# AMD graphics drivers

9 Hacker News commenters recommended AMD graphics drivers and 10 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Praised for working open source Linux drivers that are the safer bet. Critics report buggy Windows drivers with crashes and timeouts.

## Why people recommend it

- Open source drivers, well maintained (5 comments): "AMD on the other hand is amazingland and works perfectly, officially supported and maintained open source driver." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46447193)) "You need to use the open source drivers. As far as I know these should be the default on all distros" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46463460)) "AMD is just the only one that has really good open source drivers which can benefit from it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49378143))
- Built into distros, works out of box (2 comments): "You need to use the open source drivers. As far as I know these should be the default on all distros" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46463460)) "use the builtin AMD drivers, you shouldn't have to touch those" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46578708))
- Safer bet than Nvidia (2 comments): "Of course AMD is still the safer bet" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46799741)) "AMD seems to do it the best" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46307744))

## What people warn about

- Buggy, crash-prone drivers (5 comments): "AMD drivers were buggy, so even when their cards were more performant at the same price point, folks opted for NVIDIA for reliability." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47965234)) "What I actually rage quit Windows over was AMD graphics drivers and a couple of my video games crashing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48540085)) "AMD drivers are beyond terrible and you'll experience frequent timeouts." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46161804))
- Less reliable than Nvidia drivers (3 comments): "AMD drivers were buggy, so even when their cards were more performant at the same price point, folks opted for NVIDIA for reliability." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47965234)) "the AMD drivers cause far more trouble than the nVidia ones ever do" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48364829)) "AMD's drivers are noticeably more buggy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46573873))
- Windows auto-updates and support issues (2 comments): "only to get your support dropped after 2(two!) years of shoddy drivers is just unbearable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49099277)) "the Windows AMD drivers auto-updated and stopped working" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48925549))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [NVIDIA proprietary Linux drivers](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nvidia-proprietary-linux-drivers.md): 40 recommend
- [Mesa](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mesa.md): 30 recommend
- [Nvidia drivers](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nvidia-drivers.md): 25 recommend
- [amdgpu driver](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amdgpu.md): 15 recommend
- [Nouveau driver](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nouveau.md): 8 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "AMD graphics drivers", https://hackerapproved.com/p/amd-graphics-drivers/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).