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Driver for Radeon RX 7900 XT(X): Adrenalin Edition 22.12.2 is designed to reduce power consumption

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AMD has released a second driver for the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT (test) with the RDNA 3 GPU Navi 31. The Adrenalin Edition 22.12.2 fixes bugs and aims to reduce power consumption when the graphics card is decoding videos. This driver is again available exclusively for RX 7900, older models remain at 22.11.2.

A first step in the right direction?

Both new Radeon RX 7900s were noticed at the start with high power consumption when playing videos (see also diagram). But even when idling and when using multiple monitors, the consumption was sometimes significantly higher than with the Radeon RX 6000, whereby the type of monitor and its refresh rate were once again important in multi-monitor operation.

Power consumption, Windows desktop

8 entries power consumption, Windows desktop – YouTube video

Unit: Watt ( W) 8 Entries Power Consumption, Windows Desktop – Complete Idle

Unit: Watt (W) 4 entries Power Consumption, Windows Desktop – Window Movement

Unit: Watt (W)

At least the problem, According to its release notes, AMD now wants to have tackled the fact that the graphics cards consume an exorbitant amount of electrical power when AMD's Video Codec Engine (VCE) takes over the decoding of videos, although the manufacturer is only talking about “improvements” for the time being – it seems so maybe even better to go.

Improvements to power usage during hardware accelerated video playback.

The driver does not yet address other areas such as the doubled idle consumption compared to RDNA 2 or the problems in multi-monitor operation. However, AMD promises “further efficiency improvements in the future”.

The multi-monitor issue, which again stems from memory not downclocking, isn't a new issue for AMD, but it's not new to Nvidia either. With the switch to the multi-chip approach in Navi 31, however, the challenges for AMD may have changed, because the memory controllers are in the six (XTX) or five (XT) memory controller dies (MCD), which are external to the graphics Compute The (GCD) are connected. With the Infinity Fabric, another component comes into play in power management. Against this background, it remains to be seen whether AMD will be able to further reduce idle consumption.

What results does the community see?

What are the first experiences in the community with the new driver? How does this version fare in terms of power consumption, performance and stability? Feedback is always welcome in comments. The editors haven't had a chance to take a look at the driver yet.

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