AMD Link continues to revolutionize gamers’ experience with AMD. Since its first release in 2017, it has added value and features to all Radeon Software users. AMD Link, brings with it big features including game streaming*, with support for Android TV and tvOS, bringing Radeon Gaming to the living room, performance monitoring, and more.
Here are some things that you can do with AMD Link:
Play Games Anywhere!
AMD Link’s ability to stream your games to your favorite devices just got better this year. You can stream your favorite games to your device, regardless of whether you are inside your house connected to your WIFI, or outside by using an internet connection.
Getting started is easy. First, connect to your Radeon GPU-based PC locally, as you normally do. This means enable the AMD Link server from Settings -> Devices. A good tip is to also enable Record Desktop in Settings -> General, in order to enable features like taking screenshots, recording videos, etc. When you first connect to your Radeon GPU-based PC, a profile will be created for easy access. After you disconnect go to the brand-new Radeon Software, in Settings -> Devices. Make sure the profile you just created is there, and right click on it. You will see a menu; select “Make Internet-Enabled”. You will see a globe icon replacing the home icon; this means the profile is now able to connect via an Internet connection; not just locally.
Then it’s as easy as selecting AMD Link and launching it. The profile icon in the app will be updated and will show a globe in front of it – this means that when you tap on it, it will give you the choice to either connect via the Internet, or via a local connection.
Use Your Mobile Device as Secondary Screen
AMD Link is a very good tool to see your performance metrics, and this functionality continues to be popular with our users. This means that you can have your phone charging beside your gaming monitor, launch AMD Link, connect to your PC (go to Performance -> Metrics) and monitor live. With the Performance Monitoring function there you see various useful metrics for your PC like RAM utilization, CPU utilization, GPU clocks* and others. You can customize which metrics you want to see from Settings -> Performance. Choose the ones you want to see (if you are playing a game, you will also see the FPS your game is getting at any given time) and play your game without any distracting overlays in front of your screen.
View Your Media on your Device
AMD Link supports phones, tablets and of course TVs – so why not take advantage of that? If you want to watch a movie on your PC, but you’d prefer to do it from the comfort of your own bed, its easy. You can simply load AMD Link, go to the Gaming tab and tap on the Start Streaming icon at the top. This will immediately start streaming your Windows desktop. Which means you can simply load the movie full screen in your favorite media player and watch it on your device. Easy! If you want to watch the movie on your smart TV instead, load up AMD Link for TV and do the exact same thing to see the movie on a big screen.
Apart from these cool features, here are some of the things AMD Link can do that you probably never thought of:
Benchmarking your Games
Benchmarking your game to see what kind of performance you’re getting is something all gamers have done at some point or another, and AMD LINK can help. When you are at the point you want to benchmark, load AMD Link on your phone and connect to your Radeon GPU-based PC. After that, go to Performance -> FPS. You can tap on “Start Capturing”, and the app will start keeping tabs of your FPS while playing the game. To stop, tap on “Stop Capturing”. When you do that, you will see your average FPS for that session, plus your minimum and maximum FPS. You can repeat that as many times as you want, which is very useful if you are using Radeon Software to experiment with the various performance features Radeon software users are enjoying.
Fully Customize your On-Screen Controls
On-screen controls are a very convenient way to play games, and more and more people are using them instead of traditional controllers. AMD Link has full support for on-screen controls, but did you know you can customize them? In the AMD Link Settings, there’s a dedicated menu of controllers. Tap, and you will see all the controllers in your AMD Link app. By tapping on the plus icon, you can create a new on-screen controller. This is extremely useful because different games have different HUDs, which means on-screen controls can be in the way. You can of course customize, not only the placement of buttons, but their size, their opacity and you can add or remove as many buttons as you want.
Disclaimers
* AMD’s product warranty does not cover damages caused by overclocking, even when overclocking is enabled via AMD hardware and/or software. GD-26
*Game streaming requires phone or tablet which supports Android 5.0 and greater or iOS 11 and greater. For TV support, Apple TV 4th and 5th generation running tvOS 12.x and greater, or Android TV 5.1 and greater are required. Streaming at 4K requires 4K capable streaming hardware and is compatible with: AMD Radeon GCN-based discrete graphics and newer. Supports Windows 7 and 10. Game Streaming available anywhere there is a high-speed internet connection. For local profiles, all devices must be on the same local network. For internet streaming capability, your router must allow port forwarding and your PC must not be behind a network configuration that hinders connectivity. Controllers must be compatible with selected game and headset, please consult vendor for compatibility information.
Anna Fieger is a Product Marketing Coordinator for AMD. Her postings are his/her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. GD-5
