AMD launched the Radeon™ RX 480 graphics card last week and it was well received by customers and reviewers alike. However, concerns arose around the Radeon RX 480 drawing excess current from the PCIe bus. Although we are confident that, based on expected usage, the levels of reported power draws by the Radeon RX 480 do not pose a risk of damage to motherboards or other PC components, AMD are serious about addressing this issue. Towards that end, they have 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 ready and available for download.
In this driver they have implemented a change that will lower current drawn from the PCIe bus.
Separately, they 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, they have 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 card, and should substantially offset the performance impact for users who choose to activate the “compatibility” toggle.
Make sure download and install the Radeon Software 16.7.1 driver, where release notes detailing the changes are also found.
AMD is committed to delivering high-quality and high-performance products, and they are commited to continue to provide users with more control over their product’s performance and efficiency.
