AMD revealed the Radeon RX 6000 GPU series recently which includes some special features including the new Infinity Cache and Smart Access Memory feature. According to AMD, if you have both the RX 6000 series graphic card and Ryzen 5000 series processors running on a 500 series motherboard, then you will get a gaming performance from the Smart Access Memory feature.
The Smart Access Memory feature enhances data transfer between the CPU and GPU resulting in a performance boost on your AMD rig. AMD is the only company that produces both x86 processors and discrete gaming GPUs and that gives them an advantage in optimizing both the GPU and CPU to offer the best possible performance.
But AMD has taken it a step further in the Smart Access Memory feature which allows the CPU and GPU to gain unprecedented full access to each other’s memory, which maximizes data transfer performance between the CPU and the GPU’s on-card 16GB of VRAM. Smart Access Memory feature can be toggled on in the Radeon RX6000’s vBIOS and the motherboard BIOS.
AMD hasn’t revealed the full technical details about the feature but according to experts, AMD says that the CPU and GPU are usually constrained to a 256MB ‘aperture’ for data transfers. Smart Access Memory removes that limitation, thus boosting performance due to faster data transfer speeds between the CPU and GPU.
Pairing this feature with the 128 MB Infinity Cache could result in a massive performance jump on all AMD systems. AMD has also not given the technical specifications about the Infinity Cache but by the looks of it, the 128 MB cache will act as a data suffer which will be available to game developers to utilize.
The Infinity Cache leverages the RDNA 2GPU’s redesigned data paths to aggressively maximize performance while minimizing data movement and power within the GPU. According to AMD, the Infinity Cache equates to a 10% increase in power efficiency and doubles the bandwidth which is at lower power than traditional memory.
To be able to utilize the Smart Memory Access, you will need a Radeon RX 6000 GPU, a Ryzen 5000 processor, and a standard 500-series motherboard. We will have the cards to be reviewed to see how much performance gain is to be had using this feature.
