Report: AMD Radeon Software Could Alter CPU Settings Quietly

[AleksandarK]

According to the latest investigation made by a German publication, Igor's Lab, AMD's Adrenalin GPU software could experience unexpected behavior when Ryzen Master software is integrated into it. Supposedly, the combination of the two would allow AMD Adrenalin GPU software to misbehave and accidentally change CPU PBO and Precision Boost settings, disregarding the user's permissions. What Igor's Lab investigated was a case of Adrenalin software automatically enabling PBO or "CPU OC" setting when applying GPU profiles. This also happens when the GPU is in the Default mode, which is set automatically by the software.

Alterations can happen without user knowledge. If a user applies custom voltage and frequency settings in BIOS, Adrenalin software can and sometimes will override those settings to set arbitrary ones, potentially impacting the CPU's stability. The software can also alter CPU power limits as it has the means to do so. This problem only occurs when AMD CPU is combined with AMD GPU and AMD Ryzen Master SDK is installed. If another configuration is present, there is no change to the system. There are ways to bypass this edge case, and that is going back to BIOS to re-apply CPU settings manually or disable PBO. A Reddit user found that creating new GPU tuning profiles without loading older profiles will also bypass Adrenalin from adjusting your CPU settings. AMD hasn't made comments about the software, and so far remains a mystery why this is happening.


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[watzupken]

The reason is obviously to “optimise” performance where possible. But then again, will that lead to an unfair boost in performance in testing results, I think it will if the tester is running an AMD system as the test bench.

 

[cyberloner]

i never install the software of it.. just plain driver

 

[zlobby]

That's pretty intel of AMD. Also, in bird culture that is considered an intel move.

 

[HD64G]

A profound bug that needs to be fixed sooner than later. Easy fix should be also imho.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

another piece of evidence that AMD is slowly turning into the old Intel.

 

[Guwapo77]

If the software can tune everything with the click of one button, what's the problem?

 

[Bwaze]

If the software can tune everything with the click of one button, what's the problem?

And it's not even new.

Ryzen Master module has been integrated since last year with release 21.9.1. and since that time Adrenalin is able to change CPU overclocking or reset CPU to default values.

 

[Chrispy_]

I'm curious if this is intentional or not.

Clicking "default" means many different things to many different people, but in the case of PBO and motherboard vendors, "default" = PBO Enabled so it's hardly a shock that "default" in Adrenaline means the same thing.

I guess where the controversy lies is a lack of communication in what is being set to default.

 

[ratirt]

I'm curious if this is intentional or not.

Maybe it is a feature not an intentional mistake.

 

[_Flare]

Just imagine the old pure good CCC paired with todays good hardware ... that would be sooo great.
AMD Software is so much behind their hardware, i could cry.
The unstable software and its lacks of nice fan- and temp-target-control is the only cause i use a Nvidia GPU.
The temporary workaround for the enhanced vsync is now many years old, embaracing.
I used a Ryzen 2700 and now 5600X, both are excellent, but i will never install any piece of AMD software on my computer myself, if Windows installs a driver, so be it.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

I'm curious if this is intentional or not.

Clicking "default" means many different things to many different people, but in the case of PBO and motherboard vendors, "default" = PBO Enabled so it's hardly a shock that "default" in Adrenaline means the same thing.

I guess where the controversy lies is a lack of communication in what is being set to default.

It appears to be a bug if something does not load correctly, similar to what intel's watchdog software does. The difference here is that it's triggering GPU settings as well for some reason.

The biggest controversy I've seen has beed two fold, the first being "ZOMG AMD CHANGED MY SETTINGS" which is wrong, its a bug not an intentional change by AMD, or at the least if it is intentional there is 0 proof, it appears in all insances to be a software bug.

The other being "ZOMG AMD HASNT PATCHED THIS YET" which, yeah, no shat they havent, this is AMD, it will take 3-6 months of belly acheing and media coverage before they will acknoledge a problem and fix it. See also: frame pacing issues, GCN black screen issues, mobile ryzen driver issues, rDNA clocking issues, and 500 series chipset USB issues. This is normal for AMD

 

[Chrispy_]

another piece of evidence that AMD is slowly turning into the old Intel.

That's fine as long as Intel turns into the old AMD and actually tries to move the industry forward without fleecing everyone for the privilege.

 

[Valantar]

I've had this happen - or, to be clear, I've had Radeon Software reboot my system after applying a profile and resetting my CPU power profile to stock, which has been really annoying. AFAIK this only happened when applying profiles that were created before the CPU OC functionality was added to Radeon Software, so I guess it's understandable to some degree, but it's still pretty annoying. I get the desire to put things into one application, but they need to add an explicit toggle to not touch CPU settings at all, as the current interface is vague in its presentation. Mine comes up as if there's a CPU auto OC applied, despite this being my manual PBO settings, with no differentiation between manual or auto tuning or whether changes were applied externally or in Radeon Software.

 

[HisDivineOrder]

Just emphasizes to me the fact that as much success AMD has had, as much money as they have made, and even after they just spent a load on a company recently, they continue to lowball their software/driver teams. I don't even blame the people doing that work or the software that resulted. It's AMD not investing enough. They're clearly not investing the same money into their software that Nvidia or Intel are, relative to their profits, so why should anyone buy their hardware?

Oh, right. Because it's a deal. So yeah, it was fine when they were the value king, but right now? 30 Series cards are dropping while AMD cards are staying the same in price, which is giving the 30 series an advantage. Meanwhile, Intel had to basically smack AMD with a trout for months before they woke up and dropped prices on their CPU's (and enabled 300 series boards to use their latest CPU from over two years ago). And they're hardly far and away better deals.

AMD isn't acting like the value king, so they need to step up their investment in their software teams if they want to be a premium brand.

 

[Chrispy_]

AMD isn't acting like the value king, so they need to step up their investment in their software teams if they want to be a premium brand.

This.

Adrenaline is much better than it used to be and offers features that Nvidia don't even bother including at all. Including an easy-to-use OBS and MSI afterburner alternative right there in the driver is great. It's what the encoder hardware and temp/fan/voltage sensors on the card are for, so it's only natural that the driver control panel lets you control those features.

I would be stretching my honesty if I said that the entire AMD ecosystem was a hassle-free as Intel or Nvidia though. AMD is slower to react, later to market, and not as quick to bugfix drivers as the competition. If you are going to charge a premium for your product, that means the hardware AND the software product.

 

[Jism]

If the software can tune everything with the click of one button, what's the problem?

So yeah i have RX580 with a special bios that turns the memory timings more tight. Its called Ubermix 3.1. Basicly you got the 1666Mhz timings applied to the 2000Mhz setting. It gives some better FPS.

However when i adjusted the memory frequency with the new adrenalin drivers, it would apply another and even more tighter setting(s) of memory on top of the already tweaked one, making it completely chrash.

I dont want drivers messing around with any settings other then the ones i specify.

 

[Guwapo77]

And it's not even new.

Ryzen Master module has been integrated since last year with release 21.9.1. and since that time Adrenalin is able to change CPU overclocking or reset CPU to default values.

I only care when I initially build a system and overclock it for benchmarking purposes. After that, I find a good stable setting I like and leave it alone. If the Ryzen software says, "Hey not so awesome overclocker, I found a better setting for your CPU!" I'm like I'm good, handle your business.

 

[StefanM]

AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 22.4.1 Highlights

Known Issues

• Ryzen CPU Overclock settings may be changed after resetting or importing a profile from Radeon Performance Tuning Options.

 

[windwhirl]

If the software can tune everything with the click of one button, what's the problem?

The problem is that it messes with user configuration without the user being made aware of the changes

 

[aQi]

Meanwhile on news: user reports cpu clock rated at 6ghz "unintentionally" claims to have world record "silently"

Overclockers shocked AMD rocked users lived happily never after.

 

[RedBear]

If the software can tune everything with the click of one button, what's the problem?

For one thing there's the fact that AMD's warranty doesn't cover overclocking, even when done using official software including Adrenalin, it's specifically mentioned in the "overclocking warning" of the release notes. On a related note, Tom's Hardware says that they asked a comment to AMD about the warranty implications of this bug.

 

[Thimblewad]

This.

Adrenaline is much better than it used to be and offers features that Nvidia don't even bother including at all. Including an easy-to-use OBS and MSI afterburner alternative right there in the driver is great. It's what the encoder hardware and temp/fan/voltage sensors on the card are for, so it's only natural that the driver control panel lets you control those features.

I would be stretching my honesty if I said that the entire AMD ecosystem was a hassle-free as Intel or Nvidia though. AMD is slower to react, later to market, and not as quick to bugfix drivers as the competition. If you are going to charge a premium for your product, that means the hardware AND the software product.

this.

 

[Fouquin]

Just imagine the old pure good CCC paired with todays good hardware

The same CCC that people spent an entire decade whining about being "buggy" and "trash"? You need some VERY rose tinted glasses to think CCC was in any way more functional than the current software.

 

[Valantar]

The same CCC that people spent an entire decade whining about being "buggy" and "trash"? You need some VERY rose tinted glasses to think CCC was in any way more functional than the current software.

Yeah, CCC was passable, but AMD has made massive strides in their software over the past half decade. Despite this bug - which while annoying is overall quite minor - I really, really like their current software. Feature packed, usable (though it could do with some minor streamlining), and not a resource hog.