Saturday, February 21st 2026
AMD Seemingly Stops Driver Updates for Ryzen Z1 Extreme Processor
AMD has reportedly stopped driver updates for its Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU solution for handheld consoles, according to the latest Lenovo Korea update. This means that only after 2 and a half years, AMD is pulling support for its SoC, leaving many enthusiasts in a difficult spot. Confirmation from multiple sources are piling up as Reddit users and customers of other handheld consoles are stating that support for their specific devices, based on the Ryzen Z1 Extreme SoC, are also stuck using drivers that are several months old. For example, a user has commented that his ASUS ROG Ally non-X version based on the Ryzen Z1 Extreme SoC has been stuck with six-month-old SoC drivers from August 2025. This means that AMD has effectively placed the Ryzen Z1 and Ryzen Z1 Extreme chips into a periodic update window, with no latest driver support coming to this 2023 SoC.
However, the situation is quite complex. OEMs like Lenovo and ASUS receive drivers from AMD and test them for their specific configurations. AMD offers configurable TDP (cTDP) for the Z1 Extreme with values ranging from 9 to 30 W. This means that OEMs can get a SoC with reduced clocks and power settings to match their desired handheld designs, or simply run the most aggressive 30 W configuration that will sacrifice some battery life but deliver overall higher CPU and GPU clocks. Hence, drivers must be tested to ensure they work properly on the specific TDP configuration by the OEM before they are installed by the user. Finding the "blame" is proving to be difficult, as it could be that AMD is not bothering with new updates, or OEMs are not eager to test their specific configurations.
To find a remedy and try getting the latest drivers, users likely tried installing drivers for the Z2-based Lenovo Legion Go S, but Lenovo recommends against such practices as the drivers are not interchangeable between the two. Installing a different driver might cause system issues, which will not be beneficial for your expensive handheld device. Interestingly, users of the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, which launched in 2025, are experiencing no such issues, and their driver updates continue to be regular. We are waiting for more information about the Ryzen Z1 Extreme, and possibly even an additional statement from AMD or Lenovo.
Sources:
Reddit #1, Reddit #2, DCInside, via VideoCardz
However, the situation is quite complex. OEMs like Lenovo and ASUS receive drivers from AMD and test them for their specific configurations. AMD offers configurable TDP (cTDP) for the Z1 Extreme with values ranging from 9 to 30 W. This means that OEMs can get a SoC with reduced clocks and power settings to match their desired handheld designs, or simply run the most aggressive 30 W configuration that will sacrifice some battery life but deliver overall higher CPU and GPU clocks. Hence, drivers must be tested to ensure they work properly on the specific TDP configuration by the OEM before they are installed by the user. Finding the "blame" is proving to be difficult, as it could be that AMD is not bothering with new updates, or OEMs are not eager to test their specific configurations.
119 Comments on AMD Seemingly Stops Driver Updates for Ryzen Z1 Extreme Processor
Ya know AMD, folks start to get real sensitive and avoidant of being 'early adopters' when you pull this crap.
NtM, when you 'drop' product support unexpectedly early, it's all but an open-admission that there was some kind of deep-seated flaw in the hardware.
Even, If it's really 'not AMD's fault', the optics are terrible. -most of the ammo I see the Anti-AMD crowd dispensing, is poor/short driver support; and, AMD+partners just gave them a big resupply drop.
GCN3.0 Tonga/Antigua is perfectly performance competent for entry-level gaming but, there's 0 modern support on Windows for it.
www.phoronix.com/review/linux-619-amdgpu-radeon
On that note: perhaps, there is still hope for these early AMD64 APU handhelds, in Linux.
uh last I checked seemingly was not a official statement
I'm not affected, but I don't adventure down the unpaved road.
This is absolutely ridiculous. AMD out here advertising that if you run windows (95% of the population) you had better not expect any support of their products.
I'm losing track of how many times AMD have shot their own foot in the last year. Is there anything left or are they shooting their legs now?The last official driver from AMD is from August of 2025. So.......where's the drivers at?
Of course the AMD Defense Force will be here soon, telling us why this is good and why Nvidia sucks.
I’m sorry man.
www.amd.com/en/support/downloads/drivers.html/processors/ryzen/ryzen-8000-series/amd-ryzen-5-8500g.html
Problem is their biggest competitor hands out 10+ years of support and has dominant marketshare in the industry, and these actions will only serve to reduce their already dwindling market presence.Anti consumer practices do attract a large amount of scrutiny.
The other company, Intel, hasn't had a good track record of long update support.
www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000101986/graphics.html
AMD's been scaling down product support for very much current - and reasonable capable - architectures. Like, there was no real need to put RDNA 2 down the dumps, but they've done it anyway. I wanna see how are they gonna deal with the mess they put themselves into by releasing 3 different drivers with completely different code bases under the same name, knowing full well they can't keep the charade forever.
Oh well, I've a good supply of popcorn.
If only people had gotten this upset over Intel discontinuing driver support for Xe iGPU's, some CPU's with Xe graphics only being 1 year old.
The z1/e run rDNA 3 which is still supposedly fully supported. There is no excuse for not updating their drivers.Before you fall on your own spear to meat shield a multi billion dollar corpo, where are AMDs driver updates? Why has it been 6 months since AMD updated them? Do you think Lenovo and ASUS want this kind of negative attention for the lulz?
AMD not providing drivers IS their fault.Yes, AMD required OEMs to write drivers for first and second gen ryzen APUs, which directly caused their non existent adoption rate and forced AMD to support their hardware properly.
And then there's whatever the fuck AMD seems to be doing. Just make a goddamn generic driver package that works across the board with everything. Have mainstream RDNA2 supported? Then I should be fucking able to install the generic Radeon driver package on anything packing RDNA2, whether that's a GPU, an IGP, or some embedded-variant thing.