Returned to Team Red after 20 years... What do I need to know?
Returned to Team Red after 20 years... What do I need to know?
Hi friends,
I’ve owned Radeon cards when they were ATI and really liked them, but later switched to Team Green. My setup has gone through several changes—starting with an EVGA 450, then two MSI 580’s in SLI, followed by an EVGA 690, a MSI 1080, and most recently an ASUS 1080Ti. After building a new system last year and needing a GPU upgrade right when things got tough, I finally bought a 9070XT.
Right now I’m using a Gigabyte Aorus Elite 9070XT.
I’m familiar with Nvidia’s quirks, software, and best practices, but I’m starting from scratch with AMD. What should I know about their software? Are there any specific quirks or tips that would help? Just asking.
I know I’m feeling a bit proud of you for making that 20-year return to Team Red, even though it was because of something specific. My very first GPU was a Radeon PowerColor HD 6570 with 2GB of memory. But the moment I left Team Red, it was this incident—I owned an AMD R9 280e with 3GB and somehow it just failed inside my case. That experience really made me think twice about taking risks with that hardware. But let’s be real, AMD has come a long way since 2005; they’re now the top-selling GPUs ever. Until Nvidia realizes their new 50-Series is just a copycat of the older 40 Series, things are looking up. Apart from that, these cards perform much better, especially with RayTracing. That’s all I wanted to share about my last AMD GPU—I was just trying to tell my story, okay? LOLOLOLOLOL...
Well, my commitment is only to its practical value. With Nvidia, I quickly embraced the Stereoscopic 3D experience and enjoyed playing in 3D for years. Over time, they faded away, which meant my loyalty was mainly based on their speed—something now feels less convincing. I believe they’ve grown too large and it’s time for someone to step back a bit. Still, I’m willing to make a small adjustment if it helps.
Honestly, the 9070xt drivers appear quite reliable. From what I understand, these chips have handled themselves well without any significant problems, avoiding the teething issues seen in models like the 7900 xt. There might be a few tweaks needed in Windows settings. My Radeon 6700xt, for instance, zoomed in by 25 percent depending on your monitor, which can cause blurriness—make sure your display settings are correct in Windows. FSR tends to stay on most games by default; turning it off might help if everything looks too sharp. Some users have noticed that certain hair textures might appear less natural, possibly due to differences between NVidia and AMD. Instead of flowing, some characters like Gerald from Witcher may look stiff with a pom-pom effect. These are just my observations; others might interpret things differently. I previously experienced character model issues in Tales of Arisen where flaws seemed overly perfect, though the GPU wasn’t buggy—I tested with three models. Also, older games with anti-aliasing may require using the Adrenline software to fix the issue.
Take a glance at Ancient Gameplays on YouTube, they break down every AMD GPU driver update and offer an OC guide if you're curious.
AMD has overcome the driver problems that plagued them for over fifteen years. In fact, NVIDIA appears to have stepped into that role recently. Beyond that, I rarely use Adrenalin except for initial setup. Ray tracing has seen significant progress with the 9070-series, though it still lags behind NVIDIA in performance. Overall, the performance drop might be justified by the visual gains in certain titles. FSR 4 promises to be a major upgrade for AMD. It’s crucial they invest more to integrate it into mainstream games—it offers a substantial leap over FSR 3. Check out Hardware Unboxed’s review of FSR 4. Undervolting helps keep the card cooler while boosting performance, especially with the 9070 XT. My nephew has been using the 9070 XT for nearly a month without any issues. He plays at least six hours daily across a dozen games, from CP2077 to an unusual 8-bit game. Feel free to ask any questions.
I believe it too.
This brings up a concern about micro-stuttering on your nephew's rig. I’m experiencing this issue in Need for Speed Unbound, and it’s similar to what I faced with Nvidia drivers on every release after the one made for that game. Updating the drivers was impossible while playing, which made the problem even more bothersome. Initially, I assumed it was solely a driver issue, but now I suspect it could be tied to the game itself.
I'm not familiar with the Gigabyte software but sometimes these programs write the profile straight to the card's firmware. I did this using MSI Afterburner intentionally, which means I don't need it running in the background for my custom fan curve to work. If the Gigabyte software does that, you might be able to flash the card's BIOS or reinstall the Gigabyte software and figure out how to remove the saved profile.
It's also worth noting that Adrenalin can't override that. You could try MSI Afterburner again and see if you can adjust the fan curve. If your card supports setting the firmware curve, enable it (this should override the Gigabyte profile), then reboot and turn off the firmware fan curve in Afterburner. After closing Afterburner, return to Adrenalin and check if you can set a new fan curve.