[PLUS] PCGH Guide to Radeon Drivers: Hidden reserves revealed during installation

AMD Software: Driver Package(s)

Anyone who uses their graphics card for gaming will sooner or later deal with the driver that the manufacturer provides for it. This multi-part series of articles explores AMD’s Adrenalin software, or more precisely: the version 22.11.2 WHQL recommended for AMD cards from Radeon RX 460 to RX 6950 XT at the time of testing. Driver development for the new RX 7000 cards was still running separately until shortly before the editorial deadline, but the package has been bundled again since Adrenaline version 23.2.1. Tested on Windows 10 and 11; Unless otherwise noted, the statements in this article refer to Windows 11 22H2.

This first part describes the different types of installation of the standard Adrenalin driver package and their consequences for the user and his system. The differences to the Driver Pro Edition, which is almost exclusively aimed at professional 3D applications, similar to the Studio Drivers from Nvidia, are not mentioned. As in the green camp, however, we put on the player glasses here. In the second article “AMD Software Part 2: Walkthrough – the Features” the surface of the software is visited, in an extensive walk from the first to the last menu item.

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AMD Software: Unboxing – the installation

To make that clear right away: Each installation type restores the full gaming capability of the graphics card. Also Smart Access Memory/Resizable Bar as well as Freesync/G-Sync work everywhere if supported by UEFI, card and monitor. So just install and go is fine. The full performance of the card is available regardless of the scope of the driver installation (and the features).

But what scope is appropriate? Does each title need its own driver options? Does the user like to take pictures and videos? Is content streamed to other devices or to Twitch and Youtube? Is a multi-monitor setup or even VR hardware in use? And what about overclocking and undervolting?

Only you can determine how much AMD Adrenaline you need. However, this article explains how much of it you get with the different installation types. And let’s go!

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The following topics can be found in the article:

• Installation 1: Minimalist, drivers via Windows Device Manager
• Installation 2: Automatically via Windows Update
• standard installations
• Installation 3: AMD setup “Driver Only”
• Installation 4: AMD Setup “Minimal Install”
• Additional option “Reset to factory settings”
• Installation 5: AMD Setup “Full Install”
• driver update

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