AMD Firmware Packages pre-installed on Intel/Nvidia System

Hi everyone,

I recently installed Fedora 40 on a system with an Intel processor (with integrated graphics) and an Nvidia graphics card (MX 330). I noticed that the packages amd-gpu-firmware and amd-ucode-firmware are installed. I’m curious why these AMD-related packages are present on a system without any AMD hardware.

Is this normal behavior? Are there any potential issues or conflicts associated with having these packages installed? Can I safely remove them without causing problems?

Thanks for your help!

Yes, it is normal.
No there are no concerns, and No do not remove them.

The installation is designed to function with almost every possible hardware combination that may be used so extra firmware and drivers are installed. The system only loads what is needed for the physical hardware actually installed.

If you remove something like that it would be reinstalled with the next system update so removal is pointless.

If you wish to only have what is necessary (minimal software install) then you should install with the net installation iso which only pulls in the needed software for the actual hardware your system has at install time. (though I suspect that the firmware for everything may still be installed since that is triggered by the linux-firmware meta-package.)

The firmware packages are installed without probing for hardware.

If you look closer sudo dnf list installed *firmware* then you will see lots of firmware is installed.

It does mean that if you upgrade hardware it will just work.

Also I have Fedora installed on external SSD and plug it into different hardware.
Having all the firmware is very useful.

1 Like

Thank you for the clarification. I thought there was problem with my installation, it’s helpful to know that the system intelligently loads only the required firmware based on the hardware present.

Thanks for the details, it makes sense that having a wider range of firmware pre-installed offers more flexibility.