AMD Releases 16.11.2 Drivers With Improved Shader Cache

After releasing their new 16.11.1 Radeon Drivers earlier in the week, AMD has followed up right away with a new driver release. Hot on the heels 16.11.1, 16.11.2 is coming just days after the earlier release. One wonders why AMD split the two drivers up as the new release doesn’t really add much of anything. The only new feature and difference compared to the earlier release is a tweak to the maximum shader cache size.

Improved Shader Cache storage limit. This will allow the Shader Cache feature to store more shaders for extremely demanding games that may have previously hit the old storage cap.

From the looks of it, the tweak is to remove the software/firmware cap on the maximum shader cache size. From various reports by users, it appears that the new driver will help reduce stuttering and improves performance in more demanding games. By preventing the cache from being maxed out, more shaders can be precompiled and ready for use. This in turns cuts down on latency for the GPU, resulting in higher FPS, better frame times and more consistent performance. While this won’t increase your VRAM size, the optimizations means the GPU will make better use of it.

In terms of known issues, there haven’t been any changes for 16.11.2. It looks like the new release was just to get the shader cache storage limit optimization out. I suppose AMD wanted to get support for the new COD titles out but just couldn’t quite squeeze the shader cache feature out in time. You can find the download links and full release notes here. Given the tight timing, it would not be surprising to see a third driver get released for November later in the month. We may even get a WHQL release for next month as well along with a major revamp that AMD appears to be doing annually.