AMD is making significant changes to its RDNA lineup, with both the first and second-generation series being phased out rapidly. According to the company’s recent announcement, these series will only receive essential updates moving forward.
AMD Announces Discontinuation of Game Optimization and Feature Updates for Radeon RX 5000 and RX 6000 Series
The first generation of AMD’s RDNA GPUs, known as the Radeon RX 5000 series, debuted less than six years ago. If this timeline raises concerns about the premature discontinuation of updates, it’s important to note that owners of the RX 6000 series are also affected. The latest driver update, AMD’s Adrenalin Edition 25.10.2, introduced support for new games like Battlefield 6 and the Ryzen AI 5 330 APU. However, it primarily catered to the latest RDNA 3 and RDNA 4 graphics cards, leaving the older series in the dust.
While the newest GPUs enjoy game optimizations, it has become clear that the first (RDNA 1) and second generations (RDNA 2) will not receive the same support. In response to inquiries from PC Games Hardware, AMD confirmed that these older GPU families will no longer benefit from game optimizations or feature updates.
RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 graphics cards will continue to receive driver updates for critical security fixes and bug resolutions. To focus on optimizing and delivering new and improved technologies for its latest GPUs, AMD is placing the Radeon RX 5000 and RX 6000 series (RDNA 1 and RDNA 2) into maintenance mode with the AMD Software Adrenalin Edition 25.10.2 release. Future driver updates with targeted game optimizations will be focused on RDNA 3 and RDNA 4 GPUs.
This decision means that the RX 5000 series, launched in 2019, and the RX 6000 series, introduced in 2020, will now lack the latest game support and features. The RX 6000 series had seen ongoing expansions, with new cards like the RX 6750 GRE being launched in 2023, only to be excluded from future optimizations—a disappointing development for consumers.
Moving forward, AMD intends to provide only critical security patches and bug fixes for these older GPUs, redirecting its efforts towards the RX 7000 and RX 9000 series. This shift raises consumer concerns about AMD’s long-term support strategy, especially considering NVIDIA’s commitment to supporting its Maxwell and Pascal architectures for nearly a decade, a standard that many users expect when investing in new graphics cards.
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