5
Radeon™ VII Drivers and Software
Drivers are small but important programs that enable an operating system to
communicate with a piece of hardware, such as a graphics card. When you install
a new graphics card, you must also install the appropriate Radeon™ VII driver and
configuration software for your card to take full advantage of the capabilities of
your card. You should also reinstall Radeon Software drivers each time you reinstall
or upgrade your operating system. The latest drivers are available from AMD’s
website at http://support.amd.com.
NOTE:
When reinstalling drivers, always uninstall any previous drivers that are on your system, even
if they are for the same graphics card. Always start ‘fresh.’ Included with your driver installation is
Radeon™ Settings which is a software application that lets you control and manage your graphics
product. Use it to configure display, video, and other graphics features such as Radeon FreeSync™.
Display Adapters
Adapters and dongles can be used to connect displays that are not directly
supported by the connection types available on your graphics card. Adapters/
dongles that are not provided with your graphics cards can be purchased from
AMD’s website or through your local AMD resellers. When connecting displays
to a DisplayPort connection, the type of adapter and display that you use may
determine the number of displays that can be used with your graphics card.
• An active adapter allows a non-DisplayPort display to be connected to a
DisplayPort connection using native DisplayPort signals.
• A passive adapter also allows a non-DisplayPort display to be connected to a
DisplayPort connection but using non-DisplayPort signals.
• Transmission of audio and video information between variants of the same
connection type (for example, Mini DisplayPort to standard DisplayPort and vice
versa) are considered to be native connections. More information on the number
and type of displays that can be supported by your graphics card is provided in the
following sections.
