AMD releases next generation Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition | RIP MSI Afterburner and Steam In Home Streaming?

[AlTech]

GamersNexus and Anandtech report that AMD is releasing their next generation Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition drivers.

 

Adrenalin 2019 Edition places a lot more focus on streaming and performance.

 

This is a super huge thread because of all the new changes.

 

I'm gonna leave my opinions here cos there is wayyy too much content for me to put it at the end.

 

Opinion:

Holy crap, that's a shit ton of new features and I'm really excited about these new changes. I can't even begin to talk about how cool all of these new features are individually because there are so many of them.

 

I'm very happy that AMD is putting more effort into their drivers and I hope Radeon Drivers will become a future selling point of AMD cards if the new drivers aren't enough of a selling point already .

 

Rest of the topic below:

 

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As 2018 winds down, once again it’s time for AMD’s annual major feature update for their graphics drivers, Radeon Software. Going by the unassuming title of ‘Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition’, today’s release is more of an evolution on last year’s Adrenalin Edition, bringing improvements and further integrations with AMD Link and Radeon Overlay. The headlining feature is the new capability to game stream to a mobile device or VR headset, powered by ReLive and AMD Link. AMD is also addressing highly-demanded user requests as collected on their feature voting and feedback page, now checkmarking 7 out of the top 10 requests.

Additionally, Adrenalin 2019 Edition 18.12.2 also brings WattMan overclocking/undervolting profile presets, WattMan controls in AMD Link and Radeon Overlay, ReLive improvements for streamers, and ‘Radeon Advisors’, the latter which are new game/settings optimization tools for entry-level users.

 

 

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The consistency of the UX is clearer with the latest discrete GPUs, but the same couldn't be said of AMD’s APU offerings. On that note, recent complaints on the status of outdated Ryzen Mobile drivers led AMD to release a statement on the matter. Adrenalin 2019 Edition doesn’t bring any changes on that front, and AMD has nothing to add to their original statement.

The new developments are however far from being irrelevant, as these annual feature updates, better zero-day game support, and cited stability metrics began as a move to stave off from the reputation of older AMD/ATI drivers. More directly, a consistent UX presumably also incorporates mobile APUs as well, especially since OEM vendors would have little interest in being involved in that aspect. A meaningful percentage of mainstream users will continue to have their experience with AMD drivers solely dictated by OEMs and without the ability to leverage AMD’s improvements in their driver development strategy.

 

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For Adrenalin 2019, WattMan now features one-click ‘Tuning Control’ presets for overclocking and undervolting, separate from the power-oriented ‘Performance Profile'. 

As WattMan is a built-in first-party OC tool, which first-time overclockers and tuners would be most likely to use, these profiles offer a straightforward option for beginners, especially with including an oft overlooked approach with undervolting.

Because WattMan is a built-in first-party OC tool, it’s most likely the first tool that first-time overclockers will fall back to. As such, these new profiles provide a straightforward option for beginners, especially with also providing an option for the often overlooked approach of undervolting the GPU.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Naturally, AMD reiterates year-over-year performance improvements, though these represent an aggregate over the year rather than arriving all at once with Adrenalin 2019.

Also in this mix is AMD’s ongoing Project Radeon eSports Experience (ReSX), which was first unveiled in March with Adrenalin Edition 18.3.1. Project ReSX focuses on improving performance, 99th percentile frametimes, as well as input latency on the most popular eSports titles. Compared to 18.3.1, AMD is particularly citing the latency reduction enhancements

 

 

 

 

 

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With the annual feature updates, AMD has taken particular note of the UX and its ease-of-use as part of their driver software development. Naturally a software package offers a lot more than basic drivers and raw settings. Also new features are being added in regular fashion, the result is that many newer or non-enthusiast users are bound to overlook or confuse the options at hand.

In that sense, a sleek UI doesn't solve this issue, and to better address this aspect, Adrenalin 2019 is introducing new user-friendly Radeon Advisor tools, aimed at assisting entry-level gamers: Game Advisor, Settings Advisor, and Upgrade Advisor.

 

 

 

 

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Lastly, Upgrade Advisor rounds out the new trio, being a revamped version of a pre-existing but somewhat out-of-the-way feature in Radeon Settings.

Now located under the Gaming tab, the Adrenalin 2019 Upgrade Advisor now offers AMD hardware recommendations based on whether the system meets the minimum or recommended specifications of installed games.

Partnering with Can You RUN It and System Requirements Labs, AMD is comparing the system’s hardware and scanned games with CYRI’s hardware and games database, highlighting potential deficiencies and upgrade recommendations.

While full-featured graphics driver software is always detecting and collecting system information, clicking on the hardware upgrade suggestions leads to an Amazon page by way of CYRI affiliate link. Be that as it may, some enthusiasts may not appreciate this feature or its undisclosed nature, and AMD stated they had no plans to highlight that connection within Radeon Settings by an asterisk, notification, or the like.

In any case, within Radeon Settings Preferences there is an option to toggle ‘Show Upgrade Advisor’ off, though it is not clear if that setting fully disables the functionality and detection

 

 

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For all the emphasis on streaming, the marquee feature of Adrenalin 2019 is not about streaming gameplay for an audience but streaming games rendered on the PC to play remotely on another device. The GCN-accelerated ReLive technology underpins this, but by-and-large this is really a different use case from streamers.

The ReLive-powered wireless game streaming service comes in two flavors, one for streaming games/desktop to a mobile device, and another for streaming SteamVR titles to standalone VR headsets. The former is integrated into AMD Link, while the latter is part of a separate Radeon ReLive for VR app.

 

 

 

 

[Bouzoo]

And they need to test it more, it's been breaking stability/performance left, right and center, a friend and myself have seen issues with it. The only solution is to roll back to previous version. Also undervolting and new auto OC is apparently now Vega exclusive. Not even for 590. Didn't even want to test that before I rolled back. 

[Master Disaster]

Holy mother of text walls that's a lot of new features.

[corrado33]

So glad I can stick with afterburner on nvidia gpus. 

 

Also.

 

WE DON'T LIKE CHANGE..... CHANGE IT BACK.

 

I kid... not really....

[DVA]

Anyone else feeling like an Intel peasant with all these AMD releases?

[AlTech]

Just now, Bouzoo said:

And they need to test it more, it's been breaking stability/performance left, right and center, a friend and myself have seen issues with it. The only solution is to roll back to previous version.

With every new features in a new major driver update there are always major bugs. These will likely be ironed out shortly.

Just now, Bouzoo said:

Also undervolting and new auto OC is apparently now Vega exclusive. Didn't even want to test that before I rolled back. 

Pretty sure it's not?

 

Polaris should also support it just fine.

[AlTech]

2 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Holy mother of text walls that's a lot of new features.

And that's not all of them. I left out a few cos it's just too much .

[Bouzoo]

9 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

With every new features in a new major driver update there are always major bugs. These will likely be ironed out shortly.

Even with big updates for last few years, the updates didn't break my/our FPS by more than 50% and increased frame times by 50%. They should test it far better than this. 

 

9 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Polaris should also support it just fine.

Tell that to a bunch of people on Reddit who can't access the features. 

[Teddy07]

5 minutes ago, DVA said:

Anyone else feeling like an Intel peasant with all these AMD releases?

not really. I do not use any features from the nvidia panel anyways.

[Brooksie359]

11 minutes ago, DVA said:

Anyone else feeling like an Intel peasant with all these AMD releases?

Aren't these gpu based not cpu based? 

[Princess Luna]

Well lots of people still use older programs despite newer alternatives out of being used to "what works".

 

These improves are always very welcome no less, meanwhile nVidia is still forcing a password protected "geforce expereince account" which is an annoyance to no end.

[DrMacintosh]

If I (and many others) go past 18.3.1 I get display stuttering through the whole system. I'll be waiting to see if this was fixed or not before I update. 

https://community.amd.com/thread/228886

[PlayStation 2]

Too bad HDMI audio drivers for my 7850 on Windows 7 gives me Code 52.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Allowing IoT functionality in driver software really rubs me the wrong way.

[GoldenLag]

Wow, this reminds me of Windows oktober update........

[BuckGup]

16 minutes ago, handymanshandle said:

Too bad HDMI audio drivers for my 7850 on Windows 7 gives me Code 52.

This has nothing to do with this

[BuckGup]

16 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Allowing IoT functionality in driver software really rubs me the wrong way.

Nvidia does it lol

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, BuckGup said:

Nvidia does it lol

And?

[Bcat00]

Doesn't matter if they make a kickass program when their GPUs aren't competing enough.

At the end of the day they are a hardware manufacturer, not a software one so they better get their priorities straight.

[BuckGup]

Just now, M.Yurizaki said:

And?

It's not that big of a deal. If you are concerned about privacy make a separate IOT network that never connects to the outside world

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, BuckGup said:

It's not that big of a deal. If you are concerned about privacy make a separate IOT network that never connects to the outside world

Wouldn't that defeat the whole point of Internet of Things?

[PlayStation 2]

6 minutes ago, BuckGup said:

This has nothing to do with this

Too bad it does. It says that something happened in making the drivers if I'm not the only person affected.

[Tristerin]

Just now, handymanshandle said:

Too bad it does. It says that something happened in making the drivers if I'm not the only person affected.

I run 2x 7850's and have no issues with sound over HDMI...whats this?

[leadeater]

3 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

I run 2x 7850's and have no issues with sound over HDMI...whats this?

Different GPU but no issues here with HDMI audio on my 2x 290X's.

[Tristerin]

Just now, leadeater said:

Different GPU but no issues here with HDMI audio on my 2x 290X's.

Gotcha I progressed further and saw Win7 - doesn't affect me on Win10