This GPU was the bargain of the century, then AMD pulled the rug

If you happen to’ve been following tech information, you’ve in all probability seen AMD step on a rake. The corporate introduced it was pulling game-ready driver help for its RDNA 1 and a couple of GPUs by placing them in “maintenance mode.”

After a wave of backlash, AMD walked issues again with a new announcement, promising two devoted driver branches for RDNA 1/2 and RDNA 3/4. All of this can be a messy saga, and I’m not shopping for any of it. AMD’s first assertion says extra in regards to the firm’s future plans than any harm management ever might. Fairly frankly, I am upset.

Why did I purchase a used AMD RX 6800 XT?

Up to now eight years, I’ve been a devoted AMD fan. All my hard-earned money went into constructing and upgrading first the AM4 platform, and now the AM5 platform.

AMD’s {hardware} has usually supplied higher worth and extra constant firmware and software program help, so I used to be more than pleased to vote with my pockets.

Credit score: Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek

Options like AFMF2, Anti-Lag 2, and FSR 3.1, making it to older playing cards, have been normal follow for AMD. However the launch of FSR 4 earlier this 12 months, unique to RDNA 4, hinted at a shift.

With a easy driver mod, FSR 4 can run on older playing cards, together with my RDNA 2-based RX 6800 XT and newer RDNA 3 GPUs was maybe the primary warning that AMD wasn’t as pro-consumer as I’d believed.

That’s why I went for an all-AMD construct: higher worth, additional options like Anti-Lag when each CPU and GPU are AMD, strong software program, and the notion of being the “individuals’s different” to NVIDIA and Intel. Or so I assumed.

Anyway, the RDNA 2 GPUs used within the AMD RX 6000 sequence graphics playing cards are nonetheless completely able to dealing with trendy video video games. My RX 6800 XT is a powerhouse of a card that I purchased used for less than round $350 earlier this 12 months.

Credit score: Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek

I’ve already gamed for tons of of hours on it, together with ending God of War Ragnarök and the notoriously demanding The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.

All of this gaming was carried out on a 1440p monitor and a 4K TV. Naturally, I used FSR and frame generation to squeeze essentially the most frames out of it, however the efficiency was nonetheless greater than ample.

In each video games, I used to be getting near or above 100 FPS at principally excessive settings, which is phenomenal efficiency for an inexpensive, comparatively outdated card. RDNA 2 is much from out of date when it comes to uncooked processing energy. In reality, the RX 6800 XT is almost equivalent to the RDNA 3-based 7800 XT, which was nonetheless going to see help in accordance with AMD’s preliminary announcement.

You would even purchase choose RDNA 2 playing cards brand-new till earlier this 12 months, and the chips are utilized in hundreds of thousands of consoles and handhelds, together with the PlayStation 5/5 Professional, Xbox Collection S/X, Steam Deck, and the ROG Xbox Ally that was simply launched.

I all the time thought I might simply improve to a greater GPU a few years down the road, as soon as this one felt too underpowered for my wants.

I do not purchase AMD’s justification for pulling help

Credit score: Lucas Oliveira de Gouveia / AMD

As Tom’s {Hardware} originally reported, AMD pulled help for RDNA 1/2 GPUs “to be able to give attention to optimizing and delivering new and improved applied sciences for the most recent GPUs.” I don’t purchase it. Even NVIDIA, with its monumental enterprise-focused enterprise, nonetheless allocates sources to help older playing cards with game-ready drivers.

For context, NVIDIA additionally ended game-ready support in October 2025 for older playing cards just like the GTX 700, 900, and 10 sequence, however these are a lot older. The GTX 10 sequence (Pascal) launched in mid-2016, so ending help for them is much extra affordable.

By comparability, AMD needed to finish help for RDNA 2 playing cards that launched in late 2020, with some fashions releasing even later. It’s not a superb look. AMD is enjoying second fiddle to NVIDIA, but as a substitute of bettering ongoing help to reward loyal customers, it does the precise reverse.

Credit score: Lucas Gouveia/How-To Geek

With this latest fiasco, AMD really shot itself in the foot in terms of shopper belief. The corporate backtracked and promised updates, however the “recreation optimization updates as required by market wants” assertion does not encourage confidence in any respect.

In reality, I additionally assume the language used within the clarification for continued help on older playing cards sounds a bit like gaslighting.

AMD mentioned it desires to clear up “confusion” and that goes on to clarify that we’re all “a part of the identical gaming group and each Radeon gamer issues.”

I do not find out about you, however this simply does not sit proper with me. An trustworthy admittance and apology would’ve been extra passable.

This transfer feels unprecedented

If you happen to’re questioning why this early help termination is so regarding, there are a number of causes. At the start, the entry value for gaming {hardware} has by no means been larger. Whether or not you play on a handheld, console, or PC, you need to spend tons of of {dollars} on a brand new system earlier than you possibly can even begin shopping for video games.

On the similar time, the low- and mid-end value vary has by no means been higher. For round $800, you possibly can construct a extremely succesful machine with a strong older RX 5000 or 6000 sequence graphics card and play practically any recreation.

Credit score: Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek

Nonetheless, with the chance of AMD (or NVIDIA/Intel) pulling game-ready driver help early, this implies your newly acquired {hardware} might be made out of date in only a few years.

Whereas sticking to older video games is an choice, it isn’t truthful. Sport optimizations can repair main bugs and considerably enhance efficiency. If AMD went by way of with this transfer, it will have made hundreds of thousands of RX 5000 and 6000 sequence playing cards out of date, regardless that these GPUs are nonetheless fully capable of operating the most recent releases. Living proof, my RX 6800 XT matches or beats the 9060 XT in lots of video games.

Think about shopping for a barely used automotive, just for the producer to announce they’re ending upkeep, efficiency, and have updates after 5 years, regardless that the automotive is virtually new. That’s the danger AMD posed. Pulling game-ready drivers early creates a man-made limitation designed to push loyal prospects into shopping for new playing cards earlier than mandatory.

Beforehand, AMD ended support in 2023 for Polaris (RX 400/500) and RX Vega GPUs, launched in 2016 and 2017. That state of affairs additionally wasn’t nice, nevertheless it nonetheless felt totally different.

Credit score: Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek

These playing cards have been now not offered new for years, they usually have been considerably much less highly effective in 2023 in comparison with the RX 5000 and 6000 sequence in 2025. Plus, additionally they acquired a full 12 months (or two) of help.

An early end-of-life like this has worrying implications not just for graphics playing cards however for the AM5 platform as properly. Only a few weeks in the past, I praised AMD for its glorious long-term platform help and for releasing new last-gen hardware for budget-minded customers.

I firmly consider that {hardware} ought to obtain one of the best software program help potential till it is actually out of date. Fingers crossed that AMD discovered its lesson and that different corporations are taking notes.