AMD preps new driver update to address RX 480 power draw issue

AMD has announced the company is prepping a new driver update (Radeon Software 16.7.1) that will commence rolling out within 48 hours. This update is set to address the RX 480 power draw issue where the card will draw excess current from the PCIe bus on the connected motherboard. While the company doesn't believe this causes any issues, they assembled a team to work on solving the problem regardless to offer customers peace of mind.

The new driver is currently undergoing tests, and while the main highlight will be the change to address power distribution on the RX 480, AMD will also include an option to reduce total power with minimal performance impact. This option is the "compatibility" part of the Global Settings menu. (It's set "off" by default.) Not only that, but the company has also implemented a number of performance improvements for the Polaris architecture. It's reported these improvements can provide uplifts of up to 3% in titles.

More information can be found on the company's Facebook post.

Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.