January is typically a quiet months for videogame releases as the games industry takes a collective pause for breath following the hectic holiday period. Spare a thought for GPU driver developers however, who continue to roll out new drivers this month as in every month of the year. This weekend it was AMD's turn with the Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.1, their first major driver update of 2019.
Epic's ever-popular medium for printing money Fortnite is into Season 7, and it receives the lions share of performance updates this time around. Improvements of 3-4% depending on hardware might not seem like much, but if you're running your system close to the wind it could make all the difference in your gameplay experience. In common with other recent driver updates, AMD have detailed the configuration of tests systems which saw this improvement.
Alongside the performance updates are a veritable fist-full of software bug-fixes fresh for the new year. Among them are tweaks to Virtual Super-Resolution on Ultra-wide monitors, the new Advisors feature for Adrenalin 2019, Radeon ReLive's upload queuing system, and a fix to observed screen tearing with Enhanced-Sync when in Vulkan API mode.
A set of known issues have also been identified to be next up on the chopping block when a fix has passed internal testing. That's always reassuring for any user currently experiencing problems and wondering if it's 'just them'.
Full RSAE2019 19.1.1 notes are available at https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-rad-win-19-1-1. Currently only 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Windows 10 are supported; support for 32-bit Windows variants depreciated last year.
Release Notes
Fortnite
- Up to 4% faster performance in Fortnite (Season 7) using Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.1 on the Radeon™ RX 580 graphics card than with Radeon™ Software Adrenalin Edition 18.12.3 at 1920x1080 (1080p). RS-282
- Up to 3% faster performance in Fortnite (Season 7) using Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.1 on the Radeon™ RX Vega 64 graphics card than with Radeon™ Software Adrenalin Edition 18.12.3 at 1920x1080 (1080p). RS-283
Fixed Issues
- Virtual Super Resolution may not show up as available on some 1440p Ultra-Wide Displays.
- Some Radeon RX Series graphics products may experience system lag when Alt+Tab is used during gameplay.
- Radeon Settings Advisor may incorrectly suggest older versions of Radeon Software as an update.
- Radeon Settings software update notifications may appear more often than expected.
- Application profile settings for Radeon WattMan may not reset to default correctly when using the reset button.
- Radeon Settings may experience a crash when clicking the restart button after a driver installation or while switching between some Radeon WattMan tabs when changing fan settings.
- Zero RPM control may fail to enable correctly when toggled on/off in Radeon Settings.
- Radeon ReLive gallery upload queue may sometimes fail to upload videos.
- Radeon Settings may sometimes incorrectly display the previously installed Radeon Software version after upgrade.
- Custom color profile options may fail to retain in game on clone or Eyefinity display setups.
- Performance metrics overlay feature may scale incorrectly when changing resolution in game.
- Screen tearing may be observed with Enhanced Sync enabled on Vulkan API games.
- Some systems running multiple displays may experience mouse lag when at least one display is enabled but powered off.
- Upgrade Advisor may intermittently fail to detect games and provide compatibility recommendations.
Known Issues
- Battlefield™ V players may experience character outlines stuck on screen after being revived.
- Uninstalling Radeon Software may fail to remove Radeon Settings.
- Pixel Format settings may not retain after system restart.
- HDMI Underscan settings may not retain after system restart.
- Radeon Overlay’s new in overlay video player may experience smoothness issues while adjusting the playback slider.
- Scene Editor may have issues with scrolling when many elements are added to a scene.
- Custom settings in Radeon WattMan may sometimes fail to apply on Radeon RX Vega series graphics products.
Footnotes
Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of January 7th, 2019 on the 8GB Radeon™ RX 580, on a test system comprising of Intel i7 7700k CPU (4.2 GHz), 16GB DDR4-3000 Mhz system memory, and Windows 10 x64. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. With epic preset settings on Fortnite (Season 7) at 1920x1080, Radeon™ RX 580 scored 74.0 FPS with Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.12.3, whereas the Radeon™ RX 580 scored 76.7 FPS with Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.1. Comparing software versions, Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.1 has 4% faster performance in Fortnite. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. RS-282
Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of January 7th, 2018 on the 8GB Radeon™ RX Vega 64, on a test system comprising of Intel i7 7700k CPU (4.2 GHz), 16GB DDR4-3000 Mhz system memory, and Windows 10 x64. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. With epic preset settings on Fornite at 1920x1080, Radeon™ RX Vega 64 scored 115.1 FPS with Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.12.3, whereas the Radeon™ RX Vega 64 scored 118.5 FPS with Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.1. Comparing software versions, Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.1 has 3% faster performance in Fortnite. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. RS-283
- Up to 4% faster performance in Fortnite (Season 7) using Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.1 on the Radeon™ RX 580 graphics card than with Radeon™ Software Adrenalin Edition 18.12.3 at 1920x1080 (1080p). RS-282
- Up to 3% faster performance in Fortnite (Season 7) using Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.1 on the Radeon™ RX Vega 64 graphics card than with Radeon™ Software Adrenalin Edition 18.12.3 at 1920x1080 (1080p). RS-283
Fixed Issues
- Virtual Super Resolution may not show up as available on some 1440p Ultra-Wide Displays.
- Some Radeon RX Series graphics products may experience system lag when Alt+Tab is used during gameplay.
- Radeon Settings Advisor may incorrectly suggest older versions of Radeon Software as an update.
- Radeon Settings software update notifications may appear more often than expected.
- Application profile settings for Radeon WattMan may not reset to default correctly when using the reset button.
- Radeon Settings may experience a crash when clicking the restart button after a driver installation or while switching between some Radeon WattMan tabs when changing fan settings.
- Zero RPM control may fail to enable correctly when toggled on/off in Radeon Settings.
- Radeon ReLive gallery upload queue may sometimes fail to upload videos.
- Radeon Settings may sometimes incorrectly display the previously installed Radeon Software version after upgrade.
- Custom color profile options may fail to retain in game on clone or Eyefinity display setups.
- Performance metrics overlay feature may scale incorrectly when changing resolution in game.
- Screen tearing may be observed with Enhanced Sync enabled on Vulkan API games.
- Some systems running multiple displays may experience mouse lag when at least one display is enabled but powered off.
- Upgrade Advisor may intermittently fail to detect games and provide compatibility recommendations.
Known Issues
- Battlefield™ V players may experience character outlines stuck on screen after being revived.
- Uninstalling Radeon Software may fail to remove Radeon Settings.
- Pixel Format settings may not retain after system restart.
- HDMI Underscan settings may not retain after system restart.
- Radeon Overlay’s new in overlay video player may experience smoothness issues while adjusting the playback slider.
- Scene Editor may have issues with scrolling when many elements are added to a scene.
- Custom settings in Radeon WattMan may sometimes fail to apply on Radeon RX Vega series graphics products.
Footnotes
Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of January 7th, 2019 on the 8GB Radeon™ RX 580, on a test system comprising of Intel i7 7700k CPU (4.2 GHz), 16GB DDR4-3000 Mhz system memory, and Windows 10 x64. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. With epic preset settings on Fortnite (Season 7) at 1920x1080, Radeon™ RX 580 scored 74.0 FPS with Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.12.3, whereas the Radeon™ RX 580 scored 76.7 FPS with Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.1. Comparing software versions, Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.1 has 4% faster performance in Fortnite. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. RS-282
Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of January 7th, 2018 on the 8GB Radeon™ RX Vega 64, on a test system comprising of Intel i7 7700k CPU (4.2 GHz), 16GB DDR4-3000 Mhz system memory, and Windows 10 x64. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. With epic preset settings on Fornite at 1920x1080, Radeon™ RX Vega 64 scored 115.1 FPS with Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.12.3, whereas the Radeon™ RX Vega 64 scored 118.5 FPS with Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.1. Comparing software versions, Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.1 has 3% faster performance in Fortnite. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. RS-283
