AMD's Radeon Adrenalin 2020 Edition focuses on new features and enhanced performance

[Shawn Knight]

What just happened? AMD on Tuesday announced a brand new version of its software suite for Radeon graphics cards that delivers 20 new or updated features and promises enhanced performance – on average, an increase of around 12 percent – across more than a dozen games, all in a fully revamped application sporting a fresh look.

Download: AMD Radeon Adrenalin 2020 Edition Graphics Driver 19.12.2

Diving right in, AMD references a baker’s dozen of games in its press deck that’ll benefit from the new Adrenaline 2020 Edition software including Borderlands 3, Forza Horizon 4 and Wolfenstein: Young Blood, just to name a few.

Raw performance improvements aside, AMD’s latest affords a number of compelling new features including Radeon Boost. This feature detects mouse movements in games – like when you are moving around during an action sequence – and by dynamically reducing image resolution, is able to boost frame rates and fluidity with little to no change in discernible image quality.

According to AMD, Radeon Boost can enhance performance by as much as 23 percent in applicable scenarios. In testing, our own Tim Schiesser noted that it works strictly based on mouse movements and isn’t influenced by other factors like on-screen action or even inputs from other devices such as controllers or your keyboard. Simply, the more your mouse is moving, the more aggressively the feature works.

As for how noticeable the downscaling is and how much of a performance gain you can expect, that’ll depend on a number of factors like your native resolution, the particular game you are playing and how perceptive you are to changes while gaming. Furthermore, it only works with a handful of games out of the gate although AMD will likely expand support to additional titles, especially should it prove popular with players.

Other noteworthy features and updates include integer display scaling which is designed to make older, resolution-limited games look better on modern, high-res displays via pixel perfect upscaling as well as expanded support for Radeon Anti-Lag and Radeon Image Sharpening.

AMD’s Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition is available to download here.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/83118-amd-radeon-adrenalin-2020-edition-focuses-new-features.html

 

[VitalyT]

Sounds like AMD is trying to play the power of suggestion, with its provocative titles, to distract from the lackluster hardware. Could have called it Amphetamine Acid Update, and be even closer to the truth.

 

[Nobina]

Sounds like AMD is trying to play the power of suggestion, with its provocative titles, to distract from the lackluster hardware. Could have called it Amphetamine Acid Update, and be even closer to the truth.

Don't worry, ray tracing will kick off some day.

 

[VitalyT]

Don't worry, ray tracing will kick off some day.

I know it will, but I fear by the time it does, nVidia will have a warp drive.

 

[Vulcanproject]

Dynamic resolution scaling is and always has been a great idea, but implementation is going to rely heavily on driver support. You will probably want game specific profiles to get the best quality without noticeable resolution degradation.

Dropping a few lines of pixels for a split second, virtually unnoticeable to the human eye in motion, is better than crashing the framerate for the same amount of time. Which certainly is noticeable!

I think I first saw this technique on a modern HD game in 2008, Wipeout HD on PS3. It worked brilliantly too! A 1080/60FPS game in a generation of largely sub 720/30FPS titles.

The feature was covered quite well on technical sites and then......it disappeared. For about another 6-7 years few big titles utilized it to improve performance despite that breakout application. It mystified me.

Now it is back commonly appearing on console games, especially post hardware refresh. If it isn't too aggressive, it works very well. If AMD can nail the drivers then this dynamic load balancing is a feature that would definitely be useful for PC gaming, whether it's at budget level or top end.

Throwing raw power around is an awesome thing, but it's still better to be clever with whatever resources you have. Consoles are nothing if not efficient, so stealing the best software features their games use is smart.

 

[Evernessince]

I know they will, but I fear by the time AMD discovers light tracing, nVidia will have a warp drive.

I'm sorry, you can only use Nvidia enabled warp drives in star systems that support the Nvidia GalaxPlus feature. Currently there is one enrolled in the program and it is buggy AF. Do note Nvidia is not responsible for dismembered body parts due to poor AI predictions. If your vision appears blurred, you are experiencing superior DLS vision.

 

[krizby]

Radeon Boost sounds good, doesn't work. The dynamic resolution scaling works best only when you are trying to maintain a certain FPS, getting unstable FPS during aiming in a competitive shooter is going to be detrimental to your accuracy. Not only that when you are trying to hit a headshot that is only a few pixel wide is impossible if you just get a upscaled image suddenly. Might as well just lower details or resolution...

 

[Irata]

Radeon Boost sounds good, doesn't work. The dynamic resolution scaling works best only when you are trying to maintain a certain FPS, getting unstable FPS during aiming in a competitive shooter is going to be detrimental to your accuracy. Not only that when you are trying to hit a headshot that is only a few pixel wide is impossible if you just get a upscaled image suddenly. Might as well just lower details or resolution...

Have you tried it ?

 

[treetops]

Radeon Boost sounds good, doesn't work. The dynamic resolution scaling works best only when you are trying to maintain a certain FPS, getting unstable FPS during aiming in a competitive shooter is going to be detrimental to your accuracy. Not only that when you are trying to hit a headshot that is only a few pixel wide is impossible if you just get a upscaled image suddenly. Might as well just lower details or resolution...

Yeah cause no FPS player lowers settings for higher fps.... Having something neat to look at while not in action could be to distracting. I'm sure people would rather just stay at 720p or 1080p all the time... lol

Anyways going to try it out, looks like it might work in BFV according to radeon settings

 

[krizby]

Yeah cause no FPS player lowers settings for higher fps.... Having something neat to look at while not in action could be to distracting. I'm sure people would rather just stay at 720p or 1080p all the time... lol

Anyways going to try it out, looks like it might work in BFV according to radeon settings

So how is your finding ?

 

[Kerodon]

Sounds like AMD is trying to play the power of suggestion, with its provocative titles, to distract from the lackluster hardware. Could have called it Amphetamine Acid Update, and be even closer to the truth.

Lackluster hardware lol wut? They own the entire market in cost efficiency and are barely, if at all, behind on actual performance in a given price range.