Adrenalin custom tuning profile logic explained
So... Adrenalin is far from perfect. The lack of feedback from it can make you get incredibly confused sometimes.
I've run some testing on custom tuning profiles for games (undervolt, clocks, vram settings etc...you know, that section), just to sort out what's really happening, and I've come to the following conclusions:
If no profile exists for a game, it will use the Global profile.
If a custom profile exists for an application, the hierarchy as I've read it will prioritize that profile. BUT this is where the confusion comes in, and here's what really happens:
Adrenalin temp-copies your custom Game settings, and applies them to the Global profile, while your original Global profile settings are temporarily stowed elsewhere. The original Global profile is restored once your game terminates.
If you open the overlay while your game is running:
- Changes made to the Global profile will apply directly in-game when you click 'Apply', but will not be saved.
- Changes made to the Game profile will not apply directly in-game, but will be saved, and temp-copied to the Global profile next time you launch the game.
So in other words, the way you might think it works at first is that when you start a game, it runs the settings directly from your Game profile. But it doesn't!
Settings always operate from the Global profile, and your custom profiles are just what it copies from when it detects your game.
This is one of the shortcomings of Adrenalin. It doesn't tell you what it's doing, or what profile is being applied. You have to experiment with external applications figure out which settings are currently applied. Messy!
I hope this helps someone. I'm just glad I finally figured it out, and I haven't seen anyone else write about this anywhere.
TL;DR:
I AM HELPING YOU FOR FREE, THIS IS NOT CRITICISM, THIS IS HELP AND WILL MAKE YOU SMART AND COOL.