Latest AMD Radeon Drivers Boast ~16% Perf. Improvement In RAGE 2

👤by Tim Harmer Comments 📅14.05.2019 23:12:29



Coinciding with the launch of RAGE 2 on PC, AMD have released their latest Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition drivers to provide performance optimisations and general bug fixes. RSAE 19.5.1 is an optional driver download primarily for players of Bethesda's new game, but support for Microsoft's Windows May 2019 Update and Radeon GPU Profiler 1.5.X instruction tracing could make the update compelling for your own circumstances.

Headlining the release notes is an up to 16% performance improvement in RAGE 2. Those are numbers that shouldn't be taken likely and are based on AMD's internal testing with an very high performance system equipped with a 16GB Radeon VII and Intel Core i9-9900K. That said, this particular GPU is AMD's newest and therefore the one with most scope for incremental improvements via driver updates. Results with older (and more widely-used) Vega-based GPUs may not match this figure.

This driver also incorporates a long list of fixes of previously known issues, including niche problems with Enhanced Sync and DOOM under specific system configurations. AMD also identify a fist-full of new issues present in the driver stack that are next on the chopping-block.

One sad footnote is that with RSAE 19.5.1 AMD is officially discontinuing support for Mantle and Radeon Enduro graphics switching technology. Core Mantle API principles were adopted by the Khronos Group in their development of the Vulkan low-level API, but the original has become a defunct rendering scheme supplanted by Vulkan and DirectX 12. Users who still need this functionality will need to remain on older driver releases.

Download the drivers at AMD.com/support. Supported GPUs go back as far as the Radeon HD7000-series, and include AMD Radeon Mobility GPUs. The drivers are compatible with 64-bit versions of Window 10 and 7 (the latter with Service Pack 1).

Release Notes

Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.5.1 Highlights

Support For

RAGE 2:
- Up to 16% performance gains with AMD Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.5.1, on an AMD Radeon™ VII.RS-295

Windows®10 May 2019 Update
Instruction Tracing for Radeon GPU Profiler 1.5.X

Fixed Issues

- Performance metrics overlay may experience intermittent flicker when playing back protected content with this feature enabled.
- DOOM™ may experience an application hang during launch on AMD XConnect™ Technology system configurations.
- Radeon Software installation may fail or get stuck at 33% when installing on AMD Radeon HD 7970 system configurations.
- Some Radeon RX 400 and Radeon RX 500 series graphics products may experience a system hang when hot plugging 8K displays.
- AMD Radeon VII may fail to apply Radeon Settings video profiles to video playback.
- HTC VIVE™ devices may experience connection or detection issues by the OS or SteamVR™.
- System instability may be experienced on ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 laptop when a wireless display is connected.
- Stuttering or frame drop may be experienced when playing back DivX interlaced content in the Windows® Movies & TV application.
- Radeon RX Vega series graphics products may experience higher than expected memory clocks at idle or desktop with multi-display system configurations.
- Some system configurations may not be able to set 10-Bit color in Radeon Settings when the connected display is set to 4K 60hz.
- Enhanced Sync may fail to enable on Radeon FreeSync enabled displays in DirectX®9 API games on game first launch.
- AMD Link may experience intermittent authentication issues. An update of the AMD Link application is also required.
- Some games may experience texture flickering or corruption on Radeon RX Vega series graphics products when using the Vulkan™ API.

Known Issues

- Radeon ReLive streaming and uploading of videos and other content to Facebook™ is currently unavailable.
- ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 may experience discrete GPU connection issues with devices disappearing from device manager when the system is idle.
- World War Z™ may experience an application hang after extended periods of play.
- AMD Radeon VII may experience screen flicker in multi display setups on desktop or while applications are running.
- Performance metrics overlay and Radeon WattMan gauges may experience inaccurate fluctuating readings on AMD Radeon VII.
- HDR Video may freeze or have corruption during playback when using Movies and TV Application with some Ryzen APUs.

Footnotes

Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of May 8th, 2019 on the 16GB AMD Radeon™ VII, on a test system comprising of Intel i9-9900K CPU (3.6 GHz), 16GB DDR4 memory, and Windows 10x64. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Rage 2 (Vulkan) with the high preset at 4K (3840x2160), when running Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.5.1, on the AMD Radeon™ VII scored an average 44.4 FPS while Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.4.3 scored an average 38.3 FPS. Therefore, in the above comparison, Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.5.1 shows 16% greater performance. All scores are an average of 3 runs with the same settings. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. [RS-295]

Important Notes

AMD Ryzen™ Mobile Processors with Radeon™ Vega Graphics FAQ for Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition can be found here.

Support for AMD Mantle API Technology has been discontinued starting with Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.5.1. Users who wish to continue to use AMD Mantle API Technology may do so with prior supported Radeon Software releases.

Support for AMD Enduro™ technology switchable graphics mode has been discontinued starting with Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.5.1. Users who wish to continue to use AMD Enduro™ technology switchable graphics mode may do so with prior supported Radeon Software releases.





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