AMD releases Radeon driver update to curb excess SSD writes

AMD has released an optional Windows graphics driver that the company says fixes excessive disk writes while some Radeon-equipped PCs sit idle. The November 12 release notes for AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.11.1 identify Radeon RX 7000-series cards and newer in the entry for idle writes. That gives owners a specific driver version to check after PartialMedia reported on November 9 that AMD was investigating.

A separate AMD support notice names the Radeon RX 7000 and RX 9000 families and recommends installing 26.11.1 for users experiencing the idle-write issue.

AMD lists a second disk-write fix for activity that occurs while users move or resize application windows. The company does not attach the same GPU-family qualifier to that entry. The package supports several older Radeon families, including RX 5000 and RX 6000, but the compatibility list alone does not establish that those cards were affected by the idle-write bug.

The reports that prompted the investigation linked the activity to a background component of Radeon software. The release notes do not quantify how many PCs were affected or how much data was written. Operating-system write counters alone cannot establish how much data reached the drive’s flash memory or how much endurance a drive lost.

AMD provides the installer in its release notes and marks the package optional. Known issues include intermittent crashes or driver timeouts in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced on RX 7000-series cards and intermittent driver timeouts in War Thunder on RX 5000-series cards. AMD recommends version 26.9.1 for affected War Thunder players on those older cards.

Editorial Opinion

AMD has given affected Radeon owners something concrete to test. The next useful evidence would compare the same PC before and after the update under similar idle conditions, using both Windows activity and the drive’s own write counters. That would help readers judge whether the fix worked on their configuration and whether the extra writes ever posed a meaningful endurance problem.

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