diff --git a/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/environment.yml b/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/environment.yml
index 848720a7bbb..e55fd5000fa 100644
--- a/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/environment.yml
+++ b/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/environment.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 channels:
-  - pytorch
   - defaults
+  - pytorch
 dependencies:
   - pip
   - protobuf
diff --git a/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/post_process.sh b/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/post_process.sh
index e97bf2a7b1b..df82332cd84 100755
--- a/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/post_process.sh
+++ b/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/post_process.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 set -e
-
-eval "$(./conda/bin/conda shell.bash hook)"
-conda activate ./env
diff --git a/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/run_all.sh b/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/run_all.sh
index a81c562a446..9b780641408 100755
--- a/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/run_all.sh
+++ b/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/run_all.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ set -v
 # ==================================================================================== #
 # ================================ Init ============================================== #
 
-
 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
 export TZ="${TZ:-Etc/UTC}"
 ln -snf "/usr/share/zoneinfo/${TZ}" /etc/localtime || true
@@ -17,10 +16,10 @@ apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends tzdata
 dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive tzdata || true
 
 apt-get upgrade -y
-apt-get install -y vim git wget cmake
+apt-get install -y vim git wget cmake curl
 
-apt-get install -y libglfw3 libgl1-mesa-glx libosmesa6 libglew-dev libosmesa6-dev
-apt-get install -y libglvnd0 libgl1 libglx0 libegl1 libgles2
+apt-get install -y libglfw3 libosmesa6 libglew-dev libosmesa6-dev
+apt-get install -y libglvnd0 libgl1 libglx0 libglx-mesa0 libegl1 libgles2
 apt-get install -y g++ gcc patchelf
 
 this_dir="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"
@@ -34,152 +33,94 @@ cp $this_dir/10_nvidia.json /usr/share/glvnd/egl_vendor.d/10_nvidia.json
 # Avoid error: "fatal: unsafe repository"
 git config --global --add safe.directory '*'
 root_dir="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
-conda_dir="${root_dir}/conda"
-env_dir="${root_dir}/env"
-lib_dir="${env_dir}/lib"
+env_dir="${root_dir}/venv"
 
 cd "${root_dir}"
 
-case "$(uname -s)" in
-    Darwin*) os=MacOSX;;
-    *) os=Linux
-esac
-
-# 1. Install conda at ./conda
-if [ ! -d "${conda_dir}" ]; then
-    printf "* Installing conda\n"
-    wget -O miniconda.sh "http://repo.continuum.io/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-${os}-x86_64.sh"
-    bash ./miniconda.sh -b -f -p "${conda_dir}"
-fi
-eval "$(${conda_dir}/bin/conda shell.bash hook)"
+# Install uv
+curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
+export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
 
-# 2. Create test environment at ./env
-printf "python: ${PYTHON_VERSION}\n"
-if [ ! -d "${env_dir}" ]; then
-    printf "* Creating a test environment\n"
-    conda create --prefix "${env_dir}" -y python="$PYTHON_VERSION"
-fi
-conda activate "${env_dir}"
-
-# Verify we have CPython, not PyPy
-python_impl=$(python -c "import platform; print(platform.python_implementation())")
-if [ "$python_impl" != "CPython" ]; then
-    echo "ERROR: Expected CPython but got $python_impl"
-    echo "Python executable: $(which python)"
-    echo "Python version: $(python --version)"
-    exit 1
-fi
-printf "* Verified Python implementation: %s\n" "$python_impl"
-
-# 3. Install mujoco
-printf "* Installing mujoco and related\n"
-mkdir -p $root_dir/.mujoco
-cd $root_dir/.mujoco/
-#wget https://github.com/deepmind/mujoco/releases/download/2.1.1/mujoco-2.1.1-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
-#tar -xf mujoco-2.1.1-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
-wget https://mujoco.org/download/mujoco210-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
-tar -xf mujoco210-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
-cd "${root_dir}"
+# Create venv with uv
+printf "* Creating venv with Python ${PYTHON_VERSION}\n"
+uv venv --python "${PYTHON_VERSION}" "${env_dir}"
+source "${env_dir}/bin/activate"
 
-# 4. Install Conda dependencies
-printf "* Installing dependencies (except PyTorch)\n"
-# Add python version to environment.yml if not already present (idempotent)
-if ! grep -q "python=${PYTHON_VERSION}" "${this_dir}/environment.yml"; then
-    echo "  - python=${PYTHON_VERSION}" >> "${this_dir}/environment.yml"
-fi
-cat "${this_dir}/environment.yml"
+# Verify CPython
+python -c "import sys; assert sys.implementation.name == 'cpython', f'Expected CPython, got {sys.implementation.name}'"
 
-export MUJOCO_PY_MUJOCO_PATH=$root_dir/.mujoco/mujoco210
-#export MJLIB_PATH=$root_dir/.mujoco/mujoco-2.1.1/lib/libmujoco.so.2.1.1
-export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$root_dir/.mujoco/mujoco210/bin
+# Set environment variables
 export SDL_VIDEODRIVER=dummy
 export MUJOCO_GL=egl
 export PYOPENGL_PLATFORM=egl
 export LAZY_LEGACY_OP=False
 export COMPOSITE_LP_AGGREGATE=0
+export MAX_IDLE_COUNT=1000
+export DISPLAY=:99
+export BATCHED_PIPE_TIMEOUT=60
+export TOKENIZERS_PARALLELISM=true
 
-conda env config vars set \
-  MAX_IDLE_COUNT=1000 \
-  MUJOCO_PY_MUJOCO_PATH=$root_dir/.mujoco/mujoco210 \
-  DISPLAY=:99 \
-  LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$root_dir/.mujoco/mujoco210/bin \
-  SDL_VIDEODRIVER=dummy \
-  MUJOCO_GL=egl \
-  PYOPENGL_PLATFORM=egl \
-  BATCHED_PIPE_TIMEOUT=60 \
-  TOKENIZERS_PARALLELISM=true
-
-pip install pip --upgrade
-
-conda env update --file "${this_dir}/environment.yml" --prune
-
-conda deactivate
-conda activate "${env_dir}"
-
-# install d4rl
-pip install free-mujoco-py
-pip install git+https://github.com/Farama-Foundation/d4rl@master#egg=d4rl
-
-# TODO: move this down -- will break torchrl installation
-conda install -y -c conda-forge libstdcxx-ng=12
-## find libstdc - search in the env's lib directory first, then fall back to conda packages
-STDC_LOC=$(find "${env_dir}/lib" -name "libstdc++.so.6" 2>/dev/null | head -1)
-if [ -z "$STDC_LOC" ]; then
-    # Fall back to searching in conda packages for libstdcxx-ng specifically
-    STDC_LOC=$(find conda/pkgs -path "*libstdcxx*" -name "libstdc++.so.6" 2>/dev/null | head -1)
-fi
-if [ -z "$STDC_LOC" ]; then
-    echo "WARNING: Could not find libstdc++.so.6, skipping LD_PRELOAD"
-    conda env config vars set \
-      MAX_IDLE_COUNT=1000 \
-      TOKENIZERS_PARALLELISM=true
-else
-    echo "Found libstdc++ at: $STDC_LOC"
-    conda env config vars set \
-      MAX_IDLE_COUNT=1000 \
-      LD_PRELOAD=${STDC_LOC} TOKENIZERS_PARALLELISM=true
-fi
-
-# Reactivate environment to apply the new env vars
-conda deactivate
-conda activate "${env_dir}"
-
-# compile mujoco-py (bc it's done at runtime for whatever reason someone thought it was a good idea)
-python -c """import gym;import d4rl"""
-
-# install ale-py: manylinux names are broken for CentOS so we need to manually download and
-# rename them
+# ==================================================================================== #
+# ================================ Install dependencies ============================== #
+
+printf "* Installing dependencies\n"
+
+# Install base dependencies
+uv pip install \
+  hypothesis \
+  future \
+  cloudpickle \
+  pygame \
+  "moviepy<2.0.0" \
+  tqdm \
+  pytest \
+  pytest-cov \
+  pytest-mock \
+  pytest-instafail \
+  pytest-rerunfailures \
+  expecttest \
+  pybind11 \
+  pyyaml \
+  scipy \
+  hydra-core \
+  "imageio==2.26.0" \
+  dm_control \
+  "mujoco<3.3.6" \
+  mlflow \
+  av \
+  coverage \
+  vmas \
+  transformers \
+  "minari[hdf5,create]"
+
+# Install gymnasium with atari and mujoco support
+uv pip install "gymnasium[atari,mujoco]>=1.1.0"
 
 # ============================================================================================ #
 # ================================ PyTorch & TorchRL ========================================= #
 
-
 if [[ ${#CU_VERSION} -eq 4 ]]; then
     CUDA_VERSION="${CU_VERSION:2:1}.${CU_VERSION:3:1}"
 elif [[ ${#CU_VERSION} -eq 5 ]]; then
     CUDA_VERSION="${CU_VERSION:2:2}.${CU_VERSION:4:1}"
 fi
 echo "Using CUDA $CUDA_VERSION as determined by CU_VERSION ($CU_VERSION)"
-version="$(python -c "print('.'.join(\"${CUDA_VERSION}\".split('.')[:2]))")"
 
 # submodules
 git submodule sync && git submodule update --init --recursive
 
-pip3 install ale-py -U
-pip3 install "gym[atari,accept-rom-license]" "gymnasium>=1.1.0" -U
-
 printf "Installing PyTorch with %s\n" "${CU_VERSION}"
 if [[ "$TORCH_VERSION" == "nightly" ]]; then
   if [ "${CU_VERSION:-}" == cpu ] ; then
-      pip3 install --pre torch torchvision numpy==1.26.4 --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/cpu -U
+      uv pip install --pre torch torchvision "numpy==1.26.4" --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/cpu
   else
-      pip3 install --pre torch torchvision numpy==1.26.4 --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/$CU_VERSION
+      uv pip install --pre torch torchvision "numpy==1.26.4" --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/$CU_VERSION
   fi
 elif [[ "$TORCH_VERSION" == "stable" ]]; then
-    if [ "${CU_VERSION:-}" == cpu ] ; then
-      pip3 install torch torchvision numpy==1.26.4 --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
+  if [ "${CU_VERSION:-}" == cpu ] ; then
+      uv pip install torch torchvision "numpy==1.26.4" --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
   else
-      pip3 install torch torchvision numpy==1.26.4 --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/$CU_VERSION
+      uv pip install torch torchvision "numpy==1.26.4" --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/$CU_VERSION
   fi
 else
   printf "Failed to install pytorch"
@@ -189,23 +130,19 @@ fi
 # smoke test
 python -c "import functorch"
 
-## install snapshot
-#pip install git+https://github.com/pytorch/torchsnapshot
-
 # install tensordict
 if [[ "$RELEASE" == 0 ]]; then
-  pip3 install git+https://github.com/pytorch/tensordict.git
+  uv pip install git+https://github.com/pytorch/tensordict.git
 else
-  pip3 install tensordict
+  uv pip install tensordict
 fi
 
 printf "* Installing torchrl\n"
-python -m pip install -e . --no-build-isolation
+uv pip install -e . --no-build-isolation
 
 # ==================================================================================== #
 # ================================ Run tests ========================================= #
 
-
 bash ${this_dir}/run_test.sh
 
 # ==================================================================================== #
diff --git a/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/test_sota.py b/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/test_sota.py
index d70536b95ef..2621bcf82eb 100644
--- a/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/test_sota.py
+++ b/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/test_sota.py
@@ -15,21 +15,6 @@
 ), "Composite LP must be set to False. Run this test with COMPOSITE_LP_AGGREGATE=0"
 
 commands = {
-    "dt": """python sota-implementations/decision_transformer/dt.py \
-  optim.pretrain_gradient_steps=55 \
-  optim.updates_per_episode=3 \
-  optim.warmup_steps=10 \
-  logger.backend= \
-  env.backend=gymnasium \
-  env.name=HalfCheetah-v4
-""",
-    "online_dt": """python sota-implementations/decision_transformer/online_dt.py \
-  optim.pretrain_gradient_steps=55 \
-  optim.updates_per_episode=3 \
-  optim.warmup_steps=10 \
-  env.backend=gymnasium \
-  logger.backend=
-""",
     "td3_bc": """python sota-implementations/td3_bc/td3_bc.py \
   optim.gradient_steps=55 \
   logger.backend=
@@ -39,7 +24,7 @@
   collector.frames_per_batch=20 \
   collector.num_workers=1 \
   logger.backend= \
-  env.backend=gym \
+  env.backend=gymnasium \
   logger.test_interval=10
 """,
     "ppo_mujoco": """python sota-implementations/ppo/ppo_mujoco.py \
@@ -57,7 +42,7 @@
   loss.mini_batch_size=20 \
   loss.ppo_epochs=2 \
   logger.backend= \
-  env.backend=gym \
+  env.backend=gymnasium \
   logger.test_interval=10
 """,
     "ddpg": """python sota-implementations/ddpg/ddpg.py \
@@ -84,7 +69,7 @@
   collector.frames_per_batch=20 \
   loss.mini_batch_size=20 \
   logger.backend= \
-  env.backend=gym \
+  env.backend=gymnasium \
   logger.test_interval=40
 """,
     "dqn_atari": """python sota-implementations/dqn/dqn_atari.py \
@@ -94,7 +79,7 @@
   buffer.batch_size=10 \
   loss.num_updates=1 \
   logger.backend= \
-  env.backend=gym \
+  env.backend=gymnasium \
   buffer.buffer_size=120
 """,
     "discrete_cql_online": """python sota-implementations/cql/discrete_cql_online.py \
@@ -301,6 +286,7 @@
   collector.frames_per_batch=200 \
   env.n_parallel_envs=1 \
   optimization.optim_steps_per_batch=1 \
+  optimization.compile=False \
   logger.video=False \
   logger.backend=csv \
   replay_buffer.buffer_size=120 \
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-linux-sota.yml b/.github/workflows/test-linux-sota.yml
index 1bc93f8082a..7032631c9a6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-linux-sota.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-linux-sota.yml
@@ -26,14 +26,14 @@ jobs:
   tests:
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python_version: ["3.9"]
-        cuda_arch_version: ["12.8"]
+        python_version: ["3.10"]
+        cuda_arch_version: ["13.0"]
       fail-fast: false
     uses: pytorch/test-infra/.github/workflows/linux_job_v2.yml@main
     with:
       runner: linux.g5.4xlarge.nvidia.gpu
       repository: pytorch/rl
-      docker-image: "nvidia/cuda:12.2.0-devel-ubuntu22.04"
+      docker-image: "nvidia/cuda:13.0.2-cudnn-devel-ubuntu24.04"
       gpu-arch-type: cuda
       gpu-arch-version: ${{ matrix.cuda_arch_version }}
       timeout: 90
diff --git a/sota-implementations/a2c/config_atari.yaml b/sota-implementations/a2c/config_atari.yaml
index 964704efc63..80fea436c52 100644
--- a/sota-implementations/a2c/config_atari.yaml
+++ b/sota-implementations/a2c/config_atari.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Environment
 env:
-  env_name: PongNoFrameskip-v4
+  env_name: ALE/Pong-v5
   backend: gymnasium
   num_envs: 16
 
diff --git a/sota-implementations/dqn/config_atari.yaml b/sota-implementations/dqn/config_atari.yaml
index cb5dcf9411c..878de1df30c 100644
--- a/sota-implementations/dqn/config_atari.yaml
+++ b/sota-implementations/dqn/config_atari.yaml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ device: null
 
 # Environment
 env:
-  env_name: PongNoFrameskip-v4
+  env_name: ALE/Pong-v5
   backend: gymnasium
 
 # collector
diff --git a/sota-implementations/dreamer/dreamer.py b/sota-implementations/dreamer/dreamer.py
index a39c8904916..60eb4d82669 100644
--- a/sota-implementations/dreamer/dreamer.py
+++ b/sota-implementations/dreamer/dreamer.py
@@ -116,6 +116,11 @@ def main(cfg: DictConfig):  # noqa: F821
         grayscale=cfg.env.grayscale,
         image_size=cfg.env.image_size,
         use_autocast=cfg.optimization.use_autocast,
+        compile=(
+            {"backend": cfg.optimization.compile_backend}
+            if cfg.optimization.compile
+            else False
+        ),
     )
 
     # Training loop
diff --git a/sota-implementations/dreamer/dreamer_utils.py b/sota-implementations/dreamer/dreamer_utils.py
index 7d8b9d6d618..18cee3ab07a 100644
--- a/sota-implementations/dreamer/dreamer_utils.py
+++ b/sota-implementations/dreamer/dreamer_utils.py
@@ -361,6 +361,7 @@ def make_replay_buffer(
     grayscale=True,
     image_size,
     use_autocast,
+    compile: bool | dict = False,
 ):
     with (
         tempfile.TemporaryDirectory()
@@ -403,7 +404,7 @@ def check_no_pixels(data):
                 strict_length=False,
                 traj_key=("collector", "traj_ids"),
                 cache_values=True,
-                compile=True,
+                compile=compile,
             ),
             transform=transforms,
             batch_size=batch_size,
diff --git a/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_ray.yaml b/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_ray.yaml
index 5a4b8a79d4a..0d6019dd4af 100644
--- a/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_ray.yaml
+++ b/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_ray.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Environment
 env:
-  env_name: PongNoFrameskip-v4
+  env_name: ALE/Pong-v5
   backend: gymnasium
 
 # Ray init kwargs - https://docs.ray.io/en/latest/ray-core/api/doc/ray.init.html
diff --git a/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_submitit.yaml b/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_submitit.yaml
index 18e807bdf0b..71dba134bdc 100644
--- a/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_submitit.yaml
+++ b/sota-implementations/impala/config_multi_node_submitit.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Environment
 env:
-  env_name: PongNoFrameskip-v4
+  env_name: ALE/Pong-v5
   backend: gymnasium
 
 # Device for the forward and backward passes
diff --git a/sota-implementations/impala/config_single_node.yaml b/sota-implementations/impala/config_single_node.yaml
index c937698962f..14def9ab709 100644
--- a/sota-implementations/impala/config_single_node.yaml
+++ b/sota-implementations/impala/config_single_node.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Environment
 env:
-  env_name: PongNoFrameskip-v4
+  env_name: ALE/Pong-v5
   backend: gymnasium
 
 # Device for the forward and backward passes
diff --git a/sota-implementations/ppo/config_atari.yaml b/sota-implementations/ppo/config_atari.yaml
index 038bc9bc45f..4671133742f 100644
--- a/sota-implementations/ppo/config_atari.yaml
+++ b/sota-implementations/ppo/config_atari.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Environment
 env:
-  env_name: PongNoFrameskip-v4
+  env_name: ALE/Pong-v5
   num_envs: 8
   backend: gymnasium
 
diff --git a/test/test_collector.py b/test/test_collector.py
index 77a906fc453..8ac9b425033 100644
--- a/test/test_collector.py
+++ b/test/test_collector.py
@@ -1807,8 +1807,7 @@ def test_multi_sync_data_collector_ordering(
             for i in range(num_envs)
         ]
 
-        # Initialize MultiSyncDataCollector
-        collector = MultiSyncDataCollector(
+        collector = MultiSyncCollector(
             create_env_fn=env_factories,
             frames_per_batch=num_envs * n_steps,
             total_frames=num_envs * n_steps,
diff --git a/torchrl/envs/libs/gym.py b/torchrl/envs/libs/gym.py
index ee34ab87185..9c1cfda88c6 100644
--- a/torchrl/envs/libs/gym.py
+++ b/torchrl/envs/libs/gym.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 from tensordict import TensorDict, TensorDictBase
 from torch.utils._pytree import tree_map
 
-from torchrl._utils import implement_for
+from torchrl._utils import implement_for, logger as torchrl_logger
 from torchrl.data.tensor_specs import (
     _minmax_dtype,
     Binary,
@@ -1819,6 +1819,13 @@ def _build_env(
             # to find the config that works.
             try:
                 with warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as w:
+                    if env_name.startswith("ALE/"):
+                        try:
+                            import ale_py  # noqa: F401
+                        except ImportError as err:
+                            torchrl_logger.warning(
+                                f"ale_py not found, this may cause issues with ALE environments: {err}"
+                            )
                     # we catch warnings as they may cause silent bugs
                     env = self.lib.make(env_name, **kwargs)
                     if len(w) and "frameskip" in str(w[-1].message):