Invalid Code Object¶

This typically means architecture mismatch. On ROCm 7.x with gfx1151, ensure you do not have HSA_OVERRIDE_GFX_VERSION set:

# Check if override is set (should be empty on ROCm 7.x)
echo $HSA_OVERRIDE_GFX_VERSION

# Remove from bashrc if present
sed -i '/HSA_OVERRIDE_GFX_VERSION/d' ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

amdgpu Blacklisted¶

If rocminfo fails, check for blacklist entries:

grep -r amdgpu /etc/modprobe.d/
# Remove any lines containing "blacklist amdgpu"

# Rebuild initramfs after changes (26.04 uses dracut by default, which is invoked the same way)
sudo update-initramfs -u
sudo reboot

Wrong Kernel Booting After Upgrade¶

If the system boots an older kernel:

# List installed kernels
dpkg -l | grep linux-image

# Set the desired kernel as GRUB default (replace with the actual entry name)
sudo sed -i 's/GRUB_DEFAULT=.*/GRUB_DEFAULT="Advanced options for Ubuntu>Ubuntu, with Linux 7.0.0-N-generic"/' /etc/default/grub
sudo update-grub
sudo reboot

ROCm Version Mismatch¶

# Check installed version
apt list --installed | grep rocm

# Remove conflicting versions
sudo amdgpu-install --uninstall

# Reinstall specific version
sudo amdgpu-install --usecase=rocm

Kernel Module Issues¶

# Check DKMS status
dkms status

# Rebuild modules if needed
sudo dkms autoinstall

# Or reinstall amdgpu-dkms
sudo apt install --reinstall amdgpu-dkms

Integration with AI Frameworks¶

llama.cpp with ROCm¶

Build llama.cpp with HIP support. llama.cpp uses CMake now — the old make GGML_HIP=1 invocation no longer works on current main.

git clone https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp
cd llama.cpp

# Build with HIP, targeting Strix Halo (gfx1151)
cmake -B build \
    -DGGML_HIP=ON \
    -DAMDGPU_TARGETS=gfx1151 \
    -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build --config Release -j$(nproc)

See llama.cpp for runtime environment hints.

Ollama with ROCm¶

Ollama includes ROCm support:

# Install Ollama
curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh

# Run with ROCm (detected automatically if installed)
ollama run llama3.2

Check Ollama is using GPU:

ollama ps
# Should show GPU memory usage

PyTorch with ROCm¶

Install PyTorch with ROCm support:

pip install torch torchvision torchaudio --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/rocm7.1

PyTorch ROCm Wheels

Check the PyTorch get-started page for the latest ROCm-compatible wheel URL. The index URL changes with each ROCm major release.