AMD has released new graphics driver This fixes the high idle power issue seen by Radeon RX 7000 users. AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.7.1supports Radeon RX 400 series and newer graphics cards and addresses unusual high power use cases on Windows, but at this time we are not sure if it covers all occurrences. yeah.
We first reported headlines about the high idle power consumption of RDNA 3 cards last December. The driver update was welcomed in our article on fixing RX 7900 XT(X) power consumption, especially video playback efficiency on these powerful cards. However, the release of this driver was accompanied by AMD’s initial acknowledgment of his “high idle power has been observed in some high-resolution and high-refresh his-rate displays”. His bug turned out to affect his entire RX 7000 family. The RX 7000 family has just recently grown beyond the high end with the release of the Radeon RX 7600.
Improved high idle power when using selected 4k@144Hz FreeSync enabled displays or multi-monitor display configurations (such as 4k@144HZ or 4k@120Hz + 1440p@60Hz displays) on Radeon RX 7000 series GPUs.
AMD Driver Release Notes
The release notes have bullet points indicating the extent of the idle power fix provided by the Adrenalin Edition 23.7.1 driver. We are confident that this fix will be warmly welcomed by users of AMD’s latest architectures as it reduces the amount of wasted power.
Other RDNA 3 architecture bug fixes included in this latest Radeon driver include sub-optimal performance and occasional stuttering in VR games and applications. An RX 7900 XTX specific fix has also been implemented to address intermittent corruption while playing WWE 2K23.
The last two fixes are aimed at a wider audience. Crashes and driver timeouts that were plaguing DaVinci Resolve Studio users have been resolved. Finally, fixed intermittent corruption observed when switching windows while playing Nioh 2. AMD says this Nioh 2 bug affected multiple Radeon products, including the RX 6800 XT.
Only one new feature is mentioned in the official release notes for Adrenalin Edition 23.7.1. AMD has implemented support for additional Vulkan extensions. If your favorite game or app uses the Vulkan API, you may find these additions useful.
AMD’s list of remaining known issues outweighs the list of fixes, but at least we know that the red team developers are working on these particular nasty issues.
Finally, it should be noted that AMD has temporarily disabled the “factory reset” feature in their drivers. In March, we reported that this driver installation option was causing brick installs of Windows. There is a workaround for now. AMD recommends that users run the AMD Cleanup Utility if they want a fresh start or need it.
