AMD Adrenalin 21.4.1 im Test : Test |CUP | Specs |Config

Last year the big driver update at AMD failed, now it’s that time again. The Adrenalin 21.4.1 can come up with innovations, but these are primarily fine-tuning of already known features. ComputerBase takes a look at the software including benchmarks.

Since 2015, a major update for the graphics driver from AMD has been on the agenda at the turn of the year (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), and in 2020 it was canceled for the first time. AMD is now officially catching up with the Adrenalin 21.4.1, albeit not quite as opulent as in previous years, when there were often major new functions at the end of the year. With a lot of fine-tuning of well-known features and minor improvements, the new driver offers more than the monthly updates. The first innovation concerns the installer.

Options in the installer

The adrenaline driver offers many features that until now had to be installed. With the Adrenalin 21.4.1 there is now a choice. After unpacking, the usual installation menu opens, which from now on gives users the choice under the menu item “Additional options”:

1. Driver only: Install only the driver – without the driver menu.
2. Minimal installation: Installation of the driver and a significantly slimmed down driver menu. Then the menu only offers the most necessary information about the hardware and the setting options are also limited. The main 3D options such as Anti-Lag, Chill, Radeon Boost and Radeon Image Sharpening are retained, as are the auto-updater and display options. All the rest is missing though, and that’s a lot: streaming and recording options, WattMan, the home screen, and the overlay.
3. Complete installation: Complete installation (as before)

The minimal installation doesn’t really make the driver menu faster, it’s simply supposed to improve the overview, especially since many games don’t need the numerous options and quickly overwhelm beginners. On the other hand, the omission of any menu (“drivers only”) significantly reduces the range of functions of the graphics card. The “minimal installation” is simply a compromise that should be sufficient for many Radeon owners.

Vivid colors and color correction for color blind people

If you don’t want natural color display and prefer brighter colors instead, you can activate the “Improvement of display colors” menu item in Adrenalin 21.4.1. The translation is (not only) questionable at best in this regard, because the color reproduction certainly won’t get any better. However, the colors are brighter, which is not only true in games, but also on the Windows desktop.

Another new color option is aimed at people with color blindness and can carry out the color correction for the colors red, green and blue that is optimal for them. The function can be set separately for the three colors with a slider.

Both color options are offered on a Radeon graphics card with RDNA or RDNA 2 architecture, as well as a Ryzen 4000 APU or higher. In addition, Windows 10 must be installed.

Playready AV1: Ready for the future

AV1 content encrypted with PlayReady is still not being played out anywhere. However, when the time comes, the Adrenalin 21.4.1 and future drivers will be able to handle it. However, a Radeon RX 6000 graphics card must be installed for this, since only RDNA 2 can decode the AV1 codec with hardware acceleration so far. It also requires Windows 10 and its update KB5000842.

The performance view has been revised and understands Ryzen CPUs

The Performance View menu, formerly WattMan, has also been redesigned with Adrenalin 21.4.1. It is clearer the first time it is called up because many menu items are collapsed by default. More than frame rate, GPU usage, VRAM and RAM usage, and CPU usage for AMD Ryzen, which is newly added, is no longer displayed by default.

Each point can be expanded further and then there is the full program from frame times to clock rates to temperatures, fan speeds and much more. Since the general look of the menu has also been redesigned, the overview is actually much better than before. In addition, the performance overlay including optional graph display can now also be activated and configured in the menu item, the same applies to performance logging.

The menu item for overclocking the graphics card and for modifying fan control, maximum power consumption and other aspects has remained the same.

AMD Link can turn a friend into a local player

AMD Link has also undergone an overhaul. For example, there is no longer just one app for Android and iOS, but also for the Windows 10 PC, which offers the full range of functions. Also new is the “Link Game” function, which makes it possible to establish a secure connection to a friend’s Radeon PC and then play a title with local multiplayer mode together on it. Your own computer then serves as a kind of connected, second controller on the connected system. Because remote desktop access is behind it, not only the intended games are possible.

In addition, AMD claims to have reduced the latencies when streaming via AMD Link, but without being more specific in this regard. In addition, streaming can now also take place with up to 144 FPS and the maximum possible bandwidth has been increased to 50 Mbit/s. In addition, there is now the option of switching off the connection encryption, which has always been active up to now, which should improve performance on weak computers.

Other small improvements

The Adrenalin 21.4.1 also offers other small improvements. Some menu items have been arranged differently in order to improve the overview and simplify operation. There is now a separate menu item for recording and streaming, which also has a small wizard to make the initial configuration easier for beginners and not to overwhelm them with umpteen menu items.

The new “Crash Defender” should be able to slow down some driver crashes before they tear a game down with them, and thus allow normal work or play – or at least saving. The integrated browser is said to work much better, and the search has been optimized so that it is easier to find the features offered in the driver. The performance view now offers an option to automatically overclock the GPU and the memory separately or to operate them undervoltage. The function is aimed at beginners.

On the next page: test system, WQHD benchmarks and conclusion