No RDNA 3 Update for More Power Tool, Says Developer

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Locking down the power tables

AMD
(Image credit: AMD)

When AMD first indicated that it locked the power play tables on its latest Radeon RX 7000-series graphics processors a month ago, it meant one popular overclocking method was not supported at the time. Now, it looks like AMD has completely locked down manipulations of the power play tables with its RDNA 3 GPUs. That means the More Power Tool utility will not be able to support the new cards, and overclocking will be essentially limited to AMD's Adrenalin software.

"[When it comes to power play tables], pretty much everything is double and triple secured," one of the More Power Tools developers wrote, reports CapFrameX. "[To make things work,] we would have to rewrite firmware and drivers, and we cannot do that. Not even under Linux. So, there will be no MPT for RDNA3. AMD really screwed it up this time."

AMD's Radeon RX 7900-series graphics boards are among the best graphics cards money can buy today, so it's no surprise that enthusiasts may want to push them to their limits. For now, they won't be able to do so without tools like MPT. It remains to be seen how significantly it will affect their market popularity and AMD's GPU market share, but certainly such limitations will decrease their adoption by enthusiasts.

Using software like More Power Tool allows users to increase voltages and optimize the voltage curve for better overclocking, bypassing firmware limitations. This can result in higher clocks and more stable overclocking, assuming that there's sufficient cooling. But with RDNA 3 AMD decided to change the way GPU power play tables can be altered, which renders programs like MPT useless. Apparently, there is no way to add RDNA 3 support to More Power Tools unless AMD changes its mind and allows developers to do so.

In fact, even a 'simple' firmware update (to alter voltages and/or allow bypassing AMD-set limitations using software) does not work with Radeon RX 7000-series GPUs, as firmware flashing is controlled by AMD's platform security processor.

"Incidentally, firmware flashing is also controlled via PSP, and we can no longer easily hack AMD software to enable you to flash it," the developer said. "Seems to only work with an external programmer, so now you now pay for your power limits and features, but cannot change or activate them afterwards."

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Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • OMGPWNTIME
    I hate when they lock down hardware you purchased like this. I have no issue with them saying your warranty is void, but it's absurd to go that far from preventing an incredibly small % of users who want to tinker with hardware they own, many of whom are actually trying to lower their voltage curves for greater efficiency and longevity.

    Such a short sighted mentality, if anything allowing hardware tinkering only increases their appeal even if most would never attempt it.
    Reply
  • Papusan
    OMGPWNTIME said:
    I hate when they lock down hardware you purchased like this. I have no issue with them saying your warranty is void, but it's absurd to go that far from preventing an incredibly small % of users who want to tinker with hardware they own, many of whom are actually trying to lower their voltage curves for greater efficiency and longevity.

    Such a short sighted mentality, if anything allowing hardware tinkering only increases their appeal even if most would never attempt it.
    They just follow same paths as they do with their gaming processors. Lock it down as good they can. Most likely to stop unwanted RMA/support costs. And with their bad QC and QM I can see why they prefer go this route. Dell is also known for doing it this way.

    A damn smart idea to stop you from grabbing last drop of performance increase. This disgusting move from AMD will help you jump on next gen HW before you absolutely need/have to. Well played... AMD. A common denominator into all this --- F. Azor... It seem Azor continue help AMD with good ideas from Dell Alienware era, LOOL
    Reply
  • tamalero
    Papusan said:
    They just follow same paths as they do with their gaming processors. Lock it down as good they can. Most likely to stop unwanted RMA/support costs. And with their bad QC and QM I can see why they prefer go this route. Dell is also known for doing it this way.

    A damn smart idea to stop you from grabbing last drop of performance increase. This disgusting move from AMD will help you jump on next gen HW before you absolutely need/have to. Well played... AMD. A common denominator into all this --- F. Azor... It seem Azor continue help AMD with good ideas from Dell Alienware era, LOOL
    ?
    Their cpus are not locked o_O
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    Sad they had to lock down this and just allow their own (crappy) driver package to manage it. At least there is a way to do it, but probably not very "legit".

    I hope AMD exposes a new way or something for 3rd party tools, if there's no way already. Maybe there is, but in very AMD fashion they just have been very bad at explaining the changes? Maybe?

    Regards.
    Reply
  • russell_john
    Admin said:
    AMD is not planning to unlock the power play tables on RDNA 3 GPUs, limiting overclocking support to its own Adrenalin software.

    No RDNA 3 Up for More Power Tool, Says Developer : Read more

    This is NOT a screw up, it was intentional by AMD to keep people from upping the power and clocks on a 7900 XT so they would run at near the same level as the 7900 XTX like was done with the 5700 non-XT ...... A 7900 XT should clock as high or even higher than a 7900 XTX but it's actually clocked several hundred Hertz less
    Reply
  • Papusan
    tamalero said:
    ?
    Their cpus are not locked o_O
    Locked means the opposite of unlocked🆒


    https://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php/news/hardware/prozessoren/60302-nun-doch-oder-ein-fehler-ryzen-7000x3d-prozessoren-mit-oc-unterstützung.html
    Reply
  • watzupken
    Papusan said:
    Locked means the opposite of unlocked🆒


    https://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php/news/hardware/prozessoren/60302-nun-doch-oder-ein-fehler-ryzen-7000x3d-prozessoren-mit-oc-unterstützung.html
    I thought they explained why they locked overclocking with the 58003DX previously. In any case, Intel have been locking CPUs artificially from OC for decades. I think we should not muddy the water by bringing CPU as a comparison.

    On the GPU side of things, I am not happy with AMD slowly limiting things that we can tinker with for sure. For example, limiting how much the slider can move to overclock either GPU or VRAM is annoying. This is basically to make sure that the product don't cannibalize sale of a more expensive model. In this case, it will likely only impact power users since most people may not tinker their hardware to such an extent.
    Reply
  • 3ogdy
    Isn't there a way for AMD to determine if someone messed with the MPT and void their warranty, instead of locking every enthusiast overclocker out of them?
    Reply
  • KyaraM
    So would MSI Afterburner work (probably not? Maybe?)? AFAIK that's yhe most popular tool for that anyways, right?
    Reply
  • kyzarvs
    KyaraM said:
    So would MSI Afterburner work (probably not? Maybe?)? AFAIK that's yhe most popular tool for that anyways, right?
    Afterburner has been pretty much cancelled as the developers are Russian so under sanction I thought.
    Reply