AMD Software : Adrenalin Edition 23.2.1 [22.40.01.45] - 14/02/23

[Makaveli]

https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-rad-win-23-2-1

Article Number

RN-RAD-WIN-23-2-1

Highlights

• Support for:
  • Forspoken™
    • Up to 7% increase in performance for Forspoken @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.2.1 on the Radeon™️ RX 6950XT GPU, versus the previous software driver version 22.11.2 RS-524
  • Dead Space™
  • IREE compiler using MLIR interface on Vulkan.
  • Additional Vulkan® extensions. Click here for more information.
• Radeon RX 6000 Series GPUs now have support for newly introduced streaming capabilities including pre-filter toggle, pre-analysis feature and CAML technology.
• A new version of AMD Link improves overall connectivity across all supported Radeon products, RX 400 series and newer, so you can game from anywhere on virtually any device.
• Boost your performance with AMD Software - read the latest blog HERE and learn how this newly unified driver delivers performance gains since Windows 11 first launched.
• Game Optimizations
  • Up to 4% increase in performance for Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.2.1 on the Radeon™️ RX 6950XT GPU, versus the previous software driver version 22.11.2 RS-518
  • Up to 3% increase in performance for Sniper Elite 5 @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.2.1 on the Radeon™️ RX 6950XT GPU, versus the previous software driver version 22.11.2 RS-519
  • Up to 6% increase in performance for Shadow of the Tomb Raider @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.2.1 on the Radeon™️ RX 6950XT GPU, versus the previous software driver version 22.11.2 RS-520
  • Up to 7% increase in performance for Quake II RTX @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.2.1 on the Radeon™️ RX 6950XT GPU, versus the previous software driver version 22.11.2 RS-521
  • Up to 4% increase in performance for Hitman 3 @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.2.1 on the Radeon™️ RX 6950XT GPU, versus the previous software driver version 22.11.2 RS-522
  • Up to 6% increase in performance for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.2.1 on the Radeon™️ RX 6950XT GPU, versus the previous software driver version 22.11.2 RS-523
  • Up to 19% increase in performance for F1 2022 @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.2.1 on the Radeon™️ RX 6950XT GPU, versus the previous software driver version 22.11.2 RS-525
  • Up to 9% increase in performance for DOOM Eternal @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.2.1 on the Radeon™️ RX 6950XT GPU, versus the previous software driver version 22.11.2 RS-526
  • Up to 4% increase in performance for Borderlands 3 @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.2.1 on the Radeon™️ RX 6950XT GPU, versus the previous software driver version 22.11.2 RS-527
  • Up to 4% increase in performance for Hogwarts Legacy @ 4K using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.2.1 on the Radeon™️ RX 6950 XT and Radeon™ 7900 XTX, versus the previous software driver version (22.11.2 for 6950 XT, 23.1.2 for 7900 XTX) RS-530

Fixed Issues

• 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.
• 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 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 and above series GPUs.
• White foliage may be observed while playing Hogwarts Legacy™ on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
• Intermittent system stuttering or UI flickering may occur when two videos are simultaneously playing using chromium-based browsers on some multi-display configurations.

Known Issues

• High idle power has situationally been observed when using select high-resolution and high refresh rate displays on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
• Video stuttering or performance drop may be observed during gameplay plus video playback with some extended display configurations on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
• Application crash may be observed while opening Premium Gold Packs in EA SPORTS™ FIFA 23.
• Some virtual reality games or apps may experience lower-than-expected performance on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
• AMD Bug Report Tool pop-up or system hang may be observed after driver upgrade on some hybrid graphics notebooks. Users are recommended to use the factory reset install option as a workaround.
• Corruption may be briefly observed when moving Netflix video between displays or minimize-to-fullscreen on some AMD Products such as AMD Ryzen™ 7 6800U.
• Certain videos played with Movies and TV may briefly show corruption when moving the window between displays on some AMD Graphics Products such as AMD Radeon™ RX 6700 XT.
• Brief display corruption may occur when switching between video and game windows on some AMD Graphics Products such as the Radeon™ RX 6700 XT.
• Maximum encode bitrate is limited to 100Mbps for certain applications.

Important Notes

• AMD Link users running Radeon RX 7000 series GPUs will need to update to a newer version of AMD Link now available on various platforms.
• AMD is working with the game developers of Hogwarts Legacy™ to resolve performance issues when enabling ray tracing.

Package Contents

AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.2.1 Driver Version 22.40.01.45 for Windows® 10 and Windows® 11 (Windows Driver Store Version 31.0.14001.45012).

 

[Makaveli]

I ran into a Windows repair boot loop after installing these but I made sure I created a restore point before install.

Some other users reporting this also in reddit so I would hold off on this driver for now.

*Update* I had to disable fast boot in the bios to fix this now the driver is installed with no issues. I have turned fast boot back on and everything is normal.

 

[biostud]

Yay, 4% extra in BL3

 

[DeathReborn]

I ran into a Windows repair boot loop after installing these but I made sure I created a restore point before install.

Some other users reporting this also in reddit so I would hold off on this driver for now.

*Update* I had to disable fast boot in the bios to fix this now the driver is installed with no issues. I have turned fast boot back on and everything is normal.

Same on a 5500XT system I just built, no restore point but it's a fresh install + steam so not a problem to completely reinstall Windows. I never use Fast Boot and still had the loop issue on 1 of 2 systems.

 

[Shmee]

I may have to try these soon, but for some reason, the AMD software doesn't see that there is an update available, it says I am up to date.

 

[Makaveli]

if you click on my link on the first post you can download it there.

Also make sure you have it set to Recommended + Optional then it should show up.

These are WHQL drivers but for some reason they don't show up if you have it set to just recommended.

 

[Shmee]

Hmm, I tried switching to recommended + optional, but I still don't see it as an option for update. Maybe a software bug? Anyway, I can download them manually, if they are better.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Ran into a strange "half-bug" after installing. Could be random, but Windows text size was all over the place. Using the built-in text scaler fixed it right up, so there isn't much of an issue, just thought I'd let everyone know should anyone run across it.

 

[Flash831]

I installed yesterday without issues, but today when I was going to start my computer it was completely dead. After a couple of hard resets it came into the Windows repair window but I couldn't get my PC to work, not even by resetting to a previous restore point. So now I am forced to reinstall Windows.

*Sigh*

Just wanted to share this with my old Anandtech account if I can prevent someone from getting this same issue.

 

[biostud]

So when they point out performance increases with the 6950XT, is it safe to assume it is the similar for the rest of the N21 stack?

Also maybe I’ll wait a week or two, to see if a hot fix is released…

 

[Makaveli]

So when they point out performance increases with the 6950XT, is it safe to assume it is the similar for the rest of the N21 stack?

Also maybe I’ll wait a week or two, to see if a hot fix is released…

Yes it applies to all 6000 Gpu's I think they just choose to list the highest model instead of all of them.

 

[Kaluan]

So when they point out performance increases with the 6950XT, is it safe to assume it is the similar for the rest of the N21 stack?

Also maybe I’ll wait a week or two, to see if a hot fix is released…

There's official slides showing stuff like 20% gain for 6900XT (maybe higher for 6950XT theoretically?) and "just" 16% for 6800XT, from a 2021 driver to the current one.

So yes but likely just lesser gains overall.
Seems a lot like it focuses on improving/fixing underutilized hardware resources.

BTW if anyone comes across someone or some outlet testing/validating this driver's performance (vs the most recent ones or older/launch drivers), please post it here. Such as BabelTech or AncientGameplays.

There's a whole can of worms AMD opened by not stating directly if RDNA3 cards see gains as well. And now many are wondering if it's just focused on older gen. This needs investigation.

 

[biostud]

Looks like RT improvements should be significant. Will be interesting to see game benchmarks.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Looks like RT improvements should be significant. Will be interesting to see game benchmarks.

I don't think so. Only big gains in RT performance are in the 3DMark suite, from what I am seeing.

So far so good using these drivers on my primary gamer. I will try it on 5700G iGPU next. Both systems are 11pro, all AMD hardware.

 

[biostud]

I don't think so. Only big gains in RT performance are in the 3DMark suite, from what I am seeing.

So far so good using these drivers on my primary gamer. I will try it on 5700G iGPU next. Both systems are 11pro, all AMD hardware.

Yeah seem like it was a specific bug that got fixed.

 

[Kaluan]

I don't think so. Only big gains in RT performance are in the 3DMark suite, from what I am seeing.

So far so good using these drivers on my primary gamer. I will try it on 5700G iGPU next. Both systems are 11pro, all AMD hardware.

What about Quake II RTX?

Also almost every driver notes performance claim is made with games with RT settings turned on (where available).

 

[Joe NYC]

Looks like they did not make this update available for 6600 XT cards yet

 

[Makaveli]

Looks like they did not make this update available for 6600 XT cards yet

you sure about that?

I see it listed there for windows 10 and 11

 

[Joe NYC]

you sure about that?

I see it listed there for windows 10 and 11

View attachment 76706

Hmm, I will have to check again.

I was installing the driver as new on a new machine that used to have NVidia, and it installed version from November 2022. And then, checking through Addranalin software, it said I am up to date.

(This is on Windows 10 computer)

 

[Makaveli]

Hmm, I will have to check again.

I was installing the driver as new on a new machine that used to have NVidia, and it installed version from November 2022. And then, checking through Addranalin software, it said I am up to date.

(This is on Windows 10 computer)

If that machine previously had an Nvidia gpu I highly recommend using ddu uninstaller first to make sure NV drivers are gone.

this is a direct link to the software which is on the original link I posted above.

https://drivers.amd.com/drivers/whql-amd-software-adrenalin-edition-23.2.1-win10-win11-feb14.exe

 

[biostud]

Installed with no problems

saw 2% increase in WoT RT benchmark and 1.2% in BL3

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I just slapped together an ASRock deskmini A300W I bought here in FS/FT with a Ryzen Pro 2400G and 2x8GB running 2800MT/s because I don't have better SODIMMs right now. Allocated 4GB to iGPU and installed these drivers. Win 10.

Scored above average in 3DMark Night Raid. The benchmark for Batman Arkham Origins with max settings but with DoF and motion blur turned off because I don't like them. Also no hardware PhysX, was 58fps avg 1080p. Tomb Raider bench 1080p high settings = 60fps avg.

That's 2 different systems so far with good results. I picked up almost 10% in Port Royale with the RX6800. I hadn't run the RT features test on it, so no basis of comparison between drivers. It does beat my best score with an overclocked 2060 super by 70%. Not terrible considering I sold the RTX for $550, and paid $500 for the 6800 NIB while getting double the vram.

I will install these on the 5700G next. The deskmini arrived early, which is why I tested it first.

 

[Shmee]

I just slapped together an ASRock deskmini A300W I bought here in FS/FT with a Ryzen Pro 2400G and 2x8GB running 2800MT/s because I don't have better SODIMMs right now. Allocated 4GB to iGPU and installed these drivers. Win 10.

Scored above average in 3DMark Night Raid. The benchmark for Batman Arkham Origins with max settings but with DoF and motion blur turned off because I don't like them. Also no hardware PhysX, was 58fps avg 1080p. Tomb Raider bench 1080p high settings = 60fps avg.

That's 2 different systems so far with good results. I picked up almost 10% in Port Royale with the RX6800. I hadn't run the RT features test on it, so no basis of comparison between drivers. It does beat my best score with an overclocked 2060 super by 70%. Not terrible considering I sold the RTX for $550, and paid $500 for the 6800 NIB while getting double the vram.

I will install these on the 5700G next. The deskmini arrived early, which is why I tested it first.

Wow, so basically you got a big upgrade, and made a profit! Winning.

Who would buy a used RTX 2060 Super for $550 though? Or did you sell this much earlier, when prices were higher?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Wow, so basically you got a big upgrade, and made a profit! Winning.

Who would buy a used RTX 2060 Super for $550 though? Or did you sell this much earlier, when prices were higher?

Exactly. Peak dystopian timeline sale. Mine was still under advanced replacement warranty from EVGA and had warranty left. The next cheapest one I saw anyone else selling at the time was $200 more and had almost certainly been mining. Where as mine was strictly gaming. Though it did see 1000s of hours of that. Don't know if that is better or worse really.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

What about Quake II RTX?

Also almost every driver notes performance claim is made with games with RT settings turned on (where available).

it does look like there are at least a few games where it fixed something nerfed and gave a good boost.

And don't get me wrong, any performance increase is always welcome.