AMD can give its graphics cards a big boost with an incoming driver that significantly improves performance, or it sounds from GPU Grapevine.
This comes from YouTube leaker RedGamingTech (RGT) who heard from several separate sources that AMD is in the process of making some significant changes across its driver stack.
Specifically, we’re talking about DirectX 11 (DX11) improvements, plus OpenCL and OpenGL, and performance can be ramped up to the extent that AMD gives the driver a new name – presumably ‘Vanguard’ (this is especially true with heavy doses, though Can only be a pre-release codename).
The improved driver version is rumored to arrive in a month or two, apparently, although it could mean launching it with AMD’s incoming RDNA 3 graphics cards to have a bigger impact on next-generation GPUs (which will probably come later. 2022 – but we’re right). I don’t know when, of course).
Performance changes will not be limited to RDNA 3 products, mind you, and will apply to all of AMD’s latest graphics cards. The RGT isn’t sure how much support it will lag behind with the new driver, but we can expect it to reach multiple past generations. (Although the reality is that this may be limited to the RDNA 3 Plus RX 6000 GPU, at least in terms of major performance improvements, if recent driver changes are anything to go by – we’ll discuss this in the next section).
Analysis: Enhancing Performance – and Changing Public Perceptions?
As RGT noted, this theoretical driver will potentially initiate some significant performance enhancements, as there are still many games that use DX11, although it has been discontinued by DX12, or the titles that both offer may go even better with the former.
This rumor weighs even more because we’ve seen with a new beta graphics driver that AMD is already trying to outperform DX11 performance, with the RX 6000 series GPU claiming some of the biggest frame rate gains of about 10% (current generation products are those that Sees the biggest difference).
And it’s true that third party developers of CapFrameX (a frame time capture and analysis utility) have done some benchmarking and come up with some big jumps with certain games, such as God of War performing up to 41% better with new games. Driver, and frame rate for Crysis Remastered increased by 24%.
Obviously, this is something that AMD wants to work on, so it implies that it will be an ongoing focus – and if the future driver is really equipped with a new name, it indicates some fairly heavy change under the hood. While we shouldn’t shy away from rumors, let’s mood our expectations for now.
To some extent, this may all be part of AMD’s larger plan to distance itself from the notion that it has somewhat more indestructible drivers than Nvidia, as that realization is still something that cloudes Tim Red’s GPU range. In fact, it’s something that Nvidia recently took a hit on, as you might think, claiming that it has ‘higher’ GPU drivers.
There was a time, not too long ago, when most people thought that Intel was a ‘safe’ CPU bet on AMD, and then Ryzen came to turn that idea around, or at least equalize the playing field in terms of reputation for reliability. Now, perhaps AMD is trying to implement a similar strategy with its GPUs.