AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition Update Boosts Performance Up to 17 Percent

(Image credit: Steam)

Nvidia released a new Game Ready driver today with expanded support for upcoming titles like Assassin's Creed Odyssey and its new RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti graphics cards. While the green team is moving forward, the red team decided to stop and improve support for existing titles. AMD's new Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.9.2 driver is all about offering better performance in currently available games.

AMD said the Adrenalin Edition 18.9.2 driver boasts improved performance for Radeon RX Vega 64 (8GB) graphics cards running F1 2018, Fortnite, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Star Control: Origins, which was released today. The exact performance gains vary between titles and range from a three percent boost to performance at the 2560 x 1440 resolution in F1 2018 to a 17 percent increase at the 3840 x 2160 resolution for Star Control: Origins.

You can see the exact gains below:

Swipe to scroll horizontally
GameResolutionPerformance Improvement
F1 20182560 x 1440Up to three percent
Fortnite1920 x 1080Up to five percent
Shadow of the Tomb Raider2560 x 1440Up to four percent
Star Control: Origins3840 x 2160Up to 17 percent

Note that those figures result from AMD's internal tests; actual performance gains will vary from system to system. Most of the improvements are marginal, but an upgrade is an upgrade. 

The company also said that it fixed a problem with cloud textures in Star Control: Origins rendering improperly on its previous driver, though it also introduced new issues:

  • "Some AMD Ryzen Desktop Processors with Radeon Vega Graphics system configurations may experience a black screen during installation downgrade to a previous Radeon Software version. A recommended workaround is to perform a clean install during Radeon Software installation.
  • Radeon RX Vega Series graphics products may experience elevated memory clocks during system idle.
  • System configurations with 16+ CPU cores may experience a random system reboot during installation when upgrading Radeon Software from a version older than RSAE 18.8.1. A clean installation is recommended when performing this Radeon Software upgrade."

You can find the Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.9.2 driver on AMD's website.

Nathaniel Mott
Freelance News & Features Writer

Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.

  • bit_user
    Oops. Too late. I don't see most reviewers going back and updating the benchmarks they just ran on the RTX 2080 cards.

    Maybe for the RTX 2070 launch? I guess that should be more within Vega 64's reach, anyhow.
    Reply
  • alextheblue
    21337366 said:
    Oops. Too late. I don't see most reviewers going back and updating the benchmarks they just ran on the RTX 2080 cards.

    Maybe for the RTX 2070 launch? I guess that should be more within Vega 64's reach, anyhow.
    I'm more of a $200-300 GPU kind of guy so I wish they had built a GDDR Vega 40 GPU (with a corresponding cut-down model) to replace the aging Polaris-based 580/570. But too late now - here's hoping their next-gen is full steam ahead... we clearly need the competition.
    Reply