AMD announces driver that reduces PCIe power usage RX 480

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 07/06/2016 09:32 AM | source: | 25 comment(s)

AMD is to release a new driver soon that will reduce the power draw from the PCI-Express bus. The Radeon Software driver 16.7.1 will also offer performance increases that would boost up perf with 3%

In a statement, AMD says it is confident to have dealt with the power demanded by the Radeon RX 480 over the PCI-E slot, it poses no risk of damaging the motherboard or other components. The manufacturer nevertheless comes up with a solution, in order to eliminate worries of users.

The change should result in less consumption through the PCI-E slot. AMD probably modifies the driver so that the video card can draw more power from the 6-pin power connector. While that one also is likely to exceed the specification of 75W, in practice that should not be a problem.

There will also be a second option in the Radeon software that reduces the total consumption of the card, with minimal performance loss, says AMD. This setting is named "compatibility" and will be located in the Global Radeon Settings Settings menu. By default, this feature is disabled. AMD gives no precise details yet on what this feature, but possibly the speed of the GPU in this setting is adjusted so that the consumption does not exceed the specified 150W.

Radeon Software 16.7.1 is available within 48 hours, indicating a release on Friday. The new driver also performs general performance improvements for video cards with the Polaris architecture. Some games should result in a gain to three percent.

The next driver update is a response from AMD on the consumption of the RX 480. In some reviews it was discovered that the video card requires more than 75W of the PCI-E slot on the motherboard. AMD responded over in the weekend and promised an update on this topic, which is the announcement of Radeon Software 16.7.1.

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Athlonite
Senior Member

Posts: 1357
Joined: 2007-11-09

#5301420 Posted on: 07/06/2016 09:21 AM

but they tout the card as having an 150W TDP shouldn't perform within that envelope and not exceed it unless absolutely necessary otherwise they should have given it a 170W TDP

SirDremor
Senior Member

Posts: 586
Joined: 2008-06-20

#5301424 Posted on: 07/06/2016 09:30 AM

but they tout the card as having an 150W TDP shouldn't perform within that envelope and not exceed it unless absolutely necessary otherwise they should have given it a 170W TDP

When you have a dud and you need to present it as new cure for cancer, you start hyping unrealistic features. Sometime it works, sometime it backfires.

I would very much like to see the "reduced performance" numbers. Hope Hilbert will update Review (at least by a 1-2 additional tests) once this new driver emerges.

0blivious
Senior Member

Posts: 3299
Joined: 2006-04-25

#5301465 Posted on: 07/06/2016 11:19 AM

Cheaper than a recall.

BrimStone101
Member

Posts: 39
Joined: 2016-06-02

#5301505 Posted on: 07/06/2016 01:06 PM

People cant reproduce what was happening,
running 4k on this card seems kind of silly because it cant run 4k anyway.
How does the performance increase with less power if its not throttling i wonder.
I read the performance per watt increased 20% wile maintaining the same performance.
I would like to see how close it is now to nvidia 16 fin fet for efficiency now its just closed the gap.

Finisterre
Member

Posts: 28
Joined: 2013-05-22

#5301512 Posted on: 07/06/2016 01:18 PM

I'd like to see a new thermal image after the software fix.
At over 80degC the power phases are very hot.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/amd-radeon-r9-rx-480-8gb-review,7.html

Note that the image is of the backside of the board. The power fets junction temp will be approx. 10..15degC higher.
The power phase near the 6pin molex hardly lights up in the thermal image.

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