Adrenalin Software Edition 19.1.2 Driver Performance Analysis using the RX Vega 64

Adrenalin Software Edition 19.1.2 Performance Analysis featuring the Liquid-cooler RX Vega 64 with 28 Games

As a BabelTechReviews regular feature, this driver performance analysis will chart the performance of 28 PC games using the latest Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 19.1.2 which was released last week. We will compare these new drivers with the 18.9.1 drivers from last September using the liquid-cooled edition of the RX Vega 64 that we are benching in preparation for our Overclocking Showdown with the RX 2070 Founders Edition later this week.

We document the performance changes of the current Adrenalin Software 19.1.2 Edition on Windows 10 at 1920×1080 and at 2560×1440 resolutions. Our testing platform is a recent install of Windows 10 64-bit Home Edition, and we are using an i7-8700K which turbos all 6 cores to 4.7 GHz, an EVGA Z370 FTW motherboard, and 16GB of HyperX DDR4 3333MHz. The games tested, settings, and hardware are identical except for the drivers being compared

For the performance changes of the Adrenalin 19.1.2 drivers from 18.9.1 using 28 games, let’s get to the test configuration, to the driver release notes, and then to our results.

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core i7-8700K (HyperThreading and Turbo boost are on to 4.7 GHz for all cores; Coffee Lake DX11 CPU graphics).
• EVGA Z370 FTW motherboard (Intel Z370 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 3.0/3.1 specification, CrossFire/SLI 8x+8x), supplied by EVGA
• HyperX 16GB DDR4 (2×8 GB, dual channel at 3333 MHz), supplied by HyperX
• Gigabyte RX Vega 64 8 GB Liquid-cooled edition, at stock LC speeds
• 480 GB Team Group SSD
• 1.92 TB San Disk enterprise class SSD
• 2 TB Micron 1100 SSD
• Seasonic 850W Gold Focus power supply unit
• EVGA CLC 280mm CPU water cooler, supplied by EVGA
• Onboard Realtek Audio
• Genius SP-D150 speakers, supplied by Genius
• EVGA DG-77, mid-tower case supplied by EVGA
• Monoprice Crystal Pro 4K

Test Configuration – Software

• AMD’s Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 19.1.2 is compared with 18.9.1.
• VSync is forced off.
• AA enabled as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified
• Gaming results show average frame rates in bold including minimum frame rates shown on the chart next to the averages in a smaller italics font.
• Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
• Windows 10 64-bit Home edition. All DX11 titles were run under DX11 render paths. DX12 titles are generally run under the DX12 render path unless performance is lower than with DX11. Three games use the Vulkan API.
• Latest DirectX
• All 28 games are patched to their latest versions at time of publication
• Wattman
• OCAT
• Fraps, latest version

28 PC Game benchmark suite & 2 synthetic tests

Synthetic

• Firestrike – Basic & Extreme
• Time Spy DX12

DX11 Games

• Grand Theft Auto V
• The Witcher 3
• Fallout 4
• Rainbow Six Siege
• Battlefield 1
• Resident Evil 7
• For Honor
• Ghost Recon Wildlands
• Mass Effect: Andromeda
• Prey
• Project CARS 2
• Middle Earth: Shadow of War
• Total War: Warhammer II
• Destiny 2
• Star Wars: Battlefront II
• Final Fantasy XV
• Far Cry 5
• The Crew 2
• F1 2018

DX12 Games

• Tom Clancy’s The Division
• Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation
• Hitman
• Deus Ex Mankind Divided
• Gears of War 4
• Civilization VI
• Sniper Elite 4
• Forza 7
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider

AMD Control Center Radeon Settings

All AMD settings are set with all optimizations are off, Vsync is forced off, Texture filtering is set to High, and Tessellation uses application settings. These same settings are used across all drivers so that driver performance of each edition can be compared identically.

We used Wattman to set power, temperature, and fan limits to their maximums to prevent throttling. Software Adrenalin 19.1.2 Edition can be found starting here. The release notes can be found here. The included highlights below are taken directly from AMD’s website.

Below are the summary charts of 28 games and 2 synthetic tests. The games’ performance are charted to compare the driver progression of the RX Vega 64 from 18.9.1 to the latest Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 19.1.2. The highest settings are chosen and the settings are listed on the charts. The benches were run at 1920×1080 and at 2560×1440. Open each chart in a separate window or tab for best viewing.

Most results show average framerates and higher is better. Minimum framerates are next to the averages in italics and in a slightly smaller font. A few games benched with OCAT show average framerates but the minimums are expressed by frametimes in ms where lower numbers are better.

Column one shows the latest 19.1.2 driver performance and column two represents 18.9.1. Yellow text indicates a “win” for the higher performing driver and if the performance is equal, both sets of numbers are given in yellow text.

There were mostly incremental performance improvement with the RX Vega 64 using the latest Adrenalin 19.1.2 drivers over September’s 18.9.1 drivers. Of the older games, GTA V, The Witcher 3, Rainbow 6 Siege, RE 7, and Shadow of War gained a little performance while several DX12 games mostly also gained some good performance. There is still a Vulkan bug present with DOOM and with Strange Brigade that is not present with our RX Vega 56 that may be very difficult to resolve, so it may be easier to play them using the OpenGL and DX12 APIs respectively.

The RX Vega 64 shows mostly continued positive performance improvements, and a few of them are substantial in some of the newer games including Shadow of the Tomb Raider. There were a few incremental regressions with the last driver set, but overall the performance continues to improve with Vega using the latest Adrenalin drivers