Over a month after its previous April release, powered by the latest and greatest Linux kernel 6.14, the Arch-based gamers-focused CachyOS has announced its fourth release of the year.
A significant highlight of this release is the introduction of an automatic NVIDIA module detection mechanism in the Live-ISO boot process. Previously, users with older NVIDIA GPUs—specifically the 10xx series and earlier—faced issues due to the reliance on the Nouveau open-source driver, which proved unreliable in many cases.
Now, the system intelligently loads the appropriate proprietary NVIDIA module based on hardware detection, eliminating the need for a separate “NVIDIA” boot entry.
Visual coherence has also been enhanced with a brand-new Plymouth boot animation and a fresh GRUB theme. Current users interested in upgrading their boot animation can easily do so with a few commands outlined in the release notes.
On the software front, CachyOS has deprecated its in-house Cachy-Browser due to limited maintenance resources. Users currently running Cachy-Browser will receive a prompt guiding them on migrating their profiles to Firefox or compatible forks, which will now serve as the default browser to ensure security and a consistent user experience.
Gamers will find noteworthy enhancements in the updated Proton-CachyOS package, now rebased to Proton 10. This upgrade brings full Wayland support for the Steam Linux Runtime, Wine patches related to Wayland, improved FSR4 (FidelityFX Super Resolution) support with patches tailored for RDNA4 GPUs, and haptics support for the DualSense controller.
While some older patches, like the one for Dragon Age Inquisition, have been removed due to incompatibility, the overall gaming experience should be markedly smoother and more immersive. Detailed guidance on using FSR4 with supported GPUs is available on the official CachyOS forums.
On the bug fixes side, the cachyos-rate-mirrors script now provides a fallback mechanism, circumventing these restrictions. Additionally, the “Discover” application launcher icon has been removed from the KDE taskbar, and the updated ddcutil tool addresses issues causing freezes on AMD GPUs during video playback.
The handheld edition of CachyOS benefits from numerous improvements, too, including accurate system reporting in Game Mode, updated audio convolver profiles, and replacement of the standard powerbutton daemon with steam-powerbuttond for enhanced standby behavior.
Furthermore, the integration of SteamOS-Manager offers comprehensive hardware management features such as GPU clock and power settings, BIOS and dock updates, storage maintenance, and battery charge limiting, initially rolling out on MSI Claw devices with plans to expand support to Steam Deck and ROG Ally handhelds.
For more detailed information on all changes, refer to the official announcement. For those opting for a fresh install, the updated ISO files are available for download via CachyOS’s SourceForge mirrors.
