AMD warns its RX 9070 GPUs are strictly UEFI-only and if that sounds worrying, dont panic, it probably doesnt affect you

Date:
Tue, 04 Mar 2025 11:03:28 +0000

Description:
AMDs new RDNA 4 graphics cards will only support UEFI, and well explain exactly what this means for your gaming PC.

FULL STORY ======================================================================AMD
says its new RDNA 4 GPUs will only support UEFI This means compatibility
modes on older motherboards are now ruled out Only a seriously niche set of gamers with very old PCs will be affected

AMDs new RDNA 4 graphics cards will only support UEFI officially, which is
the modern take on the BIOS, the company has made clear.

As you may be aware, the BIOS is the firmware on your motherboard thats necessary for your computer to boot up and work, facilitating communication between the hardware components and the software operating system. And as mentioned, the UEFI is just the most recent spin on this (though it should be noted, it has been around for a long time at this point).

AMD tells us: To fully leverage the benefits of UEFI, only UEFI Mode will be officially supported starting from the AMD RDNA 4 generation of graphics
cards (Radeon RX 9000 Series Graphics and later).

So, in short, your PC will need to be running in full UEFI mode, and not a legacy compatibility mode (known as CSM or Compatibility Support Module)
which is an alternative on non-UEFI motherboards that some folks have used to run AMD graphics card on older hardware.

Team Red also outlines the benefits of UEFI firmware compared to legacy (pre-UEFI) BIOS firmware, which includes the following boons: Greatly
improved security Fully specified interfaces that ensure interoperability and testability Dependable firmware updates from the internet with minimal user interaction Support for hard drives larger than 2.2TB Support for many new types of PC hardware, including NVMe SSD boot support Windows Secure Boot for malware prevention Faster shutdown, startup, sleep, and resume times (Image credit: Shutterstock / DC Studio) Analysis: What does this mean for would-be RX 9070 buyers in practical terms?

If youre confused at this point, dont worry. Any modern PC will support UEFI and will be fine with a new RDNA 4 graphics card (the RX 9070 models are
about to land , of course). You may, however, need to enable UEFI mode and AMDs FAQ on this matter provides a full explainer on how to do so.

If youve got a Windows 11 PC, it requires UEFI anyway note the Windows
Secure Boot feature AMD mentioned above, well, thats required for better security on Windows 11 machines. (I should note that while Secure Boot is
part of Microsofts official Windows 11 system requirements , its possible to fudge your way around it, but its not recommended).

Those with a PC so old it doesnt offer a full UEFI mode on the motherboard
are not likely to be wanting to run a cutting-edge GPU in the system anyway. There may be some niche cases where this happens, mind you, which is why AMD is issuing this warning but the vast majority of folks dont have to worry here. They simply must ensure that they are running full UEFI mode (very likely the case), not a legacy compatibility mode with their motherboard firmware.

Indeed, an RX 9070 GPU may even work with said legacy mode, but as its officially unsupported now, you can expect flakiness of all kinds and a generally poor experience (and some key features will certainly be missing, like SAM or Smart Access Memory ).

Via VideoCardz You might also like... Nvidia retiring PhysX for its RTX 5000 GPUs has made some gamers furious - but I don't think it's a complete dealbreaker New Nvidia drivers should fix a major RTX 50 series GPU issue AMD vs Nvidia : who is the graphics card champion?



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/gpu/amd-warns-its-rx-9070-gpus-are-strictl y-uefi-only-and-if-that-sounds-worrying-dont-panic-it-probably-doesnt-affect-y ou


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