So....AMD has announced that they are no longer going to be supporting RDNA1/2 (RX 5000/6000 series) GPUs with game ready drivers, which a lot of techtubers are treating as a slap in the face to consumers. As someone with an RX 6000 series GPU (6650 XT), I'm not really sure what the full implications of this are, but I ain't really happy.
AMD has always had kind of a bad history with supporting drivers. I remember I got burned early on with the HD 5850 and HD 6520g laptop IGP before. Back in the day, AMD would only support drivers for their GPUs for like 4-6 years before moving on to the next thing, while nvidia supported their cards for around 6-8.
In the modern era, both brands were supported for longer. The HD 7000 series was supported for like 7-8 years for example. Nvidia started supporting their cards for 8-10. This is acceptable, given GPUs last longer these days.
I know the RX 400/500 series got crap when AMD discontinued support around 2023, although in all fairness, that's around when those cards struggled to run games. I could also see justification for stopping support for the ill fated RDNA1 cards these days, but RDNA2? Really?
RDNA1 isnt really capable of running modern games. It has the same features as Nvidia 1000 series cards, which have been discontinued too. Ya know? they dont have ANY ray tracing abilities, DX12 ultimate, or mesh shaders, which are essential for modern games. But RDNA2 has ALL of those things. And not much has really happened since then in GPU development on the AMD side other than AI bullcrap. And all that AI is good for, to my knowledge, is better upscaling. We got FSR 2/3 on the 6000 series, we don't really NEED better upscaling. I mean it's nice to have, but it shouldnt be NECESSARY. if we wanna use a more dated form of FSR, let us. I'll take slightly blurrier graphics over not being able to run a game at all. As such, there's no NEED for this.
What's even more of a slap in the face was RDNA2 cards have mostly been sold until very recently. I literally recommended the RX 6600 around $200ish until like 3-6 months ago or something when we got 1) The RTX 5050 for $250, 2) the RX 9060 XT 8 GB for $270, and 3) the RTX 5060 for $300. In the face of those, the RX 6600 for $220 started looking like a bad value. Especially as the stock finally ran out recently where now those cards aren't even cheap when available at all.
I literally bought a RX 6650 XT 3 years ago, and I went AMD over nvidia explicitly due to price. Nvidia wanted like $340 for a fricking 3060, which was a joke, and AMD wanted $230 for a 6650 XT. It was a no brainer. And given people spent a lot more on cards, say, $350 for a RX 6700 XT, $450 for a RX 6800, $600 for a 6850 XT, etc., those guys got BURNED. People upgraded to those thinking they'd get years of driver support and VRAM would help them and now AMD is cutting driver support THIS early?
Even for me, I still planned to use my RX 6650 XT for like 2 more years. I planned an upgrade in 2027 when the RTX 6000 and RX 10000 series card would be out. I sure as heck dont wanna upgrade NOW over some BS software crap when sub $300 cards are only 50% better and still have 8 GB VRAM. And I aint buying more than a $300 card, I just ain't. So...AMD, get your crap together. This is ridiculous. I dont care if I get some fancy version of FSR4 or whatever on my RDNA2 GPU, but FFS at least support your software. The RDNA2 series is only FOUR YEARS OLD. It released in 2021. Those cards are still viable for gaming, they still support the latest APIs and have all the necessary features to run stuff. Again, I don't give a flying frick about stupid AI powered FSR4. If my experience is a little blurrier then so be it. I literally don't care. I just wanna run games, man. When a GPU gets in the second half of its expected life span, I stop caring what they look like as long as they run fluidly.
So, yeah, don't burn us AMD. Really. I bought AMD because I wanted to make a statement about nvidia and their price gouging, they have like 90% of the GPU market and don't care about gamers and small time consumers any more. But, this is reminding me why I have such a bias against AMD products. Because they don't support their crap, they do age like milk, and I end up regretting it when I do purchase them. Really, what you're telling me at this point is to buy nvidia next time. They might be an evil monopoly, but at least they support their products. And let's face it, it's not 2022 any more. We're no longer at a point where it's $230 for a RX 6650 XT vs $340 for a RTX 3060. We're at a point where it's $270 for a RX 9060 XT vs $300 for a RTX 5060. If I had to buy now, I'd be going 5060 after hearing this. No question. 4 years of support is unacceptable. Especially when those were "current generation" for half that time, and still regularly sold until recently. Seriously, I know they slowly phased out the higher end 6000 series cards in like 2024 (so last year), but the 6600 was available until THIS YEAR. Heck, even my 2.9 year old 6650 XT is still under warranty for another month, that's how new it is. What the actual hell, AMD?
Again, if you wanted to do this in like 2028 or whatever, fine, I kinda get it. Tech eventually moves on, but my card that's still technically under warranty no longer gets driver updates? What the actual fudge?
EDIT: It's even worse when you realize just how much AMD was still selling 6000 series cards along side 7000 series cards, and until the 9000 series which launched this past summer, there was no shift in value from late 2022 on when I bought, meaning, if you wanted to spend $200-300ish on a GPU, your options were stuff like the RX 6600, the 6650 XT, or the 7600. The 7600 eventually replaced the 6650 XT, and by eventually, I mean, they were still sold next to each other for like a $20 difference until late in the 7000 series' life cycle.
The market only shifted to provide better value for those in the sub $300 segment like....3-5 months ago. And even then, for a while, the 6700 XT offered a niche between the 7600 ($250) and the 7700 XT ($400+) which was never truly filled. The RX 6800 was offered along side the 7700 XT for like $400 for a while, etc. Really, all of these RX 6000 cards were literally offered along side their next gen counterparts for only a few dollars difference in price/performance. As such, it is disgraceful for AMD to then be like "we got your money, BYE!" I mean, if you go on steam hardware survey, more people got 6000 series cards than 7000 series cards, because they were LITERALLY better value for the most part. The 7600 was kinda awkwardly priced vs cards like the RX 6600, 6650 XT, and the RTX 3060/4060. The 7700 XT was awkward because it was like $400-450 and offered 6800 level performance with LESS VRAM. Again, they just never had a replacement for the $300-350ish 6700 XT unless you wanted a 7600 XT, which was just a 7600 with more VRAM. Really, it was a joke. The 7000 series was never really compelling vs the 6000 series. And it was sold along side the 6000 series for most of its lifespan.
So yeah, it really seems REALLY DUMB and REALLY SCUMMY to cut off 6000 series NOW. If this is a scam to get me to upgrade to the 9000 series, uh, screw you AMD, I'd buy a 5060 first. And I dont exactly want to buy a 5060. That in itself isn't an amazing value. Only 50% more performance and STILL 8 GB RAM for $300?! Screw this market.
I'm honestly getting to the point of just giving up on new gaming and becoming a retro gamer. This crap is ridiculous. I'm being priced out of gaming over here. Cant even buy a steam deck because GUESS WHAT, THAT WAS RDNA2 TOO!
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