AMD‘s Smart Access Memory feature was an unexpected part of its RX 6000 Series graphics cards reveal, providing better gaming performance by exclusively allowing the latest Ryzen 5000 processors to utilize the fast GDDR6 graphics memory. Already however, several motherboard manufacturers have got the feature working with selected Intel motherboards and processors, and the early results are looking just as good.
Japanese publisher ASCII posted the first 1080P benchmarks using an ASUS Z490 motherboard, an Intel i9-10900K, and an RX 6800 XT reference card. The most impressive result was a 14% increase in average frame rates in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, when compared to the same PC with the Smart Access Memory like feature switched off. Red Dead Redemption 2 had a 7% increase in average frame rate using the Vulkan API, and the minimum frame rate shot up from 33.6 fps to 94.6 fps.
Manufacturers ASUS and MSI are the first to enable Smart Access Memory on 400 Series Intel motherboards via a beta bios update, while ASRock and Gigabyte are reportedly working on updates to enable it. Gamers with an RX 6800 or RX 6800 XT will need to update the bios, and then go to the advanced page of the bios menu to activate it.
It is important to remember that enabling a Smart Access Memory like feature on an Intel motherboard may come with a risk of instability, as it is still being beta tested. The initial benchmarks also suggest that the feature is either not fully working, or not yet compatible with some titles, an example being Rainbow Six Siege using Vulkan API, which showed less than 0.5% improvement in average frame rate. The overall news however is very positive for gamers who wish to stick with Intel CPUs, demonstrating that the added performance of Smart Access Memory is not just going to be limited to Ryzen 5000 Series owners.
Given the ease with which manufacturers have enabled Smart Access Memory for Intel motherboards, and that Nvidia is working on a similar feature compatible with both Intel and AMD CPUs, it does pose a question why AMD launched the feature as something only a manufacturer of both CPUs and GPUs could do. Unless AMD has extra technology and therefore performance as part of its Smart Access Memory feature, which cannot be replicated on Intel or Nvidia hardware, it may end up looking a little silly for making it sound so exclusive.
In the end though, Smart Access Memory and its equivalents seem like good news for gamers. Many people are going to benefit with extra performance from their new hardware, while those upgrading in the future will not need to be restricted in choice to take advantage. Now gamers just need some good luck to actually find the graphics cards as most hardware that has gone on sale this year have sold out extremely fast.
AMD’s RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT graphics cards are available now.
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