AMD's Latest Driver Adds Support For Integrated Vega Graphics, 4K Netflix Streaming

AMD released the Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.5.1 driver to expand or improve support for the Windows 10 April 2018 Update, Ryzen processors with integrated Vega graphics, and Microsoft's PlayReady 3.0, which enables 4K video streaming from services like Netflix. The company also said this new driver also improves performance on Vega 56 (8GB) and RX 580 graphics card as compared to the previous driver.

Expanding support for the Windows 10 April 2018 Update and Ryzen processors with integrated Vega graphics merely sets AMD up for the future. People are going to update to the new version of Windows eventually--as long as Microsoft can stop holding it back to address one hardware problem or another--and the company surely wants people to buy the new Vega-equipped CPUs. Support for either shouldn't come as a shock.

Adding support for PlayReady 3.0, and thus enabling 4K streaming from Netflix, is a more surprising and welcome addition. Companies use Microsoft's PlayReady platform to deliver high resolution streams without having to give up DRM protections. (You don't want people to effectively steal 4K videos by ripping off Netflix's streams, do you?) That support is currently available for RX 400 and RX 500 series graphics cards.

Improved performance is another bonus. AMD said it observed up to 6% and 13% performance increases with Vega 56 (8GB) and RX 580 graphics cards, respectively, with the Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.5.1 driver. Note that we haven't independently tested these claims, so we can't say for sure if you'll notice those improvements when you update from Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.5.1 to the new driver.

Of course, it wouldn't be a new driver release without some known issues, which AMD summarized in a press release:

HBCC options may not properly reset to default when Radeon Settings “Restore Factory Defaults” option is selected.'Destiny 2' may experience increasing load time durations when the game is run for extended periods of time.Tearing may be observed in some borderless fullscreen games on Radeon FreeSync enabled displays when Radeon Software performance metrics is enabled.Netflix playback through a web browser may experience corruption or hangs when using multi GPU enabled system configurations with Radeon RX 400 series or Radeon RX 500 series graphics products.Radeon ReLive streaming or uploading of videos to Facebook may intermittently fail.

You can find the Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.5.1 driver on AMD's website.