AMD promises that OEMs will issue more driver updates for Ryzen Mobile

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 11/23/2018 10:48 AM | source: AMD @ Reddit | 16 comment(s)

It has been a topic of discussion a couple of times already in the past year. AMD Radeon Desktop GPUs get very regular updates, however, the APUs, OEM products and Laptop APUs rarely get updated. And with the current state of gaming, that was annoying a lot of people.

In the past, AMD already promised to do better, and as far as I can remember it we've seen a driver update in May just before the Summer, but then again thereafter things stagnated. That has upset a number of people and on Reddit, like so often, things became a bit more explosive. A reason that laptops equipped with Ryzen Mobile have gotten so so far behind with driver updates is that the OEM or laptop manufacturer must approve and release these updates themselves. AMD says it can not release the updates themselves because of the specific hardware of each system, which could cause potential problems and unpleasant user experiences. The company responds to the criticism in a Reddit post and promises to improve the update policy together with the OEMs.

AMD's response to this topic:

Feedback is a critical part of how AMD delivers great products. You have made it clear we have room for improvement on graphics driver updates for AMD Ryzen Mobile processor-based notebooks, both for APU-only platforms and discrete GPU notebook designs. It is important to understand that our graphics drivers are typically tailored for specific OEM platforms, so releasing generic APU graphics drivers across all AMD Ryzen mobile processor-based mobile systems could result in less-than-ideal user experiences. So what can AMD do?

We are committing to work with our OEMs to increase the release frequency of AMD Ryzen Mobile processor graphics drivers. Starting in 2019, we will target enabling OEMs to deliver a twice-annual update of graphics drivers specifically for all AMD Ryzen Mobile processor-based systems. Because the release is ultimately up to the OEMs, this may vary from platform to platform, but we want to put out a clear goal for us and our OEM partners. Those updates should be available for download on the respective OEM websites.

In addition, AMD will continue to evaluate ways in which we can offer validated graphics drivers for AMD Ryzen Mobile processor-based notebooks aligned to the latest AMD software updates, and will provide updates as soon as we are able. Thank you to the community of AMD users who voice their opinions on this issue.

From 2019, AMD will encourage its OEMs to release a graphics drivers update for all Ryzen Mobile systems at least once every six months. It is stated that the responsibility is ultimately still is to be found at the OEM partner, so it is not yet certain that all manufacturers will follow this new and accelerated update policy.

We would say, unified drivers AMD, unified.

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rl66
Senior Member

Posts: 3366
Joined: 2007-05-31

#5610016 Posted on: 11/23/2018 11:12 AM

AMD and it's own demons...

m4dn355
Senior Member

Posts: 253
Joined: 2007-06-15

#5610030 Posted on: 11/23/2018 12:30 PM

IMHO AMD is doing rather great considering it is fighting two tech giants. Let's give AMD 2 more years and it will all click.

azraei97
Junior Member

Posts: 6
Joined: 2018-10-31

#5610045 Posted on: 11/23/2018 01:35 PM

This AMD problem not OEM because OEM still use same chipset, same APU (not the custom one). I still remember at the time I own AMD APU laptop (A8 5000 series ago). Driver support really good because no get from OEM website. Just direct use from AMD website. No problem with any latest stable and beta. That make the laptop get proper driver even in latest games.
Why they can do that time but not in latest APU? The answer I conclude is they simply don't want to do it.

schmidtbag
Senior Member

Posts: 6474
Joined: 2012-11-10

#5610049 Posted on: 11/23/2018 01:46 PM

That's kinda stupid that the drivers must be "approved". If the drivers are known to fix issues, why wouldn't the OEMs approve them ASAP? It's their product that gets negatively reviewed, too, so you'd think they would get moving on that.

This AMD problem not OEM because OEM still use same chipset, same APU (not the custom one). I still remember at the time I own AMD APU laptop (A8 5000 series ago). Driver support really good because no get from OEM website. Just direct use from AMD website. No problem with any latest stable and beta. That make the laptop get proper driver even in latest games.

Because the average consumer doesn't know what they're doing and think they should just get the drivers from the OEM instead.

Dan6erbond
Junior Member

Posts: 1
Joined: 2018-11-23

#5610072 Posted on: 11/23/2018 02:33 PM

As one of those who wrote the thread that actually triggered AMD's response, I would've prefered at least a little credit from all the news outlets and YouTube channels covering this story, but I digress. Important thing is that by mid-2019 I expect good and stable drivers from AMD for Raven Ridge Mobile and by end-2019 at least two drivers from the OEMs. As the response shows, everything we wanted is technically possible and AMD was seemingly just too incompetent to do so.

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