AMD Adrenalin 26.8.1 WHQL Adds RX 9050 4 GB and Three Game Titles

A New Budget Card Gets Its Driver Debut

AMD pushed out its first Adrenalin Edition driver of August on Thursday, and version 26.8.1 WHQL has a fairly clear headline act: official support for the Radeon RX 9050 4 GB. As reported by TechPowerUp, the previous 26.7.1 release already handled the 8 GB variant, so this update fills in the other half of the RX 9050 family. The 4 GB model is reportedly exclusive to OEM-built systems and is expected to land around $279, making it AMD’s entry point into the RDNA 4 generation for buyers who pick up a pre-built rather than rolling their own rig.

That OEM angle shapes what this driver mostly accomplishes. Someone who walks out of a big-box store with a new desktop is not going to hunt down a niche release package. Having WHQL certification and Adrenalin integration means the card is ready to go through standard update channels from day one, which matters a lot more than it sometimes gets credit for.

Three Games Join the Supported List

Beyond hardware, the 26.8.1 release adds game-ready support for three titles: Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, STAR WARS Zero Company, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Open Beta Early Access. That last one is particularly relevant for Radeon users who want to jump into early access weekend warrior sessions without chasing down stability issues on their own. According to AMD’s notes, FSR Upscaling and FSR Frame Generation are technically available in the MW4 beta, though there is a known issue where both features may show as inactive in the Adrenalin software overlay. Anti-Lag 2 has a similar hiccup in Resonance after Frame Generation gets disabled.

Neither of those is a showstopper, but they are the kind of rough edges that show up when driver support and a live beta are shipping at the same time.

The VRAM Warning Worth Paying Attention To

Here is where things get a little awkward for the budget card’s launch story. AMD itself flagged in the release notes that Cyberpunk 2077 recommends a minimum of 6 GB of VRAM, and the RX 9050 4 GB will generate a warning when the game detects only 4 GB available. AMD’s official advice: drop graphics-intensive settings to low or turn them off. For a GPU aimed at entry-level gamers in OEM systems, that is a meaningful limitation on one of the most popular open-world titles still pulling in players.

It does not torpedo the card’s purpose, but it is worth understanding upfront rather than as an unpleasant surprise after the fact.

Bug Fixes and a Starfield Asterisk

On the positive side of the ledger, 26.8.1 resolves several bugs that had been bothering multi-adapter users. Marvel Rivals and Subnautica 2 were failing to launch in combined graphics configurations on RX 7000 series and above, and that is now patched. A startup crash in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III under combined graphics on RX 9000 series hardware is also addressed, as is a recording and replay failure in Adrenalin Edition when no audio output device was selected on Windows 10 with RX 9000 cards.

One known issue without a fix yet: Starfield is seeing intermittent crashes on RX 9000 series products, and AMD’s current recommendation is to revert to 26.7.1 if the problem appears. AMD Smart Access Memory may also disable itself after installation on Windows 10, which is a nuisance for anyone counting on rebar for a performance nudge.

A separate installation caveat applies to users in regions with limited access to HuggingFace and GitHub, where the AI Bundle component installation may fail entirely. That one is more of a regional infrastructure issue than a driver flaw, but it is in the notes.

For Starfield fans on fresh RX 9000 hardware, the calculus right now is a real one: the newer driver brings useful fixes, but it may cost you stability in a game you are actively playing.