AMD releases new driver with focus on virtual reality

Continuous driver updates are a common occurrence for AMD and Nvidia users. These often come in connection with larger game launches, where the two manufacturers take the opportunity to implement optimizations and fix bugs.

Now AMD is updating its drivers again and this time the focus is on virtual reality, with support for technologies in Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. For the former, it is about support for Asynchronous Spacewarp (ASW) for graphics cards in the Radeon R9 Fury, Radeon 390 and Radeon 290 series.

The purpose of ASW is to provide a better gaming experience by, among other things, creating synthetic frames, which will contribute to smoother transitions. For Radeon RX 480 and Radeon RX 470 users, support for Steam VR Asynchronous Reprojection is implemented, which works similar to ASW but for HTC Vive.

The new drivers also make it possible to enable Displayport 1.4 mode for Polaris-based graphics cards. This allows 8K resolution in 30 Hz over one cable or the same resolution in 60 Hz over two. Version 17.4.1 of Crimson Relive is available now and can be downloaded directly via the software or AMD’s website.