AMD Stops New Game Optimizations for RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 Video Cards
AMD announces a major change in its driver release policy for graphics cards based on RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 architectures. These GPUs will remain functional but will cease to receive performance optimizations for new games, which might make serious gamers give some thought to upgrading.
The New Driver Support Model
As per the statement, Radeon RX 5000 and RX 6000 series graphics cards are being transferred to a legacy support model. The new driver updates include limited support for the following:
- Patches to fix software defects.
- Updates made to address security vulnerabilities.
But critically, these models will not be receiving driver updates that include performance optimizations for new game releases or any feature enhancements.
Evidence in Recent Driver Packages
The Adrenalin Edition 25.10.2 driver package was indirectly designed to herald the beginning of this ad-hoc policy. In that release, AMD divided the drivers into two versions:
- Adrenalin Edition 25.20: This is for the new RX 9000 and RX 7000 series models.
- Adrenalin Edition 25.10: This is for the older RX 6000 and RX 5000 series models.
Therefore, this divide suggests that the 25.10 driver was most probably the last functional and game-ready update for the RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 generations.
Uncertainties for RDNA 2 Integrated Graphics
Now, how this change will affect the software of RDNA 2 -based integrated graphics such as the one powering the Steam Deck remains unclear. So far, no official information has surfaced regarding the driver support plan for these specific hardware deployments.
