Many laptops and gaming handhelds share a memory pool between the CPU and GPU — and sometimes, you might just want RAM to boost your graphics. Now, AMD won’t make you dive into a BIOS to reroute that power. The company’s new Variable Graphics Memory lets you turn up to 75 percent of your system’s memory into dedicated video RAM, with just the tap of a button in AMD’s desktop Adrenalin app.
It’s currently only available for AMD AI 300 “Strix Point” laptops, and how much RAM you’ll be able to divert depends on your system total — AMD explains that the “medium” setting will turn off 32GB laptop that includes 512MB of video memory in a 24GB with 8GB of dedicated VRAM.
You may be wondering: does extra video memory really make a difference? Well, it depends on the game. Some games, such as Alan Wake II, requires as much as 6GB of VRAM and will have launch errors if you’re short — Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go buyers adjust their VRAM settings for hours to bring games to the threshold of playability.
But in early testing with the Asus Zenbook S 16, a Strix Point laptop that shipped with this feature, my colleague Joanna Nelius found that turning it on isn’t a silver bullet for every game. With 8GB of VRAM, the laptop played Control noticeably faster (65fps vs. 54fps), but some titles have smaller boosts, no boost, or even a slight drop in frame rate.
Your mileage will vary — but I’m curious to see if this helps a lot in specific games!
There, AMD says you can get a big boost combined with VGM, assuming you have at least 50fps to work with before you apply the frame-building technique — though AMD doesn’t say if you get more any frames in AFMF 2 than you did in the original tech version.
The company says, however, that if your laptop can already manage 39fps at, say, Horizon Zero Dawnyou can now play it at a (theoretically) smooth 66fps on a 2880 x 1800 laptop screen if you combine AMD’s AFMF2, VGM, and FSR upscaling tech.
In other AMD laptop gaming news, the company announced the RX 7800M, a new up-to-180W chip that includes 12GB of dedicated video memory. Tom’s hardware It’s called “essentially a stripped-down RX 7800 XT,” comparing it to a desktop GPU, but it also fills a big hole in AMD’s lineup between the flagship RX 7900M and the RX 7600M XT, as you can see below.
