AMD Radeon Software 16.7.1 Driver Released – Fix For Radeon RX 480 PCIe Power

By Nathan Kirsch

AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.7.1 video card drivers are now available! You can download the latest drivers here and be sure to let us know how they work out for you!

AMD Radeon RX 480 Compatibility Mode
AMD Radeon RX 480 Compatibility Mode

These drives improve the Radeon RX 480 video cards power distribution by lowering the current drawn from the PCIe bus. There is also a new UI toggle under the Global Settings in the Radeon Software app that allow you to reduce the total power of the card, but it comes off by default. The full highlights can be read below.

Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.7.1 Highlights

  • The Radeon RX 480s power distribution has been improved for AMD reference boards, lowering the current drawn from the PCIe bus.
  • A new compatibility mode UI toggle has been made available in the Global Settings menu of Radeon Settings. This option is designed to reduce total power with minimal performance impact if end users experience any further issues. This toggle is off by default.
  • Performance improvements for the Polaris architecture that yield performance uplifts in popular game titles of up to 3% [1]. 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.

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.

[1] Based on data running ‘Total War: Warhammer’, ultra settings, 1080p resolution. Radeon Software 16.6.2 74.2FPS vs Radeon Software 16.7.1 78.3FPS; Metro Last Light, very high settings, 1080p resolution, 80.9FPS vs 82.7 FPS. Witcher 3, Ultra settings, 1440p, 31.5FPS vs 32.5, Far Cry 4, ultra settings, 1440p, 54.65FPS vs 56.38FPS, 3DMark11 Extreme, 22.8 vs 23.7 System config: Core i7-5960X, 16GB DDR4-2666MHz, Gigabyte X99-UD4, Windows 10 64-bit. Performance figures are not average, may vary from run-to-run.