Radeon tweaks

AMD Radeon driver optimizations, advanced low-level tweaks and power management, covering hidden power-saving features (Stutter Mode, ULPS), memory and clock-gating toggles, and AMD's logging services.

Test the power-saving tweaks before keeping them. Disabling the GPU's power-saving features doesn't always raise performance. On a system with marginal cooling or existing instability it can make throttling or crashes worse. Apply, benchmark, and roll back any that don't actually help (save a Profile first so you have a known-good state to return to).

Driver and power toggles

• Enable Anti-Lag turns on Radeon Anti-Lag globally, reducing input latency in GPU-bound games.
• Disable Preemptions lets the GPU finish each frame in one uninterrupted pass, giving smoother frame pacing, fewer micro-stutters, and tighter 1% lows.
• Override Tessellation Mode lets the driver override each game's tessellation setting (pair with the next toggle).
• Set Max Tessellation Off caps the maximum tessellation level to off, cutting GPU geometry load.
• V-Sync: Off Unless App Specifies sets the driver's Wait for Vertical Refresh to “off, unless the application specifies”, so V-Sync stays off by default but games that request it can still turn it on.
• Texture Filtering: Performance sets the driver's texture filtering quality (TFQ) bias toward performance.
• Disable DMA Copy routes GPU memory copies off the DMA engine so the 3D engine handles them directly.
• Enable Block Write turns on block-write memory transactions for faster writing of graphics data to VRAM.
• Enable Shader Cache forces the driver shader cache on so compiled shaders are reused instead of recompiled, reducing in-game hitching.
• Disable Stutter Mode turns off the driver's stutter-mode power feature so the GPU doesn't throttle clocks to smooth frame delivery.
• Disable ULPS turns off Ultra Low Power State so the GPU doesn't drop into its lowest-power idle mode (the usual cause of multi-GPU and idle clock stutter).
• Disable SCLK Deep Sleep stops the shader clock entering its deep-sleep idle state, keeping it readier for sudden load.
• Disable Thermal Auto-Throttling turns off the driver's automatic thermal throttling. Only use it with adequate cooling, and note that the GPU's hardware thermal limit still applies.
• Disable Light Sleep turns off the GPU's light-sleep idle state so it stays responsive instead of parking power between frames.
• Disable GPU Power Down stops the driver powering down GPU blocks at idle, removing the wake-up cost when work resumes.
• Disable GPIO Power Save Mode turns off the GPU's GPIO power-save mode, keeping its control lines fully active.
• Disable Power Gating turns off power gating across Radeon GPU engines, reducing first-draw latency.
• Disable Clock Gating turns off clock gating across idle Radeon engines.
• Max Pre-rendered Frames caps how many frames the CPU queues ahead for the GPU, to reduce system latency. Be careful: lower values can actually increase latency if your CPU can't handle them. There's no single best value, so test which works best for your PC. You can come back and set a different value any time.
• Disable Unnecessary AMD Services stops bundled AMD background services that aren't required for gaming.
• Radeon Software Slimmer (Useful Programs tab) is an advanced tool. Only run it if you understand what each module strips.

FreeSync (variable refresh rate)

FreeSync is AMD's take on the same idea. Rather than redrawing on a fixed clock, the monitor refreshes in step with your frame rate, so frames stop tearing and pacing stays smooth across its range. Set it up once if you have a FreeSync (or FreeSync Premium / Premium Pro) display:

1. Enable FreeSync in the monitor's own on-screen menu first, then turn on AMD FreeSync in AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition → Gaming → Display.
2. Cap your frame rate a few FPS below your refresh rate with Frame Rate Target Control (or Radeon Chill) in Adrenalin, or an in-game limiter. Three FPS is the usual margin (240 Hz → 237, 165 Hz → 162, 144 Hz → 141). The cap holds you under the ceiling of the FreeSync range, above which it stops working and tearing comes back.
3. Set Wait for Vertical Refresh to Always on (or use Enhanced Sync) in Adrenalin as a backstop for the very top of the range. With the cap in place it never actually engages, so it adds no latency.

No FreeSync display? Without VRR you can't truly remove tearing, only make it far less noticeable. Cap your FPS to a whole-number ratio of your refresh rate, meaning an even divisor or multiple, so every frame lands at the same point in the refresh cycle and the tear line sits still instead of crawling. On 240 Hz that's 120, 80, or 60 (or 480 if your PC can push it), and it works both ways, so a 60 Hz panel can cap at 120 or 240. An arbitrary number like 165 on 240 Hz is the worst case, because the seam drifts constantly. Leaving FPS uncapped gives the lowest latency but the most tearing. See it for yourself in the screen tearing simulator.

Need a fresh driver? Wipe the old one completely with Display Driver Uninstaller from the Useful Programs tab before installing AMD's package.