How AMD FineWine Continues to Outperform Expectations This Year
If you’ve been following GPU performance trends over the past few years, you might remember the term “Fine Wine” — a fan-coined phrase used to describe how AMD Radeon graphics cards often get faster over time through driver updates.
That’s right — unlike some hardware that only gets slower with age, many Radeon GPUs have historically improved in performance thanks to ongoing software optimizations. And guess what? In 2025, this trend is still going strong.
Back in 2023, we looked into AMD’s claims about better ray tracing performance with the 23.2.1 driver update — and found some impressive results. Even earlier, in 2022, DirectX 11-specific improvements gave users up to a 34% performance boost in certain games.
Now, nearly two years later, new testing shows that the latest drivers are continuing this tradition — especially for AMD’s high-end RDNA 4 GPUs.
The Latest Test: RX 9070 XT Gets a Big Boost
Recent tests conducted by popular YouTube channel Hardware Unboxed compared the performance of the Radeon RX 9070 XT using two different drivers:
- The original launch driver
- The newer Adrenalin 25.6.3 driver
The results were surprising — even for those who expected some level of improvement.
Some games saw massive jumps , with gains typically seen between generations of GPUs.
Biggest Gains Seen in Spider-Man Remastered and Counter-Strike 2
Two titles stood out for their dramatic improvements:
- Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered : +27% average FPS
- Counter-Strike 2 : +23% average FPS
Those kinds of numbers are usually associated with moving from one GPU generation to the next — not just a driver update.
Other games also showed solid improvements:
- Hogwarts Legacy : +12%
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 : +11%
- Delta Force : +10%
- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty : +7%
Even Starfield , which had the smallest gain, still saw a +5% increase — nothing to sneeze at.
Of course, not every game got faster — so while the trend is clear, results can vary depending on title optimization and engine behavior.
Why Are Drivers Making Such a Difference?
You might be wondering: How can a simple driver update make such a big impact?
There are a few possible reasons:
- Reduced CPU overhead : Newer drivers may communicate more efficiently with the processor, freeing up resources.
- Better use of RDNA 4 architecture : As AMD continues to refine its drivers, they may unlock features or efficiencies that weren’t fully utilized at launch.
- Game engine changes : Sometimes, the games themselves change (via patches or new versions), and updated drivers help bridge the gap between hardware and software.
It’s likely a combination of all these factors — and maybe more.
What This Means for Gamers and Power Users
For anyone using an RDNA 3 or RDNA 4 GPU, this means there’s value in staying up to date with driver releases. If you bought your card early and haven’t updated in months, you could be missing out on serious performance gains.
And if you’re considering an AMD GPU for the first time, know that you might not be getting the full potential of the hardware until you’ve installed the latest drivers.
Conclusion: Fine Wine Ages Well
Five years ago, people joked that AMD GPUs “aged like fine wine.” Now, in 2025, that saying feels more accurate than ever.
With each major driver release, Radeon GPUs continue to surprise — proving that sometimes, performance isn’t just about the silicon you buy, but the software that powers it.
Want to see these improvements for yourself?
Check for the latest Adrenalin drivers and give them a try — you might be surprised how much faster your system runs.
