Last week, AMD announced both RDNA and RDNA2-based GPUs will enter “maintenance mode”, which puts the driver into security updates and bugfixes only, leaving game optimizations exclusively to RDNA3 and RDNA4 GPUs. That statement wasn’t well-received by the community, so the company puts out another statement, which didn’t help either.
AMD’s RDNA/RDNA2 Support Dilemma
The latest statement given last week was that AMD will provide game optimizations “as required by market needs,” but the messaging continues to be fuzzy, and nobody has a clear idea on what exactly this means for users on Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs, or those on Radeon 600M graphics on some Ryzen processors (including a very new ROG Xbox Ally with Ryzen Z2A processor).
So, the company puts out another statement, this time addressing the ‘confusion’ surrounding the recent driver release. Here’s the full text:
We’ve heard your feedback and want to clear up the confusion around the AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 25.10.2 driver release.
This update introduces two optimized driver paths: one for RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 (Radeon RX 5000 and RX 6000 series), and one for RDNA 3 and RDNA 4 (Radeon RX 7000 and RX 9000 series).
Here’s What this Means for You:
This is not the end of support for RDNA 1 and RDNA 2. Your Radeon RX 5000 and RX 6000 series GPUs will continue to receive:
– Game support for new releases
– Stability and game optimizations
– Security and bug fixesThe difference is that these products now benefit from a dedicated, stable driver branch, one built on years of tuning and optimization. This approach helps deliver a smoother, more consistent experience for your games while insulating previous generation GPUs from rapid changes designed for newer architectures.
Why We’re Doing This:
Our goal is simple: to give every Radeon gamer the best experience possible. By separating the code paths, our engineers can move faster with new features for RDNA 3 and RDNA 4, while keeping RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 stable and optimized for current and future games.
Our Commitment:
We’ve supported Radeon gamers for generations and that commitment isn’t changing. Whether you’re gaming on an RX 5000, RX 6000, or the latest RX 9000, you’ll continue to get the reliability, performance, and care you expect from AMD. Because we’re all part of the same gaming community and every Radeon gamer matters.
Essentially, what this meant is those on RDNA and RDNA2 GPUs will continue receiving game optimization drivers, which runs on a “dedicated, stable driver branch.” This is to help “insulating previous generation GPUs from rapid changes designed for newer architectures.”
In some ways, this is AMD’s way to avoid breaking things by moving things too fast – some of the newer, exclusive features like FSR4 have no use on RDNA2 drivers since these cards do not support this feature, so having a more stable branch means AMD can continue updating the new GPUs while lowering the chance of breaking older cards in this manner. That being said, we’ll have to see if the company commits to this plan in the coming months to say for sure.
Pokdepinion: AMD’s GPU division really can’t help themselves, huh?
