AMD presented Smart Access Memory technology during the announcement of Radeon RX 6000 graphics cards. The point is that while in conventional Windows-based PCs processors can only access part of the graphics memory (VRAM) at the same time, it can be used to expand the data channel, allowing the processor to immediately use the entire video memory array and eliminate potential bottlenecks, achieving improved performance.
Future
AMD has published tests of Radeon RX 6000, in which it demonstrated the performance gain by using Smart Access Memory in conjunction with the latest Ryzen 5000 series processors. But NVIDIA already has something to answer that advantage. According to the company's announcement for Gamer's Nexus website, it will present a similar feature that improves the efficiency of data transfer between the graphics gas pedal and processor. In fact, in the NVIDIA lab, this functionality already works on Ampere graphics cards. In addition, NVIDIA claims that its technology will be versatile and will be able to work equally well with Intel and AMD processors, including through the PCIe 3.0 bus, while AMD's solution requires the AMD Ryzen Series 5000 CPU, X570 chipset motherboard and Radeon RX 6000 graphics gas pedal. The description says that Smart Access Memory allows the CPU and GPU to exchange information over a wider PCIe channel. Technical details are unknown, and AMD simply says that the CPU and GPU are usually limited to «aperture » 256 MB of data transfer, which binds the hands of game developers, and also requires frequent switching between CPU and main memory if the amount of data exceeds this limit. The result is lower efficiency and lower performance. Smart Access Memory, according to AMD, removes this barrier. This description is similar to the BAR size changes in PCIe & ; the standard feature described in the PCIe specifications is considered by NVIDIA. And if the graphics processor supports it, the performance can be improved by simply setting the appropriate parameter in the BIOS of the graphics card and motherboard. NVIDIA said its GPUs support this feature, although it does require activation. As for processors, any Intel or AMD chip working with PCIe bus should be able to enable this technology. AMD may in the future reduce CPU and motherboard requirements if NVIDIA does in fact introduce similar functionality on all platforms. NVIDIA currently claims that its early testing shows similar performance improvements to AMD's Smart Access Memory and that similar functionality will be included in future firmware upgrades. However, the company has not announced the release date of this update.
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