AMD has released its Adrenalin Edition 26.3.1 WHQL drivers. While the headliner is support for two of the year's biggest titles, the real story is a fundamental change in how the company handles upscaling.
Available now for Windows 10 and 11, this update brings Day 1 optimizations for Crimson Desert and Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. However, the inclusion of FSR 4.1 signals a departure for the company—one that leaves owners of older hardware behind.
The Shift to Machine Learning Upscaling
The primary addition in version 26.3.1 is FSR 4.1. Unlike previous versions of FidelityFX Super Resolution, FSR 4.1 uses a machine learning framework. This is the same technological DNA found in Sony’s PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) on the PS5 Pro.
For the end user, this change aims to address long-standing criticisms of FSR, specifically the ghosting and shimmering often seen in fine details like foliage. AMD claims this version specifically fixes the messy leaf rendering in Crimson Desert. While it is positive that AMD has finally embraced an ML-based approach, there is a major catch: FSR 4.1 is currently restricted to the Radeon RX 9000 series.
If you are running an RX 7000 or 6000 series card, you are still on the older, non-ML branch of FSR. This move mirrors Nvidia's strategy of locking newer DLSS features to newer silicon, a sharp departure from the open-access philosophy AMD has used as a marketing weapon for years.
Feature Support and Hardware Tiers
While the RX 9000 series gets the exclusive upscaling tech, older cards aren't entirely ignored. This driver finally enables AMD Noise Suppression for the RX 6000 series, a feature that was previously restricted to newer models.
Beyond upscaling, the driver introduces Ray Regeneration 1.1. This is designed to improve how the GPU reconstructs lighting and reflections. In our view, this is a necessary step to keep pace with Nvidia's Ray Reconstruction, though its effectiveness will depend heavily on individual game implementation.
Stability Fixes and Broken Presets
AMD has resolved several frustrating stability issues in this release. Chief among these is the fix for system crashes that occurred on RX 7000 series cards when alt-tabbing or changing settings frequently. They also addressed a bizarre bug where the mouse and keyboard would stop responding when interacting with the Adrenalin software overlay.
However, the driver is far from perfect. We are skeptical of the WHQL stability stamp given the laundry list of known issues in Battlefield 6. Users on Ryzen AI 9 systems are still seeing intermittent crashes, and those who use the built-in Record and Stream features will likely encounter texture flickering.
Furthermore, there are reports that FSR 4.1 is behaving strangely. In some titles, selecting the Quality preset reportedly forces the software back to FSR 3.0, meaning you have to use Balanced or Performance modes just to activate the new ML-based tech. This is a sloppy implementation for such a major feature launch.
Installation Warnings and Legacy Drops
Before you hit the download button, be aware of a few discrepancies. There are conflicting reports regarding the installer size, with sources like Guru3D reporting 890 MB while others list it as high as 2 GiB. We recommend a clean installation using DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller), especially given the jump to the new FSR framework.
Additionally, if you are still rocking Polaris or Vega hardware (RX 400/500 or Vega 56/64), this driver is not for you. You will need to continue using the separate legacy driver branch, as this package officially drops support for those architectures.
The End of Universal Compatibility
This driver release is a defining moment for AMD. By restricting FSR 4.1 to the RX 9000 series, the company has effectively admitted that specialized hardware is required to match Nvidia’s image quality. Although the fixes for Cyberpunk 2077 and support for Death Stranding 2 are helpful, the hardware barrier for FSR 4.1 is a bitter pill for the community.
In our view, AMD is in a difficult position. To bridge the quality gap with DLSS 4.5, they had to move to machine learning. But in doing so, they have sacrificed the universal compatibility that was once their greatest advantage. If you have an RX 9000 card, this is an essential update. For everyone else, it is a clear signal that your high-end RX 7000 series card is no longer the favorite child in the driver development lab.
Comments