26. 2 is now at the center of a live user backlash after players who moved from driver 25. 9. 1 to the latest 26. 2. 2 build described sudden frame-rate collapses and freezes. Affected owners of the RX 9070 XT say the problem appeared while running a demanding title at high settings, with power draw readings fluctuating wildly. The pattern of complaints surfaced inside the r/radeon community and in direct messages from one user who tested the issue.
26. 2 Fallout: RX 9070 XT Owners Complain
Community reports show the most acute cases involve the RX 9070 XT. A user identified as hanari1, identified as an AMD user and member of the r/radeon community, wrote that after updating from 25. 9. 1 to 26. 2. 2 the graphics card experienced a marked performance drop while playing Resident Evil Requiem at maximum graphics and 1440p resolution. hanari1 described the card as working “absolutely flawlessly” before the update and then suffering “constant freezes and unstable frame rate” after installing 26. 2. 2.
Testing notes supplied by hanari1 list abnormal power consumption as the primary malfunction: readings that had been stable around 300W began to spike and dip between roughly 300W and 80W, a swing the user said prevented the GPU from maintaining steady operation. The system was said to be running at stock settings, without overclocking or undervolting, and powered by an XPG Core Reactor II 850W power unit paired with a 9800X3D processor.
Installer Notes and User Testing
The release process around 26. 2. 2 includes terse installer guidance that the update “should only take a few seconds, ” with an invitation for users to reach out if they encounter problems. Users experiencing instability describe the failure mode as immediate and repeatable when the updated driver is active in the demanding test scenario named above. Complaints in the r/radeon community have gained visibility as more owners shared similar experiences following the same upgrade path.
Available details are narrow and technical: the reports focus on one GPU model and one recent driver build, the transition path from 25. 9. 1 to 26. 2. 2, a specific game at specified settings, and a consistent symptom set centered on erratic power draw and frozen or unstable frames. At this stage there is no broader hardware or system-level claim beyond the configurations described by affected users.
What Comes Next
Expect continued community testing and more firsthand accounts from owners who upgraded. Impacted users are already providing logs and playback details inside community threads and direct messages; those data points will determine whether the issue is isolated to particular system configurations or reproducible across more setups. Device owners seeking immediate relief may choose to revert to the prior driver noted in the reports, while those investigating the problem should preserve diagnostic captures and power-telemetry readouts for review.
As this situation develops, updates will depend on follow-up technical notes from the driver package and further confirmations from affected users and testers.
