The latest Radeon GPU drivers provide power-related changes.
The AMD RX 7900 series has problems with power efficiency both when playing video and when it is idle. The reviewer from ComputerBase points out that the Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX’s energy efficiency was disappointing right from the bat, but AMD is steadfastly striving to fix those problems as quickly as feasible.
AMD published a driver last month that incorporates power enhancements for particular workloads. They also reduce power usage in games, albeit this is not specified, but only under certain situations. According to a thorough test by ComputerBase, the December GPU driver improves Radeon RX 7900 cards’ energy efficiency during video playback and to a lesser extent when the cards are idle.
Before the driver was released, YouTube video playback revealed that the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX GPUs consumed 71W and 81W, respectively. Power usage for both GPUs has significantly decreased, to 46W and 54W, respectively, thanks to the December driver update. Although it is an improvement, the RTX 4080’s 30W power consumption and the last-generation Radeon RX 6900 XT GPU’s 34W power efficiency still much outweigh it.
The driver update made mention of the video playback power optimization, but AMD made no mention of the improved gaming power efficiency. ComputerBase has found that RX 7900 GPUs only use less power when the framerate is restricted. Games like Doom Eternal at 1440p demonstrate this.
The driver update acknowledged the power optimization for video playback, but AMD made no mention of the improved power efficiency for gaming. RX 7900 GPUs use less power, but only when the framerate is restricted, as found by ComputerBase. This is evident in games like Doom Eternal at 1440p resolution, where the RX 7900 XTX saw a significant 57% efficiency boost and the RX 7900 saw a 34% improvement. The usage dropped by 57W, reaching 90W.
AMD Radeon RX 7900 power usage in Doom Eternal 1440p with FPS cap, Image Source: ComputerBase
Later this month, AMD plans to release a unified driver for its RDNA2/RDNA3 GPU. The most recent driver (23.1.1), which is still only compatible with RDNA3 GPUs, does not demonstrate any improvements over the driver (22.12.2), which was examined by the German media.
Source: ComputerBase
