AMD Releases New 18.9.1 Beta Drivers
Over the past couple of years, AMD has been executing well with their drivers. Every year, Radeon users get a new major upgrade, with regular updates the rest of the time. This strategy has been working out well for AMD, improving their consistency. After 2 releases for August, the company is rolling out their first driver for September. The new Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.9.1 is the latest beta optional release.
The new driver has headline support for two new titles, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Star Control: Origins. AMD isn’t highlighting any performance increase for this driver. AMD has also fixed a number of issues. A major fix from the previous driver is FreeSync now works with Monster Hunter: World. Radeon Settings also appears properly in the right-click context menu. The new driver also eliminates lag when only 1 display of a multi-display set up is on. Finally, DX12 stability is improved when using ReLive recording with R9 290 and R9 390 series cards.
Latest Driver Has Just 3 Known Issues
For known issues, the list is much shorter than we come to expect. There are just 3 this time around. A black screen can sometimes happen when downgrading to an older Radeon Software version. This only happens when you are using Ryzen and Vega together. It is unclear if this means just APUs or all Ryzen/Vega setups. Furthermore, Vega GPUs may idle at high memory clocks. Finally, systems with 16+ CPU cores may have random reboots during the upgrade of Radeon Software from versions older than 18.8.1. AMD suggests a clean installation in the case of the first and last bug.
Overall, AMD is on track with their drivers this year. The one thing that is a bit late is the next WHQL official release. The last WHQL release was in May so the next should have fallen in August. When that did not happen, we thought it would come with 18.9.1. Since that is not happening, the question is when will the next WHQL release happen. AMD has promised one about every 3-4 months based on the number of WHQL releases delivered in a year. Hopefully, we will be getting one soon. You can find the full release notes and DOWNLOADS HERE.
