AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 26.1.1 released
AMD just dropped its latest graphics driver for Windows: Radeon Adrenalin Edition 26.1.1.
This isn't just another small tweak; there are some new features worth looking at if you game on AMD hardware. One of the interesting bits is that you can optionally install a thing called the AI Bundle, designed to bring intelligence-driven boosts right into your games for smoother performance or maybe better visuals down the line.
Also, this update throws support behind several AMD Ryzen AI processors, including the 9 HX models (475 and 470), the 9 465, plus various 7 and 5 series chips. If you're building with those specific CPUs in mind or just want to stay updated on driver compatibility for them, this is your release.
But let's get straight to what might actually matter right now: game support changes. For instance, the update officially includes Starsand Island and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora: From the Ashes Edition. This implies that the system has correctly recognized them, enabling you to play those titles.
However, there's a flip side too. Some games are reportedly having issues on certain AMD graphics cards. AMD has noticed problems popping up with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, where shadow rendering might not look right across RX 5000 and RX 6000 GPUs.
Enshrouded users, watch out if you're rocking an RX 7000 or RX 9000 card. Certain textures seem to go sideways at the first Elixir Well encounter. That's definitely something to be aware of until it gets sorted.
Some folks with non-English usernames have reported Diablo 4 launch problems, specifically on those high-end RX 7000 and RX 9000 series cards. Therefore, if you're experiencing this issue or intend to launch a game with special characters in your name, you should be cautious.
Beyond the gaming bugs, Microsoft Flight Simulator users might notice some oddities at night; certain lights could be acting up on RX 7000 and RX 9000 hardware. And yeah, folks using the Unreal Engine Editor (especially with Lumen and HWRT settings) have reported crashes related to this driver.
Even Chromium-based browsers or Electron apps can trigger intermittent visual corruption on older RX series cards like those in the 5000 and 6000 families, so if you're using AMD graphics for everyday web tasks, maybe try a few things before reporting it off as a game-specific issue only.
Some users reported slow window resizing when working with Vulkan-accelerated development games on RX 7000 or RX 9000 gear. In Cassette Beasts, it is known that player sprites fail to render correctly specifically on the newer high-end cards.
The final notable bug mentioned involves Baldur’s Gate 3 and the TAA feature (temporal anti-aliasing) on older RX hardware, it can show an annoying artifact there. AMD is clearly aware, though they're not explicitly confirming these fixes yet.
On the troubleshooting front this time around:
- Some users have flagged intermittent crashes or driver timeouts in Cyberpunk 2077 when using path tracing.
- There's also mention of potential issues with Battlefield 6 on specific Ryzen AI platforms, namely the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370.
Additionally, reports surfaced about Radeon RX 7000 series cards potentially crashing or timing out when task switching between media apps while running Roblox Player (specifically games like Car Zone Racing & Drifting). So that's another potential hiccup to watch for across a range of AMD products, including both RX and Ryzen AI.
There are also separate mentions of texture flickering or corruption cropping up during gameplay in Battlefield 6 when using AMD Record and Stream features. While specific cards may limit this issue, AMD is aware of it.
Overall, this update brings some new tools for AMD gamers while acknowledging several game-specific problems that need ironing out soon.
AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.1.1 Release Notes
