As many people know, the gaming experience one has on a notebook isn't always the best, especially on small and compact form factors. Whether it’s sub-optimal performance, or lack of various features, serious gamers have typically avoided using notebooks to play unless it was their only option.
Luckily, things are beginning to change. Notebooks are starting to achieve levels of performance never thought of five years ago. Advanced process nodes are allowing companies to squeeze more transistors on to a single package and smart architecture designs are bringing more IPC to mobile processors to deliver the types of performance needed to drive today’s games at levels that gamers can appreciate.
In addition to innovations in individual pieces of hardware, breakthroughs in platform level performance enhancements have been achieved with features such as AMD’s SmartShift Technology, which utilizes machine learning algorithms to automatically boost performance to the CPU or GPU, depending on the demands of the application being used. SmartShift effectively provides gamers with up to 14% uplift in performance by transferring unused power from the CPU over to the graphics card, allowing it to punch above its weight. 1
Above Image: AMD SmartShift Technology – Learn More
The one thing that ties great user experience and performance together, is software. Having hardware on its own is useless without the optimizations in performance and a comprehensive feature set that only software can deliver. Up until recently, notebook gamers have been left out in the cold while desktop gamers enjoyed advanced features and capabilities designed to get the best gaming experiences. This wide disparity between notebook and desktop has been significantly narrowed today. AMD’s Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition closes that gap, delivering those same great desktop features over to notebooks.
These include:
Radeon Image Sharpening – a feature that uses a complex Contrast Adaptive Sharpening (CAS) algorithm to deliver crisp, detailed visuals with no impact on performance. This is especially helpful for people who lower resolutions to get extra performance. By enabling Radeon Image Sharpening after lowering the resolution, the change in visual quality will be barely noticeable.2 Learn More
Radeon Anti-Lag – lag can often be the difference between killing and getting killed in a first-person shooter. Having that extra bit of responsiveness between the time a person presses a button to the resulting action showing up on screen, is crucial in a competitive gaming environment. The Radeon Anti-Lag feature can reduce this click-to-screen time substantially and deliver the rapid response a gamer craves.3 Learn More
Radeon Chill – bring cool and quiet frames to your games with this gameplay adaptive power saving feature. This feature dynamically regulates framerate based on your in-game movements and sets min/max caps to your FPS to help save power. (Note: Enabling Radeon Chill will disable Radeon Anti-Lag.) Learn More
Radeon Boost – this feature takes advantage of the fact that while a gamer is spinning a character around in a game looking for a target, the gamer is not paying attention to the small visual details while the character changes focus from one object to another. During this motion between objects, Radeon Boost dynamically lowers the in-game resolution by up to 50% to deliver faster performance for a more responsive feel.4 Learn More
AMD FreeSync - AMD FreeSync technology puts an end to choppy gameplay and broken frames with fluid, artifact-free performance at virtually any framerate. This feature can be enabled on notebooks that have a FreeSync capable panel included.5 Learn More
With the capabilities and performance of AMD powered notebooks today, coupled with advanced features and optimized performance of Radeon Software, gamers will have little issue with gaming on the go.
Discover more about Radeon Software
Warren Eng is the Product Marketing Manager for Radeon Software at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied. GD-5
- Testing done by AMD performance labs 12/20/2019 on Ryzen 7 4800H and Radeon RX 5600M using the Cinebench benchmark test with SmartShift ON vs. OFF. PC manufacturers may vary configurations yielding different results. Performance may vary. RM-007
- Radeon Image Sharpening is compatible with DirectX 11, 12, & Vulkan APIs and DirectX 9 for RX 5000 Series only, and Windows 10. Hardware compatibility includes GCN and newer consumer dGPUs, Ryzen 2000 and newer APUs, including hybrid and detachable graphics configurations. No mGPU support. Certain features require Adrenalin 2020 or later. GD-156
- Radeon Anti-Lag is compatible with DirectX 9, DirectX 11, DirectX 12 and Vulkan APIs; Windows 7 and 10. Hardware compatibility includes GCN and newer consumer dGPUs and Ryzen 2000 and newer APUs, including hybrid and detachable graphics configurations. No mGPU support. Certain features require Adrenalin 2020 or later. GD-157
- Radeon Boost is compatible with Windows 7 and 10 in select titles only. Hardware compatibility includes RX 400 and newer consumer dGPUs, Ryzen 2000 and newer APUs, including hybrid and detachable graphics configurations. No mGPU support. Certain features require Adrenalin 2020 or later. For a list of compatible titles see https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/radeon-boost. GD-158
- AMD FreeSync technology requires AMD Radeon graphics and a display that supports FreeSync technology as certified by AMD. AMD FreeSync Premium technology adds requirements of mandatory low framerate compensation and at least 120 Hz refresh rate at minimum FHD. AMD FreeSync Premium Pro technology adds requirements for the display to meet AMD FreeSync Premium Pro compliance tests. See www.amd.com/freesync for complete details. Confirm capability with your system manufacturer before purchase. GD-127
