AMD 16.8.3 Drivers Resolve Colorful Screen Hangs on RX 400 Cards

We've been working with AMD since our RX 480 & RX 470 reviews to troubleshoot some driver-related screen hangs. In our July notice, we strongly encouraged that our readers on RX 400 series cards avoid the 16.7.3 drivers, following instability and file corruption on one of our test benches. Since then, we've been in correspondence with AMD on the issue, and finally have some good news for folks who've encountered the green / black / blue / yellow screen hangs with AMD drivers. 

The newest 16.8.3 driver package reportedly resolves the colorful screen hang / freezes experienced on RX 400 series cards, including the RX 470 and RX 480 that we used to discover the issue. We didn't have much time to validate prior to flying to PAX, but a few tests did seem to confirm that – from an initial look – the driver stability has improved with 16.8.3.

We don't have full details as to what the precise issue, but it was a matter of “change a value in a variable somewhere.” A bit vague – but resolved nonetheless. AMD was able to reproduce the issue on systems internally, despite the sporadic behavior of the bug.

The driver package can be downloaded here: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

- Steve "Lelldorianx" Burke.