First AMD Radeon Vega M Drivers for Intel NUC8i7HNK and NUC8i7HVK in Over 16 Months Released

[btarunr]

Intel and AMD released the first Radeon Software drivers for the exotic Radeon Vega M graphics found in Intel NUC8i7HNK and NUC8i7HVK, in over 16 months. The Intel Download Center just added version 21.10.03.11 of Radeon Software for the graphics solution, dated 09/09/2021. The previous drivers dated all the way back to February 2020, and were based on Adrenalin 20.2.

The drivers are based on a release candidate of Adrenalin 21.10, which is 21.10RC1, but does not include the security updates AMD could be bundling with the upcoming 21.10 drivers (October 2021). "Radeon RX Vega M Graphics Driver version 21.10.03.11, which is based on 21.10RC1, does not include the latest functional and security updates. An update is targeted to be released in March of 2022 and will include additional functional and security updates. Customers should update to the latest version as it becomes available," says Intel in the release notes of the drivers. The drivers do include optimization for the latest games, including "Metro Exodus" (DX12), and "Resident Evil Village," besides adding support for Microsoft PlayReady AV1 decode.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Vega M drivers for Intel NUC8i7HNK and NUC8i7HVK from Intel



The Radeon Vega M graphics was a unique, one-off collaboration between Intel and AMD, found in special 8th Gen Core SKUs powering the Intel NUC8i7HNK and NUC8i7HVK desktops. Codenamed "Kaby Lake-G," the processor+graphics multi-chip module (MCM) packs a 4-core/8-thread CPU based on the "Kaby Lake" microarchitecture, and a discrete GPU die based on the AMD "Vega" graphics architecture, with dedicated 4 GB on-package memory from an HBM stack. The GPU featured 1,280 stream processors across 20 compute units, 72 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 1024-bit HBM interface.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Makaveli]

Argh OEM video driver lockdown is trash.

Waiting this long for a driver update is unacceptable.

 

[P4-630]

"Game ready" in 16 months.....

 

[GoldenX]

Good, I had to redirect several owners of these things to Linux thanks to the stupidly outdated drivers they had on Windows.
Now they can suffer the terrible AMD drivers on Windows again.

 

[Chrispy_]

I bought one of these when they came out, and also a Zotac ZBOX with GTX1070 in it; Both similar price - the goal being to see if the Vega was fast enough to replace the much larger ZBOX.

I'm glad the answer to that question was "no, we'll buy a dozen ZBOX" because 16 months is a total farce. Both AMD and Intel should be ashamed of this and the spat over who was responsible for driver support served to make both companies look childish whilst simultaneously sending a big "F*** YOU" message from both companies to the early adopters who supported this venture.

Given that that the GPU didn't perform anywhere near what was promised anyway, I consigned it to the back of a television VESA mount on a trolley and use it solely for Powerpoint and PDF presentations where the Microsoft Basic Display driver is more than adequate.

 

[dicktracy]

biggest mistake was teaming up with scummy AMD in the first place

 

[spnidel]

biggest mistake was teaming up with scummy AMD in the first place

there's my favorite shill

 

[defaultluser]

biggest mistake was teaming up with scummy AMD in the first place

Intel were the assholes who insisted that they were in charge of driver updates - the same thing that castrated the PowerVR-sourced GMA500

 

[Vya Domus]

"Game ready" in 16 months.....

That's an Nvidia catchphrase though.

 

[Chrispy_]

Intel were the assholes who insisted that they were in charge of driver updates - the same thing that castrated the PowerVR-sourced GMA500

Intel and drivers is why I'm pessimistic about their entry to the dGPU space.

Intel are too big and too complacent to care about user experience, especially gamers who aren't relevant to their beancounters like datacenter customers are.

Man, I hope I'm wrong; The NV/AMD duopoly is really stale.

 

[Tardian]

If two players try to catch a ball ... nine times out of ten it will be dropped.

 

[Chrispy_]

If two players try to catch a ball ... nine times out of ten it will be dropped.

What if two players don't try to catch a ball and stare at each other for 16 months even whilst the ball is on the floor between them and in desperate need of throwing back?

 

[eidairaman1]

"Game ready" in 16 months.....

At least these are real unlike the dg2 lol

Intel were the assholes who insisted that they were in charge of driver updates - the same thing that castrated the PowerVR-sourced GMA500

Id love to see a Discreet PowerVR/Imagination Technologies GPU, it was what Powered the Dreamcast in 1999

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

What if two players don't try to catch a ball and stare at each other for 16 months even whilst the ball is on the floor between them and in desperate need of throwing back?

I believe you call that the Arizona Diamondbacks.

 

[thesmokingman]

Wouldn't this release be primarily on Intel's timeline? AMD would be like the subcontractor here.

 

[Fouquin]

Id love to see a Discreet PowerVR/Imagination Technologies GPU, it was what Powered the Dreamcast in 1999

Exclusive to China, but one exists using the BXT design.

 

[stimpy88]

AMD's software and driver developers are an embarrassment to the industry with stuff like this. They lost the excuse of not having any money, a long time ago.

 

[kruk]

AMD's software and driver developers are an embarrassment to the industry with stuff like this. They lost the excuse of not having any money, a long time ago.

But this is a custom SoC made for Intel. Nobody knows about the agreements behind this deal, but it's highly probable that Intel must pay for the support/development of the GPU driver. And talking about that, Intel has already shown that they don't care anymore about these SKUs as they were already discontinued in 2019 in favor of Xe. Why should AMD support a competitors product for free?

 

[dj-electric]

Pleasant surprise as a Hades Canyon NUC owner

 

[Chrispy_]

But this is a custom SoC made for Intel. Nobody knows about the agreements behind this deal, but it's highly probable that Intel must pay for the support/development of the GPU driver. And talking about that, Intel has already shown that they don't care anymore about these SKUs as they were already discontinued in 2019 in favor of Xe. Why should AMD support a competitors product for free?

I blame both companies to some extent but the majority of the blame is on Intel. Ignoring the fact that it had AMD technology on the same package, this is an Intel product and Intel are ultimately responsible for providing the drivers. Both AMD and Intel CPUs make use of other companies' IP (notably ARM) yet you don't go downloading separate drivers from ARM's website for your AMD or Intel CPU!

AMD's share of the blame is that adding yet-another-Vega iteration into their Adrenaline drivers would have been child's play (they have drivers for Vega as datacentre accelerators, two generations of dGPUs, three generations of APU, and untold embedded/custom designs on top of that)

AMD intentionally withheld driver support to leave us consumers high-and-dry just to make a point to Intel.
A point that Intel clearly didn't care about.

For AMD not to come out of this looking bad, perhaps they could have accepted Intel weren't going to do anything and mitigated the damage/offered a goodwill gesture to customers - even used that as a promotion; "Hey, you bought this Intel CPU and Intel are being jerks. We're not jerks, here's some free software support to ease your suffering because AMD are the good guys; Next time you buy a CPU remember we've got your back."

But no. AMD's marketing department has and always will be a shitshow. The golden opportunity was wasted and once again AMD's marketing department managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

 

[yotano211]

More like 2 players looking directly at the sun blinded by the light

 

[lexluthermiester]

The whining and over-reacting is VERY strong in this thread...

The reason the drivers took 16months to be updated is clear, there isn't a large product line-up and thus the need for updates is not as great.

 

[katzi]

Stuff like this, is why I have Zero faith in Intel in the dedicated gaming GPU market...

They should be hyper-aware of how this looks to gamers, but their arrogance will blind them to that like the 14nm++++++++++++++++++++++ wankery.

 

[Mussels]

biggest mistake was teaming up with scummy AMD in the first place

Comedy lounge is in the other subforum

 

[Chrispy_]

The whining and over-reacting is VERY strong in this thread...

The reason the drivers took 16months to be updated is clear, there isn't a large product line-up and thus the need for updates is not as great.

Whilst driver support for VegaM CPUs isn't that important because it was a niche product with few design wins, it *IS* an indicator of how Intel treats gamers, and Intel is relying on trust and faith for its upcoming ARC dGPU launches, which this VegaM debacle erodes considerably.