AMD is happy to help Intel and Nvidia enable Smart Access memory

In context: Smart Access Memory, or SAM, is a software / hardware trick that takes advantage of a PCI Express feature called the Basic Address Register. So far, only AMD is using its newer Radeon RX 6000 GPUs to get a bit more performance. It allows the processor to feed information directly into the entire video buffer, instead of just a small portion of it. The result is an improvement in performance of around 5 to 10% depending on the title, which is not negligible.

When AMD announced Smart Access Memory on its latest GPUs, it looked like SAM required close cooperation between CPU and GPU. Therefore, it was released as a new feature that only works when AMD RX 6000 GPUs are paired with AMD Ryzen 5000 processors.

Nvidia, however, believes that some form of SAM could be implemented universally, provided all manufacturers can agree on certain standards because it relies on PCI Express functionality. PC World asked AMD’s Scott Herkelman if AMD thought this was possible and to what extent AMD would support standardization. Here is an edited transcript of the interview:

Q: Will competitors have to release BIOS updates for their entire product ecosystem?

A: I think you will have to ask them. But I think they will have to work on their own drivers. Intel will have to work with its own motherboard manufacturers and work on its own chipsets. I think there is work to be done for our competitors.

And, to be clear, our Radeon group will be working with Intel to prepare them. And I know our Ryzen group will be working with Nvidia. There are already conversations going on. If they want to enable this feature on AMD platforms, we are not going to stop them.

In fact, I hope they will. At the end of the day, the player wins, and that’s all that matters. We’re just the company that could do it fastest, because we’re the only company in the world (finally) with passionate GPUs and passionate processors.

The standardization of a SAM-like functionality could have an impact on the way games are developed. While the feature does not require developer support, some games use it much more effectively than others: at 1440p, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla sees a 14% improvement, but Shadow of the Tomb Raider sees only an improvement. by 6%. If the developers wish, future titles could be designed to use SAM to the fullest extent possible.

Based on our AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT review. Also check out our AMD Radeon RX 6800 review for more SAM tests.

For now, however, SAM is a nice little incentive to keep your system fully AMD. In our 18 game average of 1440p, the RX 6800 XT was only 5% slower than the RTX 3090, a difference that SAM could perhaps eliminate.

Additionally, as we noted in our review of the RX 6800 XT, PCIe 4.0 does not appear to be required for SAM. We did some limited testing in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla while forcing PCIe 3.0 on our X570 test system and didn’t see any performance drop compared to PCIe 4.0, so it’s interesting.