AMD opens Smart Access Memory for Radeon RX 5000 Series

With the Radeon RX 6000 series, AMD can seriously compete with the performance of Nvidia’s Geforce RTX 3000 graphics card, but with the introduction of ray tracing and extra heavy-duty games, it’s not just the traditional screening performance that matters. The DLSS upscaling technology is an example from Nvidia, which AMD countered this summer with the FSR alternative. While the former requires graphics cards in the RTX 2000 or RTX 3000 series, FSR is more permissive.

Giving the processor access to all graphics memory is another trick that AMD and Nvidia have taken, where the companies’ solutions are called Smart Access Memory (SAM) and Resizable BAR, respectively. From exclusivity with the latest generation of graphics cards, AMD now announces that the latest driver introduces SAM for the Radeon RX 5000 graphics cards as well. The driver version is Adrenalin 21.9.1 and can be downloaded through the AMD website or Radeon Software.

In SweClocker’s tests of the Radeon RX 6800 XT, RX 6800, RX 6700 XT and RX 6600 XT, SAM provides performance gains that vary between different game titles and resolutions – from zero impact to several percent up. On average, this is about 3 percent higher frame rate. This also applies to the RX 6600 XT, which is the model that is closest to the top cards in the previous generation in terms of performance. It remains to be seen if systems with RDNA-based graphics cards will see the same performance boost, but just as before, a processor from the Ryzen 3000 series or later is required.

► Resizable BAR – Geforce RTX 3080 mot Radeon RX 6800 XT

The fresh driver usually adds support for fresh games – in this case Deathloop and the beta version of Call of Duty Vanguard. In addition, there are corrected problems and Vulkan add-ons, where those interested can read more on AMD’s website or in the associated comment thread.

Are you using Smart Access Memory or Resizable BAR? Tell us in the comments thread!