Based on synthetic test results, version 23.2.1 of the AMD Radeon Drivers for Windows has enabled RX6000 improve its performance up to about 40% when executing ray tracing. It is already known that this does not have to translate into reality, but it may be an indication of improvement in a facet in which AMD is clearly behind NVIDIA.
A Twitter user named Florin Musetoiu has published the results of a test he has carried out with 3DMark DXR on a RX 6800XT to compare the Radeon driver versions 22.11.2 and 23.2.1. With the oldest (the first) version of the drivers it got a result of 26.22 frames per second vs. 36.20 fps thrown by the newer version, which is a 38.2% improvement in performance.
In order to test a real scenario, Florin Musetoiu has put into operation Dying Light 2 at 1440p and with FSR 2 and ray tracing activated. The user has seen that, by comparing the data he obtained on October 15, 2022 with the data provided by the latest version of the drivers, he achieved a 22% performance improvement when moving frames per second from 59 to 72.
The sample is too small to draw clear and firm conclusions. In fact, since Hardware Unboxed have already responded to say that they have not appreciated no improvement comparing drivers 22.5.1 and 23.2.1 when running Watch Dogs Legion and Florin Musetoiu himself has acknowledged that performance has not improved with Cyberpunk 2077 either, which reinforces the fact that synthetic tests, on many occasions, are not a reflection of reality.
We will see if AMD has any room for improvement around the performance of ray tracing on RX 6000, especially if we see that the brand, on more than one occasion, has been slowly exploiting the room for improvement that its graphics have through its drivers. . In fact, here we have the 8GB RX 580, which six years after its launch is still a graphics card that can put a lot of punch under ideal circumstances.
