AMD Adrenalin Edition 22.12.2 Driver Slashes RX 7900 XT(X) Power Consumption

By Mark Tyson
published

Benefits should be very noticeable when the GPU is being used to decode videos.

Radeon RX 7900 XT(X) power
(Image credit: AMD)

AMD has released the second driver with support for the new Radeon RX 7900 XT and XTX graphics cards. Adrenalin Edition 22.12.2 WHQL is an RDNA 3 GPU series-exclusive driver, and its headlining quality is that it can significantly reduce power usage when the GPU is used to accelerate video decoding. Elsewhere in the driver, there are a handful of system and gaming fixes, but no new features seem to have been added.

A number of tech sites and enthusiasts have noticed that the new RX 7900 family GPUs consume a surprising amount of power when decoding video, when multi-monitor setups are idling, or while desktop windows are being moved around. Germany’s ComputerBase was among those that shined a light on these quirky power issues, and it comments that the RDNA 3 GPUs were much more power thirsty during those tasks than the RX 6000 series graphics cards (with RDNA 2 GPU architecture).

Image 1 of 2
Radeon RX 7900 XT(X) power
ComputerBase Charts (Image credit: ComputerBase)

Above are a pair of charts from ComputerBase that highlight how the RX 7900 XT(X) are truly outliers in the video playback efficiency stakes. Playing 4K, 60 fps videos on YouTube, these new Radeons could consume 70 or 80W. This is more than double the power consumption one might reasonably expect if you look at predecessors and competitors. The 4K 60fps HDR video playback power consumption figures for the new RDNA 3 graphics cards were still high, but much more similar to predecessors and rivals. According to the source, the software driver tweaks will have been targeted at AMD's Video Codec Engine (VCE) to fix this video playback power consumption issue.

AMD isn’t finished with the RX 7900 XT(X) power consumption tweaks. In driver 22.12.2 release notes it says that “high idle power has situationally been observed when using select high resolution and high refresh rate displays,” and this remains a known issue. Further power efficiency improvements will come in subsequent driver updates, says AMD.

The new driver for Radeon RX 7900 XT(X) graphics cards also fixes the following:

  • Corruption may be encountered when using Virtual Super Resolution with multi-display configurations.
  • A system crash may be observed when changing display modes with 4 display configurations.
  • While loading Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales an app crash or driver timeout may occur after enabling ray tracing settings.

We shall be doing more Radeon RX 7900 XT(X) graphics cards testing soon, so please stay tuned for the Graphics Editor’s observations with the latest driver.

If you own any Radeon graphics card other than the RX 7900 XT(X) your newest Adrenalin driver version is 22.11.2, at the time of writing.

Mark Tyson
Mark Tyson
Freelance News Writer

Mark Tyson is a Freelance News Writer at Tom's Hardware US. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

Topics
GPUs
14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • -Fran-
    Oh AMD... At least you're trying xD

    Let's hope the hot spot stuff is a simple RMA or guide on how someone can DYI fix it. Everything else, I'd imagine there will be plenty driver updates in a short amount of time. Or I hope so? Maybe they can deal with most issues in a single big driver release? Who knows.

    At least nothing is melting, right?

    Regards.
    Reply
  • weber462
    How are people getting their hands on these? I've been looking since release for a XTX and haven't found one drop Post 5 min after embargo lift.
    Reply
  • King_V
    They're available on AMD's website. Apparently the release date was December 20.

    EDIT: wait, are you asking about the drivers? Or the actual cards? The drivers are what I was referring to.
    Reply
  • sycoreaper
    weber462 said:
    How are people getting their hands on these? I've been looking since release for a XTX and haven't found one drop Post 5 min after embargo lift.

    Welcome to the world of scalpers. Ruining computing for everyone.
    Reply
  • DavidLejdar
    weber462 said:
    How are people getting their hands on these? I've been looking since release for a XTX and haven't found one drop Post 5 min after embargo lift.
    I could pick up a RX 7900 XT from a store almost around the corner (Sapphire or Gigabyte one), or a RTX 4090 (Gigabyte, Zotac, Inno3D, MSI), or a RTX 4080 (likewise, plus a few more). They don't have a 7900 XTX though (yet, or sold it out).

    And another store a bit "further down the road", they have e.g. RTX 4090 and RX 7900 XT as well in stock. So I suppose I can't complain about availability here in Berlin, unless I would want a RX 7900 XTX tomorrow at 10 AM.

    Not sure though why such a difference, as in whether more items shipped to Europe, or simply not as huge a demand in Europe (with e.g. energy prices in Germany more expensive than in the U.S.), or ports working a bit more efficient here, or less scalpers, or ...

    In any case, I recently picked up a RX 6700 XT, and that will have to do for me for the time being anyhow.
    Reply
  • tommo1982
    Was it that hard to do a quick test to see if the new driver changes things? This article is useless. I already read it twice on sites which deal with quick, non informative news. I was expecting more from Tom's Hardware.
    Reply
  • HideOut
    weber462 said:
    How are people getting their hands on these? I've been looking since release for a XTX and haven't found one drop Post 5 min after embargo lift.

    I JUST logged into newegg's site and found 2 x XTX, 3 x XT and 1 RTX 3080 in stock. 2 more on back order (for the AMD cards) due in in about a week it said.
    Reply
  • omega215d
    weber462 said:
    How are people getting their hands on these? I've been looking since release for a XTX and haven't found one drop Post 5 min after embargo lift.
    My local Micro Center has the 7900 XT cards in plentiful stock but it's $900 or so. The 7900 XTX was just sold out but were in stock upon release day. I guess people would rather spend the extra $100 to get that model. I guess it all depends on where you are.
    Reply
  • Ogotai
    same with the store i go to. 4080's in stock, while some xt's are sold out, and some xtx's are sold out.

    at this point, i would get a top end xtx over a 4080, for 3 reasons, 1) top end xtx is less then an entry 4080, 2) dont care for RT, only one game i play uses it, and its minimal, 3) dont care for DLSS as well. for my use, and xtx would be better then an rtx card
    Reply
  • KraakBal
    What is the consumption numbers then with this new driver??
    Reply