AMD have been pushing hard to improve their software experience, as well as improving the frequency of graphic driver updates, helping them better compete with the relentless release of Nvidia’s Game Ready drivers. So far, their new system has been a big improvement and today is no exception, as AMD push the release of the latest Radeon Software Crimson Edition.
Version 16.2.1 is marked as a “non-WHQL” release, so basically a beta release. However, the driver comes with the CrossFireX profile for the latest AAA release, Far Cry Primal. On top of that big profile release, you can also expect some game specific bug fixes for Fallout 4 as well as Rise of the Tomb Raider.
FreeSync users have cause to celebrate too, we hope, as AMD is also including a bug fix for choppy display on systems that use both FreeSync and CrossFire at the same time, which I’m sure you can imagine is a frustrating issue for a system that’s meant to provide a smoother visual experience.
Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.2.1 Highlights
Crossfire Profile available for
Far Cry Primal
Resolved Issues
A black screen/TDR error may be encountered when booting a system with Intel + AMD graphics and an HDMI monitor connected
Choppy gameplay may be experienced when both AMD Freesync™ and AMD Crossfire™ are both enabled
Display corruption may be observed after keeping system idle for some time
Fallout 4 – Flickering may be experienced at various game locations with the v1.3 game update and with AMD Crossfire™ enabled
Fallout 4 – Foliage/water may ripple/stutter when game is launched in High/Ultra settings mode
Fallout 4 – Screen tearing in systems with both AMD Freesync™ and AMD Crossfire™ enabled if game is left idle for a short period of time
Fallout 4 – Thumbnails may flicker or disappear while scrolling the Perk levels page
Far Cry 4 – Stuttering may be observed when launching the game with AMD Freesync™ and AMD Crossfire™ enabled
FRTC options are displayed on some unsupported laptop configurations with Intel CPU’s and AMD GPU’s
Radeon Settings may sometimes fails to launch with a “Context Creation Error” message
Rise of the Tomb Raider™ – Corruption can be observed at some locations during gameplay
Rise of the Tomb Raider™ – Flickering may be experienced at various game locations when the game is left idle in AMD Crossfire™ mode under Windows 7
Rise of the Tomb Raider™ – Game may intermittently crash or hang when launched with very high settings and AA is set to SMAA at 4K resolution
Rise of the Tomb Raider™ – Lara Croft’s hair may flicker in some locations if the Esc key is pressed
Rise of Tomb Raider™ – A TDR error may be observed with some AMD Radeon 300 Series products after launching the “Geothermal Valley” mission
The AMD Overdrive™ memory clock slider does not show original clock values if memory speeds are overclocked
World of Warcraft runs extremely slowly in quad crossfire at high resolutions
Known Issues
A few game titles may fail to launch or crash if the Gaming Evolved overlay is enabled. A temporary workaround is to disable the AMD Gaming Evolved “In Game Overlay”
Star Wars™: Battlefront – Corrupted ground textures may be observed in the Survival of Hoth mission
Cannot enable AMD Crossfire with some dual GPU AMD Radeon HD 59xx and HD 79xx series products
Fallout 4 – In game stutter may be experienced if the game is launched with AMD Crossfire enabled
XCOM 2 – Flickering textures may be experienced at various game locations
Rise of the Tomb Raider™ – The game may randomly crash on launch if Tessellation is enabled
Core clocks may not maintain sustained clock speeds resulting in choppy performance and or screen corruption
If you want to download the latest AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.2.1 drivers, you can hit up the official AMD site right here.
Peter Donnell
As a child still in my 30's (but not for long), I spend my day combining my love of music and movies with a life-long passion for gaming, from arcade classics and retro consoles to the latest high-end PC and console games. So it's no wonder I write about tech and test the latest hardware while I enjoy my hobbies!