False Alarm: AMD Walks Back RX 7900 USB-C Power Delivery Change
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AMD says it didn't actually kill off power delivery support for RX 7900 GPUs with USB-C ports. Apparently, the note that said it did was released in error, adding more fuel to the garbage fire of a driver release. What AMD didn't rescind, though, is the segmented drivers, so it looks like older GPUs are going to miss out on game optimizations moving forward.
"We'd like to inform you that the release notes for AMD Software Adrenalin Edition 25.10 2 posted today included misinformation that has since been corrected," AMD said in a statement to TechPowerUp . "There is no change to USB-C functionality on the RX 7900 series GPUs in the 25.10.2 driver. There was an incorrect line in the originally posted release notes that has been removed, and the release notes have been updated. We apologize for any inconvenience."
This is good news for those affected, as previously, AMD seemed to have a dismissive attitude toward any potential impact from the change. In the original driver release, it stated: "USB-C power charging has been disabled for Radeon RX 7900 series graphics products. Users requiring this feature are recommended to use AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition version 25.3.1."
Unfortunately, while that feature has been retracted, there's no such luck with game optimizations for older cards. AMD has confirmed that RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 GPUs (RX 5000 and 6000) have now entered "Maintenance Mode," which means they'll continue to receive driver updates for critical security fixes and bug corrections, but they won't get any game optimizations moving forward.
This feels quite early to do this for RDNA 2 GPUs, at least, as they still offer pretty solid performance for modern gaming and are only five years old. Still, that's the decision AMD has made, and it likely means they'll miss out on future Restone updates for upscaling support, too.
We've seen a number of AMD fans add support for new upscaling technologies, such as FSR4, to older cards, so we may see similar third-party mods appear in due course. However, as for official support, AMD will focus exclusively on its new RX 7000 and 9000 GPUs.
VideoCardz speculates that this pivot is likely due to AMD focusing more on its newer standards that also cross over into data centers, where a huge portion of AMD's future business likely lies. Just as Nvidia has transitioned from a gaming company to an AI hardware firm in recent years, AMD may do the same.
