At AMD, we are always looking at ways to optimize our drivers and software to ensure gamers are getting the most performance out of their Radeon powered systems. Since Windows® 11 launched back in October of 2021, we’ve made significant progress in improving our software optimizations and performance. Over the course of just one year, we have seen increases in performance across numerous games with some achieving over 10% gains.
See endnote 1.
Today we are releasing our newest AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ application driver 23.2.1. In this latest update, gamers using AMD Radeon™ RX 6000 series graphics solutions can experience additional performance improvements over and above the gains delivered since our last software release for this series in November.
See endnote 2.
These performance improvements not only apply to the top end of our Radeon RX 6000 series graphics, they also benefit many of our other graphics cards.
See endnote 3.
Additionally, this latest software driver brings performance improvements to the recently released games Hogwarts Legacy and Forspoken4,5.
New and Updated Features for Radeon™ RX 6000 Series Graphics
AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ Driver 23.2.1 also delivers updates to features first introduced on the AMD Radeon™ RX 7900 series graphics, and now available for AMD Radeon RX 6000 series graphics. Streaming optimizations for H.264 and H.265 help enhance the quality of your stream6 and updates to AMD Link7 will improve overall connectivity across all supported Radeon products so you can game from anywhere in the world on virtually any device. It is important to note that anyone using AMD Link on an AMD Radeon RX 7900 series graphics card will need to download this new version of AMD Link to continue using this feature.
See endnote 8.
Enhanced Streaming with AMD Encoder Support in OBS
If you’re one of the many people who use OBS for your streaming needs, be sure to take advantage of the optimized encoder for your Radeon RX 6000 and Radeon RX 7000 series graphics cards found in the latest version of OBS. This includes support for AV1 encode acceleration on the Radeon RX 7000 series graphics cards.
OBS 29.0.0 Advanced Streaming Settings
OBS 29.0.0 Advanced Recording Settings for AMD Radeon™ RX 7900 Series Graphics
Delivering Better Software
Each driver undergoes countless hours of testing across thousands of different configurations, but ultimately, there will still be some issues due to how vast and complex the PC and gaming ecosystems are. We have a dedicated team that actively monitors our community for any issues that are raised online or through the Bug Report Tool found within the Adrenalin software. Several user-reported issues were identified and resolved for this release, including:
- AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition may fail to launch with the error message “Delayed Write Failed” on Microsoft® Windows 11 version 22H2.
- Poor performance and load time may be observed while playing SpaceEngine™.
- Corruption may be observed while scrolling the points shop in STEAM™ on Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs.
- Performance drop may be observed during Fortnite™ and YouTube playback with Enhanced Sync enabled on some AMD Graphics Products such as AMD Radeon™ RX 5700 XT graphics.
- Corruption or game crash may be observed while playing Door Kickers 2™.
- Missing or flickering textures may be observed while playing Emergency 4™.
- Application crash may be observed when launching Baldur's Gate 3™ using Vulkan® API on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
- Stuttering may be observed while playing Sea of Thieves™ on Radeon™ RX 6000 graphics and above series GPUs.
- Corruption may be observed while playing Battlefield™ 4 with Post Process Quality settings set to high or ultra on Radeon™ RX 6000 series graphics and above.
- Intermittent system stuttering or UI flickering may occur when two videos are simultaneously playing using chromium-based browsers on some multi-display configurations.
Things to Know about AMD Software
If you’re excited about the updates above, be sure to check out the rest of what Adrenalin Edition™ software has to offer and discover more features and facts, including:
- Modern User Interface – designed with you in mind, the Adrenalin User Interface is easy to use and navigate, allowing you to unlock the full potential of your AMD-powered system.
- Noise Suppression – built-in, AI trained, background noise removal software helps you communicate with peers, colleagues, teammates, and enemies clearly.
- Radeon Super Resolution – Works with thousands of games to boost frame rates using our FidelityFX Super Resolution 1.0 upscaling technology.
- Built-in Performance Tuning – rather than having to rely on 3rd party applications, you can officially customize and tune both your AMD Radeon graphics and AMD Ryzen processor within one interface, including simple one-click presets for beginners, with options for more advanced settings and controls for enthusiasts who want even more out of their AMD powered system.
- No Registration Required – everything you read about today can be accessed without requiring an account registration or login. Simply install the latest version of Adrenalin and start playing.
Level Up Your Radeon Gaming Today
Take advantage of all these improvements today by downloading the latest AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition here. If you would like to learn more about today’s driver release, take a look at our release notes here.
If you are in the market for a new graphics solution, be sure to check out:
Where to Buy Radeon RX 7000 Series
Where to Buy Radeon RX 6000 Series
For more information on AMD Software, visit www.amd.com/adrenalin and discover what else you can do with our software.
Warren Eng is a Product Marketing Manager for AMD Software. His favorite PC game of all-time is Grand Theft Auto V. He is currently playing BeamNG.Drive.
Endnotes:
1. Testing conducted by AMD as of February 9th, 2023, on a test system configured with a Ryzen 9 7900X 12-Core CPU, 32GB DDR5, Radeon RX 6900 XT GPU, and Windows 11 Pro, with AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 22.11.2 and 21.10.1 on Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K resolution on RT Ultra with FSR Performance enabled, F1 2022 at 4K Ultra High with RT Quality on Medium, God of War at 4K Ultra, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy at 4K Ultra, Hitman 3 at 4K ultra with RT On and FSR Performance enabled, Sniper Elite 5 at 4K Ultra, WoW: Shadowlands at 4K with preset on 10. Performance may vary. Laptop manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. RS-528
2. Testing conducted by AMD as of February 9th, 2023, on a test system configured with a Ryzen 9 7900X 12-Core CPU, 32GB DDR5, Radeon RX 6900 XT GPU, and Windows 11 Pro, with AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.2.1 and 21.10.1 on Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K resolution on RT Ultra with FSR Performance enabled, F1 2022 at 4K Ultra High with RT Quality on Medium, God of War at 4K Ultra , Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy at 4K Ultra , Hitman 3 at 4K ultra with RT On and FSR Performance enabled, Sniper Elite 5 at 4K Ultra , WoW: Shadowlands at 4K with preset on 10. Performance may vary. Laptop manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. RS-529
3. Testing conducted by AMD as of February 9th, 2023, on a test system configured with a Ryzen 9 7900X 12-Core CPU, 32GB DDR5, Radeon RX 6900 XT GPU, Radeon RX 6800 XT GPU and Windows 11 Pro, with AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.2.1 and 21.10.1 on F1 2022 at 4K Ultra High with RT Quality on Medium, God of War at 4K High , Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy at 4K Ultra , Hitman 3 at 4K ultra with RT On and FSR Performance enabled, WoW: Shadowlands at 4K with preset on 10. Performance may vary. Laptop manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. RS-531.
Testing conducted by AMD as of February 9th, 2023, on a test system configured with a Ryzen 9 7900X 12-Core CPU, 32GB DDR5, Radeon RX 6700 XT GPU, and Windows 11 Pro, with AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.2.1 and 21.10.1 on Dying Light 2 at 1440p High , F1 2022 at 1440p Ultra High with RT Quality on Medium, God of War at 1440p High , Hitman 3 at 1440p ultra with RT On, WoW: Shadowlands at 4K with preset on 10. Performance may vary. Laptop manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. RS-532.
Testing conducted by AMD as of February 9th, 2023, on a test system configured with a Ryzen 9 7900X 12-Core CPU, 32GB DDR5, Radeon RX 6600 XT GPU, Radeon RX 6600 GPU, Radeon RX 6500 XT GPU, Radeon RX 6400 GPU and Windows 11 Pro, with AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.2.1 and 21.10.1 (for 6600 XT and 6600), 22.1.2 (for 6500 XT 8GB and 6400) on Dying Light 2 at 1080p Medium , F1 2022 at 1080p Ultra High with RT Quality on Medium, God of War at 1080p High , Sniper Elite 5 at 1080p high , WoW: Shadowlands at 1080p with preset on 10. Performance may vary. Laptop manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. RS-533
4. Testing conducted by AMD as of February 9th, 2023, on a test system configured with a Ryzen 9 7900X 12-Core CPU, 32GB DDR5, Radeon RX 6950 XT GPU, and Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Windows 11 Pro, with AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.2.1 and 22.11.2 (6950 XT) and 23.1.2 (7900 XTX) on Hogwarts Legacy. Game tested at 4K resolution on ultra quality. Performance may vary. Laptop manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. RS-530
5. Testing conducted by AMD as of January 26th, 2023, on a test system configured with a Ryzen 9 7900X 12-Core CPU, 32GB DDR5, Radeon RX 6950 XT GPU, and Windows 11 Pro, with AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.2.1 and 22.11.2 on Forspoken. Game tested at 4k resolution on ultra high preset with ray tracing set to on. Performance may vary. Laptop manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. RS-524
6. Video codec acceleration (including at least the HEVC (H.265), H.264, VP9, and AV1 codecs) is subject to and not operable without inclusion/installation of compatible media players. GD-176
7. AMD Link requires AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.2.1. Game streaming on phone or tablet devices require Android 7.0 and greater or iOS 15 and greater. For TV support, Apple TV 4K running tvOS 15.x and greater, or Android TV 7.0 and greater are required. Streaming at 4K requires 4K capable streaming hardware and is compatible with: AMD Polaris-based Radeon™ RX 400 series discrete graphics and newer. Graphics card must support hardware encoding for host capabilities to function. Supports Windows 10/11. Link Game requires an internet connection. Controllers must be compatible with selected game and headset, please consult vendor for compatibility information.
8. Best-in-class performance in Overwatch: Testing done by AMD performance labs January 5, 2023, on the class of graphics cards defined as an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT (Driver 23.1.1) vs. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 and 4070Ti (Driver 528.02) GPUs, respectively. Each system configured with an AMD Ryzen 9 7900X processor, AM5 motherboard, 32GB DDR5-6000MT memory, and Windows 11 Pro. Game tested: Overwatch 2 at 4K Epic Settings. System manufacturers may vary configurations yielding different results. RX-890