Arr! Avast ye! AMD's latest driver be fixin' a foul bug, mateys! Them fancy RDNA 3 GPUs be drinkin' power like grog no more!
2023-12-07
Arrr, ye scurvy dogs! Not be everyone havin' a resolution to their cursed problems o' abnormally high idle power draw, be it known! Aye, tis a treacherous sea they sail!
AMD has reportedly fixed a power usage issue with its RDNA 3 desktop graphics cards that were consuming excessive power at idle. This problem was particularly noticeable for PC setups with high refresh rate or multiple displays. Tom's Hardware conducted tests comparing the power draw of the RX 7000 range with the new Adrenalin driver 23.12.1 to the previous release. The previous driver had already improved the situation, but the latest driver further reduced the idling wattage for most AMD GPUs.While the RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT graphics cards were fixed with the previous driver, the RX 7800 XT, 7700 XT, and RX 7600 GPUs still had high idle power consumption. However, the new driver significantly reduced the power usage for these models as well. The RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT remained relatively unchanged in terms of power consumption.
Although these tests were conducted on a single monitor running at 144Hz, some reports suggest that users with multiple monitors are still facing excessive idle power usage with the latest driver. However, this is a rarer scenario, and hopefully, AMD will address the issue in the next driver update.
In addition to the power consumption fix, the new driver also introduced the HYPR-RX Eco mode, which aims to improve battery life and power efficiency for gaming laptops and handhelds.
Overall, AMD's latest driver update has resolved the power usage problem for most RDNA 3 graphics cards, providing better energy efficiency during idle periods. However, some users with multiple monitors may still experience high power consumption, which hopefully will be addressed in the future.