AMD graphics cards have gotten a lot of attention lately, especially as the new RX 7900 XTX undercuts the performance of Nvidia’s RTX 4080. But as AMD has continued to refine its GPU performance, another big area of improvement has started bubbling under the surface — AMD software.
In the past, it’s been AMD Software, Radeon Software, Adrenalin, and various other names, but regardless of the name, AMD has continued to iterate and improve the software experience for its GPUs. And the version we have now is a big reason why AMD can compete with the best graphics cards.
Everything, everything in one place
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The biggest advantage of AMD software is that all your settings are in one place. This doesn’t seem like a big deal until you actually want to take advantage of the many software features available with Nvidia and AMD graphics cards.
Nvidia takes a much different approach. You can see your games and some quick account settings in the GeForce Experience app. However, your critical game and display settings are only available in the gray Nvidia control panel. Additionally, Nvidia features such as Freestyle filters and Ansel are available in GeForce Experience, but not in the desktop app. You can only find them in the layer.
I’ve used Nvidia GPUs exclusively for almost a decade and never used features like FreeStyle and Ansel in everyday use, simply because I couldn’t find where to find them. I actively avoided GeForce Experience on my PC — the app would keep kicking me out and I’d have to log back in to do something as simple as check for driver updates. The situation is now even more complicated with Nvidia Broadcast. I had three Nvidia apps running on the computer at all times.
You don’t have to jump through multiple apps and layers to find features with AMD software.
AMD software has everything in one place, both in the desktop application and in the layer. On desktop I can adjust game settings and check graphics drivers, and in game I can adjust my picture settings while playing instead of applying custom color settings in an outdated app and hoping they stick (I’m looking at you, Nvidia Control Panel). I can either do it all on desktop or do it all in-game, and that flexibility is great.
Overall, AMD and Nvidia have very similar software features available. There are a few exceptions, such as Nvidia’s AI-enhanced camera features available through Broadcast, but AMD and Nvidia let you easily optimize your game settings, record and stream gameplay, capture highlights, and configure advanced graphics and display settings. The difference is that you don’t have to jump through multiple apps and layers to find these features with AMD’s software.
A lighter, more robust experience
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AMD software has several features that make it even more useful than GeForce Experience. For geeks like me, something as small as an option to clear the shader cache can make a big difference. However, a big plus for AMD Software is the built-in GPU overclocking utility.
You don’t get an advanced overclocking program, but most GPUs don’t require advanced overclocking at all. You can quickly increase clock speed or memory speed with the slider, and AMD includes several profiles for one-click overclocking. There’s even a built-in stress test to check if your overclock is stable. Nvidia also supports one-click overclocking, but only through MSI Afterburner. It’s one of the best GPU overclocking software out there, but it’s another utility you need to add to the Nvidia stack to get all the features AMD has in one app.
And with this utility, you have a lot of options. One-click settings are great, but you can also manually tweak your GPU and even tie specific overclocking profiles to games. IN destiny 2, I have noticed Overclock VRAM the profile helped a lot with smoothing out the frames per second, so I only apply it when I play that game. And every time I load the game, the AMD software shows a little overlay with what I’ve enabled so I don’t have to go back to the software to double check.
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In addition to overclocking, AMD is developing its software with several quality-of-life features. For example, there’s a quick built-in browser, so you can quickly look something up if you need to. There is a search bar so you can find a setting without digging through menus. And once you’ve configured your settings to your liking, you can export them as a profile and import them later in case you switch computers or need to perform a clean install.
You don’t even need to log in to AMD Software. GeForce Experience requires an Nvidia account and you must sign in to use any of its features. I’m not a privacy fanatic where the login screen will drive me crazy, but it’s annoying to have to constantly log into my Nvidia account just to use the features of the graphics card I paid for (especially when Nvidia’s social sign-in process is prone to failure).
Built-in overclocking, a web browser, the lack of a login screen, and various little extras like a search bar help AMD Software feel like a smoother, more robust tool compared to GeForce Experience. That’s even before we introduce features like the AMD Link streaming utility, which looks like a big plus now that Nvidia is discontinuing its GameStream service.
Not without problems
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AMD software isn’t perfect though, and it’s important to point out its shortcomings. For starters, it’s prone to mistakes. On a few occasions the settings menus simply wouldn’t show up or the software would hang on the card for a while. Restarting the app always fixed the problem, but these bugs still pop up from time to time.
In addition, recommendations for adjusting game settings are missing. Nvidia includes a one-click optimization feature in GeForce Experience that will automatically adjust your settings based on your hardware. It’s not perfect, but it provides a good starting point for fine-tuning your performance. The AMD software makes very general suggestions like “lower the image quality” and “lower the screen resolution”, which are far less useful.
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My biggest problem is the layer. Over and over, the overlay would slow my entire screen down to about 15 frames per second (including my game) and slowly restore my settings. AMD software is robust, but the byproduct of doing so much work is that it causes your machine to slow down to a crawl when you cram so many features into the game layer.
I discovered this using Alt + Tab is the best way if I need to tweak settings (AMD software is very friendly in this regard). Otherwise, I mostly used shortcuts for things like saving a snapshot or taking a screenshot. On the plus side, you can customize your shortcuts, and it would be interesting to set everything up via something like the Elgato Stream Deck in the future.
An unsung hero
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There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to performance between AMD and Nvidia, and ultimately, that’s what matters most when choosing a GPU. However, AMD software doesn’t always get the attention it should. It’s packed with features that unlock so much more for your graphics card beyond gaming.
Nvidia also has these features, and in some cases Nvidia goes further. Admittedly, I missed the smooth background blur and auto-framing offered by Nvidia Broadcast, as well as the ray tracing filter available through FreeStyle.
Still, I enjoyed how much AMD software offered and how much I experimented with it. Instantly saving GIFs from my games, tweaking overclock settings per title, tweaking color settings to make my games look just right… the list goes on. Both AMD and Nvidia have their pros and cons, but I’ve undoubtedly used AMD’s software far more than I’ve ever used GeForce Experience.
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Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn