RX 9070 XT test cuts Forza load from 48 seconds to 2 seconds with Advanced Shader Delivery

Advanced Shader Delivery cut Forza Horizon 6 initial loading from 48 seconds to 2 seconds on a Radeon RX 9070 XT test system. The r/pcgaming post was 3 days old as of June 16, 2026, placing it inside the seven-day crawler window, and it linked to Tom's Hardware's six-game test of Microsoft's shader delivery system.

The test machine used a PowerColor Red Devil RX 9070 XT, Ryzen 7 9800X3D, 64GB of DDR5-6200 memory, a Crucial T700 Gen5 SSD, Windows 11 25H2 build 26200.8457, and Adrenalin 26.5.2. Tom's Hardware kept settings matched between runs. Because Microsoft does not expose a normal switch for Advanced Shader Delivery, the outlet disabled it by deleting each game's shader files and disconnecting the system from the internet so the Xbox store could not fetch replacements at launch.

Forza Horizon 6 produced the clearest player-facing result. The initial load dropped by roughly 96%, and Tom's Hardware said the first-run shader compilation stutter in the prologue disappeared with the feature enabled. The headline numbers were broad: up to 95% better load times and up to 33% faster 1% low FPS across the tested set. Reddit users quickly narrowed that framing, noting that not all six games improved equally and that the strongest 1% low gains appeared concentrated in a smaller subset of recent games.

The system works by moving shader preparation away from the player's first run. Developers provide shader state data, Microsoft processes it in cloud infrastructure, and the store downloads a matching precompiled shader database for supported hardware. If a game needs a shader not covered by that database, it can fall back to older behavior. In this test, the feature was supported on AMD GPUs; Tom's Hardware also noted that NVIDIA GPU support is expected later.

The r/pcgaming reaction focused on stutter more than raw loading screens. Several commenters said startup waits are annoying but predictable, while sudden frame-time spikes and poor 1% lows affect actual play. Others pointed to practical limits: shader file size, slower internet connections, the current Xbox app or Microsoft Store path, and the need for developers to keep shader data updated after patches. The thread's useful takeaway is narrower than the headline: Advanced Shader Delivery can make first-run PC gaming smoother, but its value depends on store support, hardware coverage, and how completely each game feeds Microsoft the right shader data.