- AMD no longer supports RX 6000 or earlier GPUs in its drivers
- These graphics cards are now in ‘maintenance mode’ so they won’t get new features or game optimizations
- They’ll still receive security patches, but these GPUs being pushed out of full support so soon haven’t gone down well with gamers who have them
AMD is stopping work on optimizing its Radeon graphics drivers for some older GPUs – and that includes models that are still relatively new, the RX 6000 series.
The first hint of this was given in the release notes for the new Adrenalin v25.10.2 driver, in which AMD says that: “New game support and expanded Vulkan Extensions Support are available for Radeon RX 7000 and 9000 series graphics products.”
In other words, new game optimizations are not provided for RX 6000 or earlier GPUs.
Tom’s Hardware then received confirmation from AMD about exactly what this means, namely that: “To focus on optimizing and delivering new and improved technologies for the latest GPUs, AMD Software Adrenalin Edition 25.10.2 places Radeon RX 5000 series and RX 6000 series graphics cards (RDNA 1) and RDNA 2.”
What this means is that new features and game optimizations – bug fixes and performance tweaks for the latest games such as Battlefield 6 with the v25.10.2 driver – is only implemented for RX 7000 or later AMD graphics cards. So RX 6000 (and RX 5000) models are no longer catered for in this regard.
Which RX 6000 GPUs will continue to receive are security patches for vulnerabilities but nothing else unfortunately.
Analysis: fine whiners – which are justified, frankly
There has been a lot of bad feelings over this decision, as it is just too early for AMD to end support for RX 6000 graphics cards. Keep in mind that these RDNA 2 GPUs only came out five years ago, and there have actually been models released as late as 2023 (RX 6750 GRE – and the RX 6750 XT itself and other XT variants hitting shelves in 2022).
Many gamers still use RX 6000 GPUs as a result – in fact I have one in my backup Windows 11 desktop PC, an RX 6650 XT, so apparently it’s now out of support. This is a computer I only bought a few years ago. In fact, I was still recommending the RX 6600 as a good budget GPU choice just a year ago.
In addition to RX 6000 GPUs being too newly released to make AMD throw in the towel on the support front, this is also a very bad look considering AMD has been trying to persuade gamers about the quality of its drivers in recent times.
Historically, many people have preferred Nvidia GPUs due to perceptions around driver quality and overall reliability – but AMD has improved its standing here recently. (Nvidia’s Blackwell generation and all its missteps didn’t help Team Green’s cause here).
And yet we now have AMD pushing aside a range of graphics cards that only came out five years ago (or less in some cases), undoing some of this good work when you look at Nvidia’s comparative stance on support.
Team Green still supports RTX 2000 GPUs with gaming optimizations – products that came out seven years ago. In fact, the two generations prior to the RTX 2000 – Pascal and Maxwell – have only just left support now, after being looked after by Team Green for nine and 11 years respectively. In the latter case, that’s over twice as long as AMD has maintained game optimization work for RX 6000 GPUs. Like I said, it doesn’t look good at all.
Some may, and indeed are, argue that game optimizations in drivers are not that important and this work is overrated. While that may be true to some extent in some cases, and any tweaks may not be particularly important or even noticeable, just wait until you get a GPU driver error that messes up the textures in that shiny new game you just bought – and there’s no fix on the way for your RX 6000 graphics card. It’s not a pleasant thought, especially if you bought that RDNA 2 GPU just last year.
You can see why AMD is taking a lot of flak over this now – and there may be a chance we may yet see a change of heart from Team Red given the outpouring of barbs that have been seen across many online forums.
If you’re concerned about the Steam Deck or other handhelds using AMD APUs with RDNA 2 integrated graphics, remember that this is the Windows driver AMD is talking about, to address another concern raised in some circles. In the Linux world where SteamOS lives, the Radeon driver is different, and Phoronix.com makes a compelling case for why AMD’s decision here should not affect support on this side of the fence. At least that’s a small consolation.
On a final note, there’s another controversy bubbling around AMD’s latest Radeon driver release, with some believing that support for Windows 10 has also been dropped – but luckily, that’s not the case.
The best mini PCs for all budgets
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, video unboxings, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
