How to turn on AMD's Smart Access Memory for faster gaming performance

AMD’s Smart Access Memory allows you to combine a Radeon RX 6000 series GPU with a Ryzen processor to unlock even more gaming performance—dramatically so, in some cases.

Before we show you how to enable Smart Access memory, we’ll discuss the hardware requirements. Next, we’ll walk you through how to configure your BIOS to activate SAM. And lastly, we’ll show you how to confirm it’s working. Let’s get smart! (And be sure to check out our explainer on how Smart Access Memory and the Nvidia-equivalent Resizable BAR work).

Smart Access Memory hardware requirements

• AMD 500 series motherboard (X570, B550, etc.)
• AMD Ryzen 5000 series CPUs (5600x, 5800x, etc.)
• AMD Ryzen 3000 select CPUs (excluding 3200G and 3400G)
• AMD Radeon RX 6000 GPUs (6800, 6800XT, etc.)
• AMD Radeon Software (20.11.2 or newer)
• AMD latest BIOS (AGESA 1.1.0.0 or newer)

As per the recommended hardware above, best results will come from the RX 6000 series GPUs and Ryzen 5000 series CPUs. AMD did add select 3000 series CPUs to the mix, but you’ll still need a 500 series motherboard. If you have an Nvidia GPU or Intel CPU, Nvidia has their own version of Resizable BAR support. We’ll update this article to reflect any future guidance on hardware compatibility.

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from PCWorld https://ift.tt/3yqryCO