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Microsoft Extends Advanced Shader Delivery to AMD RDNA 3 PCs, Cutting First Loads by 95%

Cloud-delivered, hardware-specific shaders skip local compilation to speed first launches.

Overview

  • Microsoft expanded its Advanced Shader Delivery preview to Windows 11 PCs with AMD RDNA 3, 3.5, and 4 GPUs, showing a 4‑second first load for Forza Horizon 6 on a Radeon RX 7600 versus about 1.5 minutes.
  • ASD pulls precompiled shaders from a cloud database matched to each game, GPU, and driver, so the shaders are ready before you hit play.
  • Using it on PC requires the Microsoft Store or Xbox PC app version of a supported game, Xbox Insider enrollment, Windows 11 24H2 or newer, and AMD Adrenalin 26.5.2 drivers.
  • Support is limited during the public preview to select titles, and those games show a brief “Precompiled shaders installed” message at launch.
  • ASD is now part of the DirectX SDK, while Nvidia and Intel offer similar precompiled‑shader features, and Microsoft says broader hardware support is planned in the coming months.