The competition between AMD and NVIDIA seems to have never been so strong, and when we are not talking about news graphics cardsthe accomplices compete for software improvements.
This is not yet a final version, but the beta drivers published very recently by AMD are interesting in more than one way. For example, we have already mentioned the integration of Fluid Motion Frames.
Today we learned that they are integrating a new performance measurement system called “System Lag”. All players will tell you that lag is not good, so getting feedback is important.
Report system latency
This new metric called System Lag should make it possible to determine the latency between the generation of images by the graphics engine and the rendering produced by the graphics card.
In a sense, it seems quite clear that System Lag is similar to what NVIDIA presented to us as system latency. At AMD, however, System Lag is related to another feature, called Anti-Lag+, which is only available on the RDNA 3 generation, whether Radeon RX 7000 graphics cards or iGPU/APUs from range.
While the Anti-Lag function “simply” monitored the work rate of the CPU, so that it remains in parallel with the GPU, Anti-Lag+ goes further. As AMD explains, “ frame alignment within the game code itself allows for better frame synchronization “.
Is AMD adopting the right Reflex?
By itself, System Lag does not bring any improvement to the user. The idea here is not to get something smoother or faster, but to report on improvements achieved with other tools. AMD specifies things in these terms:
System Lag is the latency measured between the moment the game generates the image and the end of rendering by the GPU. This doesn’t include factors like display latency, which can be further increased by features like Enhanced Sync. Additionally, System Lag does not include the additional latency of generating frames from Fluid Motion Frames. Frame Generation Lag can be used to display this. System Lag is only available if Anti-Lag+ is active.
CapFrameX on X.com insists that the System Lag metric returns values close to PC latency, as NVIDIA has already discussed in the past. It should also be noted that it is only possible to activate it on games that support Anti-Lag+ with an RDNA 3 GPU. Here is the list:
- Apex Legends
- Overwatch 2
- Dying Light 2
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- Rise of the Tomb Raider
- Resident Evil 4
- Ghostwire: Tokyo
- Fortnite
- Last of Us: Part 1
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
- Resident Evil 3
- Borderlands 3
To activate System Lag, provided you have the prerequisites, you must go to the Performance section, then to Metrics and to Tracking Options. Please note that only the latest AMD beta drivers allow this.
Sources: CapFrameX on X.com, VideoCardz
7