New RX 480 Drivers Fix Excess Power Draw Issue

RX 480 driver update – Radeon Software 16.7.1-  is now available. This follows the concerns around excess current from the PCIe bus. In this driver AMD has implemented a change to address power distribution on the Radeon RX 480 – this change will lower current drawn from the PCIe bus.

Also included is an option to reduce total power with minimal performance impact. Users will find this as the “compatibility” UI toggle in the Global Settings menu of Radeon Settings. This toggle is “off” by default.

Finally, they’ve implemented a collection of performance improvements for the Polaris architecture that yield performance uplifts in popular game titles of up to 3%. These optimizations are designed to improve the performance of the Radeon RX 480, and should substantially offset the performance impact for users who choose to activate the “compatibility” toggle.

Here’s the full list of highlights and fixed issues as posted on the official website:

Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.7.1 Highlights

Fixed Issues

• Radeon™ RX 480 limited PCI-E Bandwidth (PCI-E bandwidth is now at the correct speed on the Radeon™ RX 480) with Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.7.1.
• Minor stuttering no longer occurs in Grand Theft Auto V on Radeon™ RX 480 with Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.7.1.
• Video corruption will not be observed in DOOM with resolutions above 1920×1080 with Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.7.1.
• Hitman™ graphical corruption no longer occurs when the game is set to use DirectX®12 API and using zoom with weapons with Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.7.1.
• Display will not exhibit minor flicker on Radeon™ RX 480 when Freesync is enabled on a games launch or exit with Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.7.1.

Known Issues

• A few game titles may fail to launch or crash if the AMD Gaming Evolved overlay is enabled. A temporary workaround is to disable the AMD Gaming Evolved “In Game Overlay”.
• Radeon™ Pro Duo may experience a black screen in Total War™: Warhammer with the games API set to DirectX®12 and V-Sync enabled.
• DiRT™ Rally may experience flickering terrain in some races when the advanced blending option is enabled in the games settings page.
• Some Overdrive settings may not appear in Radeon Settings for Radeon™ Fury X when in AMD Crossfire mode.
• Dota™2 may crash when using the Vulkan™ API and the user changes resolutions or quality settings.
• Battlefield™ 4 may experience crashes when using Mantle. As a work around users are suggested to switch to DirectX®11.
• Need for Speed™ may experience flickering on some light sources in AMD Crossfire mode.
• Frame Rate Target Control gaming profiles may fail to enable for some games.
• Radeon Wattman may retain settings of an overclock after it has failed. If you have failed an overclock with a system hang or reboot make sure to use the “Reset” option in the Radeon WattMan settings page when the system has rebooted.
• Low frame rate or stutter may be experienced Wolfenstein®: The Old Blood™ on Radeon™ RX 480.
• Assassin’s Creed® Syndicate may experience a game crash or hang when in game settings are set to high or greater.
• Disabling AMD Crossfire mode on Radeon™ RX 480 may disable the device in Windows® Device Manager. A workaround is to reboot the system to re-enable the device.

We hope this solved one of the major complains about the RX480. Do let us know in the comments below.

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