A note in the release notes of the current Adrenalin driver for AMD GPUs had caused confusion in recent days. According to this, optimizations for new games are only to appear for graphics solutions belonging to the RX7000 and RX9000 series. These are based on the RDNA 3 and 4 architectures.

At the time of this report, the note is still on the download page for the Adrenalin 25.10.2 driver – but according to the latest explanations from AMD, this does not mean that RDNA 1 and 2 will no longer receive support. The company stated this, among other things, to Tom’s Hardware upon request. Numerous other tech media had reported on the matter because, if the note were interpreted strictly, AMD would have declared a large number of still attractive GPUs in PC graphics cards, notebooks, and SoC solutions like the Z-APUs for handhelds obsolete. Some RDNA 2 GPUs were only released in 2022.

At the time of this report, the unclear note is still on the download page for AMD’s graphics drivers.

(Image: AMD, Screenshot und Hervorhebung: heise medien)

Support for new games? Yes, but ...

As the company told our colleagues, the drivers for RX5000 and RX6000 will be moved to a maintenance mode. In this case, however, it does not mean that no new functions and adjustments for games will be released for these GPUs anymore. Rather, they are to be provided “at the market’s demand.” This is, of course, not a clear statement either. However, it likely means that when a new AAA game, such as a new Battlefield or Call of Duty, is released, adjustments will be made. These are often urgently needed for the titles to function smoothly, for example, through manufacturer-specific shader programs in the drivers themselves (shader replacement).

Typically, AMD only offers bug fixes for graphics solutions that are in maintenance mode. Specifically, for errors that affect system security, i.e., that a corrupted video file when playing via the graphics driver’s codecs for the GPU hardware cannot inject malware into the system. Incorrect displays or crashes in new games are generally not corrected.

ROG Xbox Ally also with RDNA 1

In the case of RDNA 1 and 2 and the corresponding GPUs, AMD will likely not be able to avoid further support, precisely because of the PC handhelds. Only a few weeks ago, the ROG Xbox Ally was released, the first mobile console with Microsoft’s blessing. It works with an integrated RDNA 2 GPU, the larger model Xbox Ally X with RDNA 3.5. Asus ROG and Microsoft alone will hardly allow the entry-level device to be abandoned. The benchmark for the category, Valve’s Steam Deck, occupies a special position here because it runs under the Linux derivative Steam OS. AMD’s Linux drivers are largely open source, so Valve can drive its own further development for the Deck’s RDNA 1 GPU.

Much suggests that errors have crept into the release notes of the current Adrenalin driver in general. In the first version from October 29, 2025, found via the Wayback Machine, there was also talk of the discontinuation of charging via USB-C. Without further explanation of what this could mean. Charging notebooks via USB-C through a connected monitor can hardly be the case, as this is now a standard feature of better notebooks. The note on USB-C is no longer found in the current version of the release notes. As AMD told Tom’s Hardware, it was a mistake.

However, the unclear note on “new game support” remains in the release notes without comment, as mentioned at the time of this report. AMD would do well to thoroughly revise the entire text after the Halloween weekend.

(nie)

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This article was originally published in German. It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.