Bethesda’s latest sweeping RPG romp officially launches next week, but those with a head start can get optimal performance today.
Bethesda’s latest sweeping RPG romp officially launches next week, but those with a head start can get optimal performance today.
Bethesda’s Starfield entered a week-long head start today ahead of its official launch on September 6th, and AMD have just launched a new AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition driver update to optimise performance on Radeon graphics hardware. Available from the driver page, it offers up-to 16% better performance when running at the highest resolutions (and likely further improvements down performance tiers).
AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.8.2 focusses on the big release of the week, with headline performance on the Radeon RX 7900 XT and XTX at 4K benefitting to the tune of up to 16% compared with the previous driver. Any performance improvements are welcome, particularly those in double-digits, but stability and frame-rate consistency will be all the more critical in this launch window.
The other big launch this month hasn’t gone without love either. Baldur’s Gate 3 has had a major bug fixed that was causing a driver timeout or application crash in DirectX 11 API modes.
It’s not all sunshine and roses however. As part of the release notes AMD have noted that they are working with Bethesda to address crashes caused by Dynamic Resolution in ultrawide resolution configurations. Hopefully a fix will be pushed soon, and the bug itself appears to be exceptionally narrow in scope (and thus should be triggered by relatively few setups).
The driver also temporarily disables the settings Factory Reset as a ‘precautionary measure’ to ameliorate issues caused during some PC upgrade processes. They recommend using AMD Cleanup Utility as a work-around for now.
AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.8.2 can be downloaded here or via the support page by selecting your specific configuration. It is compatible with 64-bit versions of Windows 10 and 11, and supports hardware as far back as the RX 400 and Radeon Vega series of GPUs.
Release Notes
Highlights
Support for:
Starfield™
– Up to 16% increase in performance for Starfield @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.8.2 on the Radeon™️ RX 7900XTX GPU, versus the previous software driver version 23.8.1 [RS-594]
– Up to 16% increase in performance for Starfield @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.8.2 on the Radeon™️ RX 7900XT GPU, versus the previous software driver version 23.8.1 [RS-595]
Fixed Issues
– Application crash or driver timeout may be observed while playing Baldur’s Gate 3 with DirectX® 11 API set on certain systems with Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
Known Issues
– Performance Metrics Overlay may report N/A for FPS on various games.
– Audio may intermittently become out of sync with video when recording from AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition with AV1 codec.
– Display may not reach correct brightness with certain games on select SAMSUNG™ FreeSync Premium Pro monitors or TVs with local dimming setting enabled.
Important Notes
– AMD is working with the game developers of Starfield™ to resolve an intermittent driver timeout or visual corruption issue when Dynamic Resolution is set to 75-78% with certain ultra wide monitors. Users experiencing this issue should adjust the Dynamic Resolution option as a temporary workaround.
– Factory Reset has been temporarily disabled as a precautionary measure while we address isolated installation issues that have been reported during PC upgrades. Users may use AMD Cleanup Utility as a temporary option.
Package Contents
AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.8.2 Driver Version 23.10.29.06 for Windows® 10 and Windows® 11 (Windows Driver Store Version 31.0.21029.6002).
Footnotes
[RS-594] – Testing conducted by AMD as of August 25th, 2023, on a test system configured with a Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, 32GB DDR5, Radeon RX 7900XTX GPU, and Windows 11 Pro, with AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.8.2 and 23.8.1 on Starfield. Game tested at 4k resolution. Performance may vary. System manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results.
[RS-595] – Testing conducted by AMD as of August 25th, 2023, on a test system configured with a Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, 32GB DDR5, Radeon RX 7900XT GPU, and Windows 11 Pro, with AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.8.2 and 23.8.1 on Starfield. Game tested at 4k resolution. Performance may vary. System manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results.
Support for:
Starfield™
– Up to 16% increase in performance for Starfield @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.8.2 on the Radeon™️ RX 7900XTX GPU, versus the previous software driver version 23.8.1 [RS-594]
– Up to 16% increase in performance for Starfield @ 4k, using AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ 23.8.2 on the Radeon™️ RX 7900XT GPU, versus the previous software driver version 23.8.1 [RS-595]
Fixed Issues
– Application crash or driver timeout may be observed while playing Baldur’s Gate 3 with DirectX® 11 API set on certain systems with Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
Known Issues
– Performance Metrics Overlay may report N/A for FPS on various games.
– Audio may intermittently become out of sync with video when recording from AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition with AV1 codec.
– Display may not reach correct brightness with certain games on select SAMSUNG™ FreeSync Premium Pro monitors or TVs with local dimming setting enabled.
Important Notes
– AMD is working with the game developers of Starfield™ to resolve an intermittent driver timeout or visual corruption issue when Dynamic Resolution is set to 75-78% with certain ultra wide monitors. Users experiencing this issue should adjust the Dynamic Resolution option as a temporary workaround.
– Factory Reset has been temporarily disabled as a precautionary measure while we address isolated installation issues that have been reported during PC upgrades. Users may use AMD Cleanup Utility as a temporary option.
Package Contents
AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.8.2 Driver Version 23.10.29.06 for Windows® 10 and Windows® 11 (Windows Driver Store Version 31.0.21029.6002).
Footnotes
[RS-594] – Testing conducted by AMD as of August 25th, 2023, on a test system configured with a Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, 32GB DDR5, Radeon RX 7900XTX GPU, and Windows 11 Pro, with AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.8.2 and 23.8.1 on Starfield. Game tested at 4k resolution. Performance may vary. System manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results.
[RS-595] – Testing conducted by AMD as of August 25th, 2023, on a test system configured with a Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, 32GB DDR5, Radeon RX 7900XT GPU, and Windows 11 Pro, with AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.8.2 and 23.8.1 on Starfield. Game tested at 4k resolution. Performance may vary. System manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results.
