New Radeon and Ryzen products enable cutting-edge graphics on devices large and small — even on the go — while open-source upscaling technology improves fidelity for all gamers
No stranger to pushing boundaries, AMD is once again testing the limits of high-performance computing with its suite of new offerings announced on Tuesday at #COMPUTEXVirtual, organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA).
In a sign of what is to come as the world emerges from the pandemic, AMD president and CEO Dr Lisa Su once again took to the stage for her keynote, speaking to an auditorium of socially distanced and vaccinated employees about industry-leading advances in processors, graphics and advanced technology.
Nowhere has needed speed more over the past 15 months than data centers, especially cloud and e-commerce providers. AMD’s third-generation EPYC server processors have stepped in to handle usage surges for partners including Zoom, Microsoft and Twitter, while giving a 50-percent boost in throughput for e-commerce platforms over the competition.
Yet the most anticipated announcements were for consumer devices, led by new RDNA 2-based mobile graphics for the Radeon RX 6000M series, offering an impressive 1.5-fold generational performance boost.
“It has never been more important to deliver a laptop gaming experience” as sales surge amid a year of work-from-home, corporate vice president and general manager of graphics Scott Herkelman said as he took the stage to introduce the most powerful mobile gaming graphics yet.
With up to 12GB of RAM, the top-of-stack Radeon RX 6800M in testing was “hitting desktop-level performance” at 120fps and above at 1440p max settings, Herkelman said, to be available soon in the ROG Strix G15 by Asus.
“There is no dispute. Gamers know that performance is king, whether it’s an immersive AAA game or a competitive esports title,” he said. “Many gamers also want to be able to turn on the latest visual technologies like ray tracing while maintaining an acceptable frame rate,” which is why AMD developed FidelityFX Super Resolution. This open-source technology allows gamers to choose from four quality settings on whatever device they own, even on competitor GPUs.
Knowing that buying a laptop can be a daunting task, AMD also announced a new design framework to guarantee the best performance. “AMD Advantage gaming laptops make a great gaming laptop simple, as it ensures that you’re getting a premium gaming experience through and through,” chief architect of gaming solutions and marketing Frank Azor said.
Fans might also be surprised to learn where AMD’s RDNA 2 graphics architecture will be found next: on the road. The infotainment centers on the new Tesla Model S and X vehicles are to include a discrete RDNA 2-based GPU, enabling passengers to play AAA games while on the go.
For the desktop user, Su also announced new offerings in AMD’s Ryzen 5000G series of Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that integrate processing and graphics “all in a single chip.” In a demo running only on the built-in graphics of the new Ryzen 7 5700G, the game Rogue Company averaged 78fps at 1080p resolution.
Lastly, Su offered a glimpse into the future of computing with advanced 3D chiplets, which offer 15 percent faster gaming on average. “Now just think about that. That’s 15 percent, which is an entire architectural generation’s worth of gaming performance just from the 3D V-cache technology,” she said, vowing a start to production by the end of the year.
With these exciting offerings and more to come, “you can count on AMD always pushing the envelope in high-performance computing,” Su added.
