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AMD Addresses Power Draw Issue in RX 480 with new Radeon Software Crimson 16.7.1 Driver

If you have been following the news lately regarding AMD’s new Radeon RX 480, I’m pretty sure you have heard about its power draw controversy. There were some reviewers reporting that the power draw of the RX 480 from the PCIe is higher than expected. Some are even claiming that it could potentially fry a motherboard specially if it’s a low end motherboard. Well, this isn’t the first graphics card to have exceeded its rated power draw, some mid-range NVIDIA graphics cards were doing that as well. AMD is also confident that their RX 480 will not fry your motherboard. Nevertheless they will be releasing a new driver, Radeon Software Crimson 16.7.1, to address the said issue. So far, the RX 480 review sample we got is doing well and hasn’t caused any problems at all.

AMD Radeon RX 480 releases Radeon Software Crimson 16.7.1 Driver

AMD to Release Radeon Software Crimson 16.7.1 Driver

If you have been following the news lately regarding the power draw issue of AMD’s new Radeon RX 480, AMD released an update to its initial statement regarding the issue.

We promised an update today (July 5, 2016) following concerns around the Radeon™ RX 480 drawing excess current from the PCIe bus. Although we are confident that the levels of reported power draws by the Radeon RX 480 do not pose a risk of damage to motherboards or other PC components based on expected usage, we are serious about addressing this topic and allaying outstanding concerns. Towards that end, we assembled a worldwide team this past weekend to investigate and develop a driver update to improve the power draw. We’re pleased to report that this driver—Radeon Software 16.7.1—is now undergoing final testing and will be released to the public in the next 48 hours.

In this driver we’ve implemented a change to address power distribution on the Radeon RX 480 – this change will lower current drawn from the PCIe bus.

Separately, we’ve also included 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, we’ve implemented a collection of 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.

AMD is committed to delivering high quality and high performance products, and we’ll continue to provide users with more control over their product’s performance and efficiency. We appreciate all the feedback so far, and we’ll continue to bring further performance and performance/W optimizations to the Radeon RX 480.

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Peter Paul
Peter is a PC enthusiast and avid gamer with several years of hands-on experience in testing and reviewing PC components, audio equipment, and various tech devices. He offers a genuine, no-nonsense perspective, helping consumers make informed choices in the ever-changing world of technology.

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