The AMD Driver Thread

5t3v0 · 21 Dec 2019 at 16:11

Aztec2Step said:
These are the settings I use:

The two settings outlined in red are the only ones I've activated as they are off by default (though I'm sure you already know that lol). I've disabled RTSS by making sure no setting in the 'Monitoring' tab has 'Show in OSD' selected, I've found RTSS can screw up HDR in some games.

Hope that helps.

Thanks mate. That's a much better skin than the default one. Alas though, I'm still not having any joy getting my BL3 fps back. I dropped the voltage adjustment from -175 to -150 which stopped the PC lockups (I guess -175 was too aggressive in AB?) but the fps gain was a mere 0.5 over using the AMD built-in performance tuner (which could be due to the extra 25mV used in this test), and still 4.5 fps less than with 19.12.1. I even tried your settings but that gained just another 0.5 fps over mine but at the cost of +30W with the resulting higher temps and louder fans (I have found using PLs >15% yield only modest gains in performance for disproportionately higher power draw so have settled on 15%). So here's a summary of the results:

OC Profile.......................Driver......OC.....BL3
1637/1025mV/980/15%...19.12.1...WM....65
1637/1025mV/980/15%...19.12.1...AB.....65
1637/1025mV/980/15%...19.12.2...WM....60
1637/1025mV/980/15%...19.12.3...WM....60
1637/1050mV/980/15%...19.12.3...AB.....60.5
1650/1100mV/980/50%...19.12.3...AB.....61

So looks like a driver issue for me still. Back to 12.1 now...

Aztec2Step · 21 Dec 2019 at 19:01

5t3v0 said:
Thanks mate. That's a much better skin than the default one. Alas though, I'm still not having any joy getting my BL3 fps back. I dropped the voltage adjustment from -175 to -150 which stopped the PC lockups (I guess -175 was too aggressive in AB?) but the fps gain was a mere 0.5 over using the AMD built-in performance tuner (which could be due to the extra 25mV used in this test), and still 4.5 fps less than with 19.12.1. I even tried your settings but that gained just another 0.5 fps over mine but at the cost of +30W with the resulting higher temps and louder fans (I have found using PLs >15% yield only modest gains in performance for disproportionately higher power draw so have settled on 15%). So here's a summary of the results:

OC Profile.......................Driver......OC.....BL3
1637/1025mV/980/15%...19.12.1...WM....65
1637/1025mV/980/15%...19.12.1...AB.....65
1637/1025mV/980/15%...19.12.2...WM....60
1637/1025mV/980/15%...19.12.3...WM....60
1637/1050mV/980/15%...19.12.3...AB.....60.5
1650/1100mV/980/50%...19.12.3...AB.....61

So looks like a driver issue for me still. Back to 12.1 now...

Interesting, I may give Wattman a go to see if I can bring temps and power draw down without sacrificing performance.

gpuerrilla · 21 Dec 2019 at 22:32

5t3v0 said:
Thanks mate. That's a much better skin than the default one. Alas though, I'm still not having any joy getting my BL3 fps back...So looks like a driver issue for me still. Back to 12.1 now...

Have you tried a fresh driver install and no third party tool just OverdriveNTool ?

5t3v0 · 22 Dec 2019 at 01:57

Th0nt said:
Have you tried a fresh driver install and no third party tool just OverdriveNTool ?

Lost the will to live with it for now. Maybe give that a shot later although I'd be surprised if it caused the driver to behave any differently - aren't all these tools just calling the same APIs? The card seems to be responding consistently in all these tests according to HWINFO readings, it just isnt translating to the same game performance in both the new drivers. I'm not sure this will be on AMD's radar as I dont hear anyone else shouting about lower frame rates, so rather than leave to chance I've submitted a bug report on their website. Let's see what joy January brings

Aztec2Step · 22 Dec 2019 at 10:28

@5t3v0 , I forgot to ask/can't remember, which API do you use in BL3; DX11 or DX12?

I use DX12 as it gave me a performance boost without any of the stuttering reported by others.

Btw, I tried Wattman and it now works for me, though I lost 2fps in BL3 using your settings. I know that isn't much but I like MOAR FRAYMZZZ!!!

Panos · 22 Dec 2019 at 10:28

Aztec2Step said:
These are the settings I use:

The two settings outlined in red are the only ones I've activated as they are off by default (though I'm sure you already know that lol). I've disabled RTSS by making sure no setting in the 'Monitoring' tab has 'Show in OSD' selected, I've found RTSS can screw up HDR in some games.

Hope that helps.

But WHY?
AMD Drivers have better granular P states overclocking on Vega, which not only gets more from it, but at reduced power consumption and heat.

Aztec2Step · 22 Dec 2019 at 10:38

Panos said:
But WHY?
AMD Drivers have better granular P states overclocking on Vega, which not only gets more from it, but at reduced power consumption and heat.

As I said in a previous post, I couldn't get Wattman to work previously so stuck with Afterburner. Besides, I don't mind an extra heat source in winter!

gpuerrilla · 22 Dec 2019 at 11:36

I prefer WM over afterburner. On nvidia cards AB is good but for AMD the WM or OverdriveNTool seems to be the best.

5t3v0 · 22 Dec 2019 at 11:45

Aztec2Step said:
@5t3v0 , I forgot to ask/can't remember, which API do you use in BL3; DX11 or DX12?

I use DX12 as it gave me a performance boost without any of the stuttering reported by others.

Btw, I tried Wattman and it now works for me, though I lost 2fps in BL3 using your settings. I know that isn't much but I like MOAR FRAYMZZZ!!!

Yeah on DX12. Like you I found it to be better performing.

Good news Wattman is now working for you. I have to say I prefer it to Afterburner for it's more granular tuning and ability to set different fan curves for different profiles, not to mention the fact it doesnt lock up my PC when under volting. There is an annoying "feature" of Wattman where the zero fan switch wont show and so the idle RPM sits around an annoyingly audible 1300. I had to edit the profile XML to make it appear and then I have to load the profile twice for it to work. Been like that for ever it seems.

I'm surprised the difference is as much as 2 fps between those 2 profiles for you. What's the difference in power, temp and fan rpm? I have 2 profiles I generally use, 1662MHz @ 1075mV + 50% PL (which I created when playing Division 2) and 1637MHz @1025mV + 15% PL (which is my daily OC). The difference in BL3 was as follows:

OC Profile...FPS.....Max W.....Max C....Max RPM
1637MHz....64.6....203W.......76C........1913
1662MHz....65.6....237W.......83C........2382

So a 1.5% fps gain for a 16.7% increase in power, 9% increase in temp and a 25% increase in fan RPM! If you can put up with the noise, it does provide an extra source of heating for the house like you say

Edit: Those were hotspot temps BTW

Aztec2Step · 22 Dec 2019 at 12:50

@5t3v0 Having come from a MSI R9 290X Lightning Edition with an aggressive OC to this Powercolor Red Dragon RX Vega 56, fan noise is not something that bothers me while gaming lol! Temps generally stay just below 70degC on the HBM and mid 60's for the GPU core, and my power draw is around 240W.

EDIT: Just tried my AB settings in WM and lost 3fps in BL3. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

5t3v0 · 22 Dec 2019 at 13:17

Aztec2Step said:
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Amen to that my friend

4K8KW10 · 23 Dec 2019 at 13:45

Settings for your Vega iGPU and/or other Radeons when on battery mode (default settings look terrible).
Battery mode 2D desktop image quality is completely different to plugged-in 2D desktop image quality.

5t3v0 · 24 Dec 2019 at 17:19

Th0nt said:
Have you tried a fresh driver install and no third party tool just OverdriveNTool ?

Had a bit of time this afternoon so gave Overdriventool a shot. I liked its simple interface (although missed visualising the fan graph) and it worked fine without locking up my PC ala Afterburner. However, the BL3 benchmark results were exactly the same when going from 19.12.1 to 19.12.3 so the new driver is definitely badly optimised for my set up. Hopefully there'll be some new updates early in the new year which will sort this. In the meantime, a happy Christmas to all

Aztec2Step · 24 Dec 2019 at 19:17

5t3v0 said:
Had a bit of time this afternoon so gave Overdriventool a shot. I liked its simple interface (although missed visualising the fan graph) and it worked fine without locking up my PC ala Afterburner. However, the BL3 benchmark results were exactly the same when going from 19.12.1 to 19.12.3 so the new driver is definitely badly optimised for my set up. Hopefully there'll be some new updates early in the new year which will sort this. In the meantime, a happy Christmas to all

I admire your indomitable spirit, sir! Merry Christmas!

FredFlint · 24 Dec 2019 at 22:29

Getting deformed snow/mud bugs in red dead, did not happen with FuryX but is with 5700XT. Someone on redidt has pictures:link

Panos · 24 Dec 2019 at 23:32

FredFlint said:
Getting deformed snow/mud bugs in red dead, did not happen with FuryX but is with 5700XT. Someone on redidt has pictures:link

That appears on Vulkan with the 5700XT not DX12. Do you use 19.12.3 drivers, after using DDU to remove the previous?
Given is over 1 month old issue, might have been resolved with 19.12.3 big list of Vulkan API additions.

Also some have it still on 19.12.3 but reducing AF to 8 fixes the issue on Vulkan.

4K8KW10 · 24 Dec 2019 at 23:39

Panos said:
That appears on Vulkan with the 5700XT not DX12. Do you use 19.12.3 drivers, after using DDU to remove the previous?
Given is over 1 month old issue, might have been resolved with 19.12.3 big list of Vulkan API additions.

Also some have it still on 19.12.3 but reducing AF to 8 fixes the issue on Vulkan.

There are also (similar) bugs in Counter-Strike: Source when changing the different settings in the game's menu. The user must simply find the settings which work correctly.

FredFlint · 25 Dec 2019 at 17:19

Panos said:
That appears on Vulkan with the 5700XT not DX12. Do you use 19.12.3 drivers, after using DDU to remove the previous?
Given is over 1 month old issue, might have been resolved with 19.12.3 big list of Vulkan API additions.

Also some have it still on 19.12.3 but reducing AF to 8 fixes the issue on Vulkan.

Reducing AF reduces the problem but even with AF=off it's still happens for me. Switching to DX12 solves it but performance is not as good, has stutters. I am on the newest drivers, have not used DDU, don't use third party app to uninstall stuff, I should not need to.

Panos · 25 Dec 2019 at 17:31

FredFlint said:
Reducing AF reduces the problem but even with AF=off it's still happens for me. Switching to DX12 solves it but performance is not as good, has stutters. I am on the newest drivers, have not used DDU, don't use third party app to uninstall stuff, I should not need to.

You do need to, because the windows are crap. Same applies to Nvidia drivers between major updates

MeddlE · 25 Dec 2019 at 18:11

FredFlint said:
Reducing AF reduces the problem but even with AF=off it's still happens for me. Switching to DX12 solves it but performance is not as good, has stutters. I am on the newest drivers, have not used DDU, don't use third party app to uninstall stuff, I should not need to.

So you've had the fix pointed out to you but you refuse to try it? Stop whingeing then. Happy xmas.