AMD’s new technology, Variable Graphics Memory (VGM), enables users to reassign up to 75 % of their system memory as dedicated graphics memory. Combined with the second feature, AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2 (AFMF), which uses AI for frame generation, it can improve performance significantly.
AMD introduced the two features as part of the announcement for a new preview driver for systems running on AMD Ryzen AI 300 series processors. After installing the Technical Preview driver, both functionalities have been integrated into the AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition application.
The second version of the fluid motion frames technology uses new optimizations and tunable settings to generate frames that include AI-optimised improvements for enhanced quality, performance, and lower latency.
Currently, VGM is only available for AMD’s “Strix Point” laptops, and the amount of RAM that can be assigned as dedicated video RAM (VRAM) depends on the system’s existing capacity.
For example, the ‘medium setting’ will convert a 32 GB laptop with 512MB of VRAM into a 24GB system with 8GB of dedicated VRAM. AMD said, “This should not be confused with ‘shared’ graphics memory, which is already available in modern AMD processors.”
Games with a high requirement of VRAM, such as Alan Wake 2, will significantly be affected by the option to allow a higher amount of VRAM. The company said that using both functionalities can reportedly substantially boost framerate.
Performance will differ depending on the game title and its specific requirements, and it is recommended that game settings be changed to reach at least 50 frames per second before attempting to use the new features. “By default, integrated graphics have a ‘dedicated’ graphics allocation of 512 MB, and AMD recommends leaving at least 16 GB RAM for the CPU,” said AMD.
Many systems and handheld consoles use the same pool of memory between the CPU and GPU. VGM would allow boosting graphics without having to open BIOS settings to redirect power. The company had released the first iteration of its frame generation technology for AMD RDNA 2 architecture-based systems and newer 700M-based APUs.
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