Maximizing Gaming Performance on AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 Series with AFMF 2 and Variable Graphics Memory

[AMD_Gaming]

AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2 or AFMF 2¹ is our cutting-edge frame generation technology designed to increase frame rate and is now available on AMD Ryzen AI™ 300 series processors through the Technical Preview release driver. Today we will be exploring how AFMF 2, which is part of AMD HYPR-RX², in conjunction with Variable Graphics Memory (VGM), can be used to enhance and maximize gaming performance in AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 series processors. Both AFMF 2 and VGM are integrated into the AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™ application. 

To download the Technical Preview release of AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2 please click here. Coming soon to the mainline release of AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition™. 

AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2 is a significant upgrade to one of our most popular graphics technologies. It adds new optimizations and tunable settings for a better frame generation experience and includes AI-optimized enhancements for excellent quality, low latency, and amazing performance. Since this is a technical preview release, your feedback is welcome.

Once you have installed the Technical Preview driver, turning on AFMF 2 is simple, just head over to the Adrenalin Edition application, click on the Gaming Tab, click on the Graphics Tab, and turn on AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2. This will also turn on AMD Radeon™ Anti Lag³ as it works together with AFMF 2 for the best experience. 

Variable Graphics Memory is a newly introduced feature for AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 series processors. It allows the user to convert up to 75% of the system RAM to “dedicated” graphics memory or “vRAM”. This should not be confused with “shared” graphics memory which is already available in modern AMD processors.

By default, integrated graphics have a “dedicated” graphics allocation of 512 MB and AMD recommends leaving at least 16 GB RAM for the CPU. This means that if you set Variable Graphics Memory (VGM) to “medium”, on a 32 GB system, it will allocate 8 GB from that pool and convert it into 8 GB vRAM for the AMD Radeon™ 890M integrated graphics card after a reboot – an increase of 7.5 GB from the default “dedicated” vRAM allocation of 512 MB.

To turn it on, head over to the “Performance” Tab of the Adrenalin application and select either “Medium” or “High”. Some games are hard coded with minimum vRAM requirements and VGM will allow those games to run as expected on PCs powered by AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 series processors. Variable Graphics Memory can also slightly boost FPS in games that have a lot of memory turnover (by removing overflow from the default allocation of 512 MB)⁴.

Performance will vary depending on the exact game title and settings used and we look forward to hearing feedback from your experience with AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2, VGM and HYPR-RX. On mobility platforms like AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 series processors, AMD recommends first tuning the game settings to be able to maintain an FPS of 50 (1080p) before turning on AFMF 2. Turning on VGM also allows titles like Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy to run on AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 series PCs by fulfilling their minimum vRAM requirement⁵.

Thin and light laptops like the ASUS Zenbook S16 ship with an OLED display with a native resolution of 2880 x 1800. Using AFMF 2, and by lowering the quality preset (and/or the FSR preset), you may be able to achieve more than 60 fps in titles like Far Cry 6, Horizon Zero Dawn™ Complete Edition, F1 23, and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Users should try to adjust the game graphics settings to ensure that the FPS before applying AFMF 2 is not too low, or else the gameplay may become choppy.

So if you want to experience AFMF 2 on your own and get a serious upgrade in gameplay with the click of a button – head over to the Technical Preview Download and give it a spin! Gaming experiences on PCs powered by AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 series processors are better than ever before!

DISCLAIMERS AND FOOTNOTES

©2024 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, Radeon, Ryzen, XDNA, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the US and/or other countries. Other product names used herein are for identification purposes and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

1. AMD Fluid Motion Frames, or AFMF, is a frame generation technology designed to increase frame rates and smooth movement for game winning performance with minimal impact to image quality. AFMF is integrated into AMD Software. AFMF supports AMD Radeon™ RX 6000 and 7000 Series discrete desktop graphics cards, mobile laptop systems with AMD Ryzen™ 7000 and 8000 Series Processors with AMD Radeon™ 700M Series Graphics and AMD Radeon™ RX 6000 and 7000 Series discrete mobile graphics, supported in both hybrid mode and dedicated graphics mode, and AMD Ryzen™ 7000 and 8000 Series mobile and desktop processors with AMD Radeon™ 700M Series Graphics. GD-234A.
   AMD HYPR-RX works on the AMD Radeon RX 7000 Series GPUs and newer or the Ryzen 7040 Series APUs with integrated RDNA 3 graphics and newer. AMD HYPR-RX allows various features within AMD Software interoperate, working at the same time, including Radeon Super Resolution, FidelityFX Super Resolution, Radeon Anti-Lag, Radeon Boost, and AMD Fluid Motion Frames where applicable to select titles. GD-225A.
2. Radeon™ Anti-Lag is compatible with DirectX 9, DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 APIs, and Windows 7/10/11. Hardware compatibility includes Radeon GCN and newer consumer dGPUs, Ryzen 2000 Series and newer APUs, including hybrid and detachable graphics configurations. No mGPU support. GD-157
3. Ryzen™ AI is defined as the combination of a dedicated AI engine, AMD Radeon™ graphics engine, and Ryzen processor cores that enable AI capabilities. OEM and ISV enablement is required, and certain AI features may not yet be optimized for Ryzen AI processors. Ryzen AI is compatible with: (a) AMD Ryzen 7040 and 8040 Series processors except Ryzen 5 7540U, Ryzen 5 8540U, Ryzen 3 7440U, and Ryzen 3 8440U processors; (b) AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series processors, and (c) all AMD Ryzen 8000G Series desktop processors except the Ryzen 5 8500G/GE and Ryzen 3 8300G/GE. Please check with your system manufacturer for feature availability prior to purchase. GD-220C.
4. Testing as of Aug 2024 by AMD. The following game titles were tested with VGM: High and VGM Off. High quality preset, quality FSR, 1080p resolution: F1 2023, Dying Light 2 and Far Cry 6. Results may vary. STX-75.
5. Testing as of Aug 2024 by AMD. Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy will not boot with the default allocation of 512 MB “dedicated” graphics memory on PC’s powered by Ryzen AI™ 300 series processors. Using VGM to increase this to 8GB or beyond may allow the game to boot in certain titles: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Titles such as Horizon Zero Dawn may also show warnings about low vRAM which turning on VGM will also resolve.  Results may vary. STX-74.
6. Testing as of Aug 2024 by AMD. The following game titles were tested with AFMF 2 Technical Preview, VGM: High, 1080p “high” preset settings and “Quality” FSR: F1 23, Far Cry 6, Horizon Zero Dawn, Marvels Guardian of the Galaxy. The following game titles were tested with AFMF 2 Technical Preview, VGM: High, 1080p “low” preset settings and “Balanced” FSR: Cyberpunk 2077. The following game titles were tested with AFMF 2 Technical Preview, VGM: High, 2880x1800 “medium” preset settings and “Balanced” FSR: Horizon Zero Dawn, F1 23, Far Cry 6 and Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy. Configuration for laptops tested: ASUS Zenbook S 16 - AMD Ryzen™ AI 9 HX 370 processor, 16” OLED display, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Windows 11 Pro 24H2 Build 26100.1301. AFMF 2 Technical Preview drivers. Results may vary. STX-73 
7. The blog was updated on 9-12-2024, 12.28 EDT to correct a typo in the slides.