AMD Preps Radeon Pro Software Update For Vega GPUs

AMD recently started accepting orders for the air-cooled and liquid-cooled Vega Frontier Edition workstation graphics cards, and it's preparing a new version of Radeon Pro Software to go along with them. The Radeon Pro Software Crimson ReLive Edition for Vega-based Radeon Professional Graphics--ain't that a mouthful?--introduces a handful of new features, including gaming support for workstation-class Vega GPUs.

Work Hard

Earlier this year, AMD introduced Radeon ProRender Technology, which is a free (now open-source) 3D rendering platform that produces photorealistic images from physically based materials and global illumination. The new Radeon Pro Software offers Radeon ProRender integration for four of the most popular 3D content creation tools, including plug-ins for 3DS Max, Maya, and Blender. The new driver also includes an add-on that brings ProRender technology into Solidworks and allows you to export your models to Unreal Engine so you can import physically based models into games and VR experiences.

The new Radeon Pro Software also includes Radeon Pro Security, which takes advantage of the AMD Secure Processor embedded in Vega-based GPUs. Radeon Pro Security enables AMD’s hardware validated boot sequence, which isolates the boot process from executable software to prevent boot-time virus infections. The AMD Secure Processor also pairs with Microsoft’s Device Guard technology to prevent unauthorized software from executing on the device.

AMD’s new Radeon Pro Software also enables native support for Dell’s new 8K UP3218K display, but you’ll need one of AMD’s outrageous Radeon Pro SSG cards, which feature 2TB of NAND flash memory to handle incredibly memory intensive workloads, to meet the display's demands. The new driver also introduces HDR display support on workstation class Radeon cards.

ReLive Your Workflow

AMD’s Radeon Software Crimson ReLive offers capture features that let you record and stream your gameplay. AMD is now bringing the ReLive capture technology to the workstation to make it easier to document and share your workflow for presentations and collaboration. Radeon Pro ReLive allows you to capture whatever you are doing within the Windows environment to create training and presentation materials. The professional version of ReLive offers many of the same features as Radeon Software Crimson ReLive for gamers, including the 100Mbps maximum bitrate, webcam transparency technology, enhanced audio controller, and capture notifications upgrades that AMD introduced to Radeon Software Crimson ReLive last week.

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Game Hard

The latest version of AMD’s Radeon Pro Software makes it easier for game developers to test their creations and for graphics professionals to invest in a single workstation for professional and recreational purposes. The new graphics driver suite allows you to install up to three different driver versions and switch between them on the fly. In addition to the Radeon Pro Software, you can install two versions of the consumer Radeon Software suite and switch between them as needed without rebooting your PC. This allows developers to test their creations' performance without moving to a dedicated gaming machine. It also allows them to use their workstation computer to wind down with some gaming at the end of the day.

Not Available Yet

AMD’s Radeon Pro Software Crimson ReLive Edition for Vega-based Radeon Professional Graphics isn’t available yet. The company didn’t reveal a specific release date, but with the gaming-class Vega cards dropping on August 14 and the Frontier Edition Vega cards already available, we don’t expect a long wait for the AMD Radeon Pro Software update.

Update, 8/1/17, 3pm PT: Made a small correction: The latest Radeon Pro SSG now offers 2TB of memory.