On March 17, AMD's latest version of the adrenaline graphics card driver was officially launched. After integrating and upgrading many functions, what kind of gaming experience can this new driver, which AMD calls "Big Bang 8", bring us? Let's take a look at MC.
The latest version of the adrenaline graphics driver, named "Big Bang 8", includes two major updates - the official implementation of AMD Radeon Super Resolution (RSR) technology, and AMD Link has been further upgraded. At the same time, AMD's famous Radeon Anti-Lag, Radeon Boost and Radeon Image Sharpening technologies have not fallen behind. The following MC first takes you to understand AMD RSR.
The new driver installation still offers 3 installation types, which players can choose according to their actual needs.
Radeon Software's home page UI is designed to be simple and straightforward, and the various functional areas are clear at a glance.
RSR Introduction and Experience
Essentially, RSR is a super-resolution image upgrade technology based on Radeon graphics cards and based on FSR. The advantage is that it not only incorporates the strong compatibility of FSR, but also directly into the AMD graphics driver, so the technology does not require additional support for the game. AmD also said that RSR can provide a game experience close to native resolution, with excellent image quality, and the technology can support thousands of games and can bring up to 70% frame rate improvement to games. At present, radeon RX 5000 series standalone GPUs and updated GPUs support RSR, considering the excellent hardware compatibility of this technology, it may also be possible to implement support for Radeon RX 500 or even Radeon RX 400 series graphics cards.
How to enable RSR
RSR is very simple to start and use, players only need to open RSR in Radeon Software, the first time you enable the function, the software will provide a very convenient wizard, through which players can understand what RSR is and how to turn on the function correctly.
Once RSR is turned on, the player can enter the game. It should be noted that the game resolution needs to be lower than the monitor's original resolution (otherwise RSR will not be enabled properly), and then RSR will automatically upgrade the game resolution to the monitor's original resolution. Specifically, if you're using a 4K (3840×2160) resolution monitor, you can set the game resolution to 1080p (1920×1080) or 1440p (2560×1440), and RSR can automatically upgrade the game resolution to 4K.
At present, some games on the market do not provide full-screen mode, but instead have a bezel-less full-screen mode. At this point, the player can lower the display resolution in the Windows settings (lower than the original resolution of the monitor), and RSR can also upgrade the game resolution to the original resolution of the monitor.
Using Alt+R to invoke the sidebar, players can view the working status of RSR in the game.
To ensure that RSR is enabled properly, players can always use Alt+R to invoke the sidebar and check the working status of RSR in the game profile as well as information that is enabled and working. Not only that, but every time the player starts the game, the notification in the upper right corner of the screen can also show whether RSR is normally enabled.
After entering the game, the player can also check the working status of RSR in the upper right corner of the screen, if the RSR is not working properly, please confirm that the relevant settings are correct.
RSR game frame rate test
As we mentioned earlier, RSR can bring considerable game frame rate improvements. So how big is the specific improvement? For this, we have selected 6 games including Borderlands 3, Dust 5, and Tomb Raider: Shadow. In this test, we used a 4K resolution display with AMD Radeon RX 6800XT graphics, Intel Core i9-12900K processor, DDR5 5200 32GB dual-channel memory as the core of the test platform. In the game frame rate testing session, we will first test the game frame rate at 4K native resolution when RSR is turned off, and then turn on RSR, and test the game frame rate at game resolutions of 1080p and 1440p respectively, so as to compare the increase brought by RSR to the game frame rate.
Test platform at a glance
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 6800XT
Processor: Intel Core i9-12900K
Memory: DDR5 5200 32GB dual channel
Motherboard: Z690
Display: AORUS FO48U
Judging from our measured results, RSR can indeed bring a very significant increase in the frame rate of the game. For example, after turning on RSR, when the game resolution of Tomb Raider: Shadow is set to 1440p, the average frame rate of the game running on the test platform is 153fps, which is about 78% higher than the game frame rate at native 4K resolution, and when the resolution of this game is lowered to 1080p, the game frame rate can reach 206fps, which is increased by 140% on the basis of the native 4K resolution. Through our test results, we can also see that the frame rate improvement brought by RSR in different games is different, which is also expected.
RSR game quality testing
Some players may ask: How does RSR perform in terms of image quality? That's also an aspect that we care about very much. Therefore, in the three games of Borderlands 3, Myst (Mysterious Island) and Tomb Raider: Shadow, we intercepted the game screen under the three settings of native 4K resolution, RSR@1440p, RSR@1080p, etc., in order to examine the performance of RSR in terms of picture quality.
Judging from the game screenshot of the scene "Myst (Mysterious Island)", after the RSR is enabled, the quality of the entire game screen is less affected when the game resolution is 1440p and 1080p.
After enlarging the screenshots of the three games "Borderlands 3", "Myst (Mysterious Island)" and "Tomb Raider: Shadow", the impact on the picture quality after RSR is enabled is still visible to the naked eye, but the loss of details is relatively small, and basically will not bring a more obvious impact on the player's game experience.
AMD Link: All-round upgrade
Another major update to AMD's adrenaline graphics driver released today is AMD Link. The new version of AMD Link was designed with the current socially connected, mobile-first world in mind, and gamer-centric, and introduced the ability to stream AMD-powered PCs to players' mobile devices, smart TVs, or Windows devices powered by Radeon graphics cards. Another feature of AMD Link is the "Link Game" (i.e. link game). This feature allows other players to connect to your PC and allows other players' devices to become a second controller for your PC, so you can enjoy playing with other players in games that support local multiplayer collaboration. It's also easy to implement this, you just need to share the link code provided on your PC with your teammates, and even if your teammates are thousands of miles away, with the help of AMD Link, the teammates seem to be around.
AMD Link is supported not only for PCs, but also for smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs. Among them, the PC needs to install Windows 10 and later, and the smartphone system needs to run iOS 12.0 or Android 7.0 and later. For a well-received smart TV, you need to run TVOS 12.X and later or Android TV 7.0 and later Apple TV 4th and 5th generation. Overall, AMD Link's hardware compatibility is still very high, and the demand for the system is relatively low, so most players can experience the endless fun of the game on PCs, smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs.
Enable AMD Link Server in Radeon Software
Before using AMD Link, it is recommended that players automatically configure Windows Firewall through Radeon Software to avoid connection failures.
By default, Accept All Connections is turned off, so when other devices need to enter a PIN to connect to your PC. If you want to skip the steps to drive in the PIN code, you can turn on the "Accept all connections" option.
When connecting to other devices, players can choose to scan the QR code, output the PIN code to quickly connect, or connect manually.
If you want to play multiplayer with other players, try the Link Game feature. Considering the complexity of the invitation code, AMD Link also provides a one-click copy invitation code function.
Connect to another Windows PC
If you want to connect to another player's PC, you might as well install a program called "AMD Link" on your computer. On the homepage of the PC version of AMD Link, you can find games installed by other players. If AMD Link doesn't find the game you want to connect with other players, browse through all the games or all the apps.
Use AMD Link on your phone or tablet
When opening AMD Link on a smartphone or tablet, players can see the connection page on the app's homepage. If you've connected to a PC before, the auto-saved profile will be displayed in "Recent PCs" and you can easily reconnect it by simply tapping on it.
The already connected PC will appear in "Recent PCs" and you can easily reconnect it by simply tapping on it.
After the mobile phone or tablet is connected to the PC, it can "incarnate" the pc's additional controller, and the player can configure the controller according to the actual situation.
Swipe down from the top to get controls while streaming
It is worth mentioning that AMD Link also has a built-in speech recognition function. Players simply press and hold the bottom navigation to load the speech recognition screen. At present, AMD Link supports English, Mandarin, and Cantonese, such as "Start recording" and "GPU temperature". It's important to note that when you make these voice commands, remember to precede the word "RADEON." For example, if you want to know the current GPU utilization, then you need to say "RADEON, tell me the current GPU utilization", and then the speech recognition software will recognize the keyword "GPU utilization" and give the corresponding answer.
Through AMD Link's built-in speech recognition function, players can view the utilization, frequency, temperature and other status information of the graphics card.
Use AMD Link on your smart TV device
With AMD Link, players can play games or preview their library on their smart TV. To experience AMD Link, the player's smart TV still needs to be on the same LAN as the PC, and the AMD Link on the smart TV side will automatically search for a PC that can be connected. As with AMD Link on mobile phones, players still need to enter a PIN code by default when connecting to a PC using a smart TV, but when the "Accept All Connections" option is turned on, the connection can be completed without a PIN code.
Previously connected PCs will appear in the connected list, and players can easily reconnect them by tapping it.
Other useful features
In addition to RSR and AMD Link, AMD's latest version of the adrenaline graphics driver has many useful features, such as Radeon Image Sharpening (RIS), Radeon Boost, and Radeon Anti-Lag.
RIS is a driver-level feature that can support almost any game, as long as it is turned on in the driver. This feature improves image clarity in anti-aliasing environments with contrast adjusted and sharpened. In the figure above, the rock clarity and surface details after the RIS function is turned on are slightly improved. It is worth mentioning that after turning on the RIS function, it will only bring less than 2% performance loss.
With RIS turned on, the clarity of the delayed surface is slightly improved.
Radeon Boost can automatically reduce the game resolution as the game lens moves, improving the game frame rate and picture fluency. When the game shots stop, Radeon Boost restores the game's frame rate to a preset level. In addition, Integer Scaling's Chinese called Integer Scaling, works by scaling an image on the screen from one pixel to 4 or more pixels, giving retro visuals to players who want to experience the classic game again or just want to relive a game from 20 years ago.
Radeon Anti-Lag can reduce the response time of the player to press the mouse and keyboard, and the game character performs the corresponding action, the main principle of which is to reduce the waiting time of the processor execution link. According to AMD, Overwatch's latency was reduced from 30ms to 21ms, Fortnite's latency was reduced from 54ms to 36ms, and PUBG: Battle Royale was reduced from 48ms to 33ms. It's certainly great news for players who use these competitive games, which means that in a matchup, they have a faster reaction than their opponents and a higher probability of winning.
In 7 games, including Apex Heroes and PUBG Battle Royale, ANTI-LAG technology can greatly reduce the response time of action execution.
Highly recommend an upgrade
It has to be said that each generation of adrenaline graphics card drivers launched by AMD has attracted the attention of players. And on the adrenaline graphics card driver released this time, AMD also showed their sincerity. Among them, RSR can not only bring players a smoother game screen, but also provide a level of image quality close to native resolution. The new AMD Link allows players to experience multi-platform games and endless fun playing online with other players. Coupled with the continuation of useful features such as RIS, Radeon Boost, and Radeon Anti-Lag, the latest version of the adrenaline graphics driver released today is well worth the A card players, especially those who are using the Radeon RX 5000 and RX 6000 series graphics cards.