Adrenalin 21.3.2 in the performance test – ComputerBase : Test |CUP | Specs |Config

With the latest versions of the Adrenalin driver, AMD has accelerated graphics cards based on RDNA 2 compared to last year. This is shown by benchmarks with the Adrenalin 21.3.2 on a Radeon RX 6800 XT, which should actually serve a different purpose.

Accidental find while looking for Nvidia’s rBAR effect

Actually, the editors are currently working on a comprehensive test of Nvidia’s integration of Resizable BAR (rBAR), which has been available since the end of March via graphics card BIOS update for all GeForce RTX graphics cards of the Ampere generation. To compare Nvidia’s progress against AMD’s current use of rBAR, the Radeon RX 6800 XT also had to be retested, as the list of titles that the driver unlocks for rBAR is growing

But even when rBAR was not active, the performance of the Radeon RX 6800 XT was different than before in many titles: A few games slowed down a bit, while others increased by a good bit.

In order to rule out the influence of a possible game update, the old tests were also carried out again with Adrenalin 21.1.1. But most of the differences remained: So it’s not because of the games.

Rather, AMD has been able to improve the performance of the RDNA 2 architecture in the last three months with newer drivers. The test shows how big the differences are.

The test system for the adrenaline 21.3.2

All benchmarks for this article were recreated on the graphics card test system, this applies to both the Adrenalin 21.1.1 and Adrenalin 21.3.2 tests. The game versions are consistently up to date, the same applies to Windows 10 20H2. The Radeon RX 6800 XT is used as the graphics card in the reference design.

Benchmarks in 2.560 × 1.440 (WQHD)

On average, the performance increase of the Adrenalin 21.3.2 compared to the Adrenalin 21.1.1 is not great, but tangible increases in performance through new drivers have become rare. The Radeon RX 6800 XT is faster in 2,560 × 1,440 with the new driver in average FPS by an average of 2 percent with SAM (Resizable BAR) switched off, with SAM it is 3 percent faster. Meanwhile, percentile FPS increased by 1 percent without SAM, but again by 3 percent with SAM.

Results from +10 to -3 percent

In the individual games, the differences are significantly larger. For example, Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War runs 10 percent faster with the Adrenaline 21.3.2 than the Adrenaline 21.1.1 in both AVG FPS and Percentile FPS. However, this only applies if SAM is activated; without the feature, the plus is only 5 (AVG FPS) to 0 percent (percentile FPS). Death Stranding has also become faster, it now shows 7 and 9 percent more FPS. Hitman 3 also increases by 9 and 8 percent. There is a further increase of 7 or 6 percent in Red Dead Redemption 2, there as in CoD but only with active SAM. Dirt 5, on the other hand, ran 4 and 3 percent better with the Adrenalin 21.1.1 than with the new driver.

General driver and SAM improvements

AMD appears to have optimized the Adrenalin 21.3.2 over the Adrenalin 21.1.1 on two fronts: in general and when using SAM. Because there are games that increase more than before with activated SAM, as well as titles that do the same without active Resizable BAR. And there is also the combination of these. Borderlands 3 is such a case, running 2 percent faster with Adrenaline 21.3.2 without SAM, but running 5 percent faster with SAM.

Since no problems arose during the series of tests with the Adrenalin 21.3.2, owners of an RDNA 2 graphics card should install the latest driver without hesitation. Above all, those who use Resizable BAR or SAM can benefit from it, provided that SAM brings an advantage in their settings. It is currently unclear whether the driver also offers advantages for older graphics cards based on RDNA or even GCN.

And what about Nvidia?

Of course, Nvidia is also working on driver improvements for the Ampere generation. Resizable BAR, for example, is a significant upgrade. The corresponding test series will appear shortly on ComputerBase.

Aside from rBAR, the latest GeForce drivers have also made progress, as the past few days have shown. However, they are expressed less in breadth than in certain games. A game in which Nvidia graphics cards have consistently acted relatively slowly recently even improves significantly with the latest driver. Details including benchmarks will follow shortly.

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