Asus brings AMD Smart Access Memory to Intel platforms

[HEXUS]

Tests show it is similarly effective. ASRock and MSI confirm beta BIOS updates on the way too.

Read more.

[spolsh]

13.37 % better ... really ... l33t is back LOL

[mtyson]

MSI's press release about its SAM / Re-Size BAR support on Intel motherboards accidentally includes a CPU-Z screenshot from a Rocket Lake system. I wonder how long that will stay live.

https://www.msi.com/news/detail/3de9...ea6f542e6e83de

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Zen,Zen+ and Zen2 support??

[DanceswithUnix]

Zen,Zen+ and Zen2 support??

Yeah, I had been wondering if I am brave enough to install that Beta X470 bios and see if that has it. Not that I have the matching GPU unless they backport support to Vega 56, but fingers crossed for free upgrades delivered by software updates.

Edit: Ah, the article update says no chance.

[scaryjim]

... Edit: Ah, the article update says no chance.

There's a surprisingly useful comment on the TPU article about why - apparently the relevant x86 extension instructions are microcode-emulated in earlier AMD processors which adds significant latency. My reading is therefore that the technology would work, but would be too slow to provide any benefit.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

There's a surprisingly useful comment on the TPU article about why - apparently the relevant x86 extension instructions are microcode-emulated in earlier AMD processors which adds significant latency. My reading is therefore that the technology would work, but would be too slow to provide any benefit.

Sounds more like a proactive excuse for platform segmentation.

https://www.phoronix.com/forums/foru...e4#post1215694

Smart Access Technology works just fine on Linux. It is resizeable BAR support which Linux has supported for years (AMD actually added support for this), but which is relatively new on windows. You just need a platform with enough MMIO space. On older systems this is enabled via sbios options with names like ">4GB MMIO".

This was before the RDNA2 launch,so it works fine on older systems,which would imply at least Zen2 and RDNA1.

Remember,AMD was implying you "needed" PCI-E 4.0 for it too,yet we saw PCI-E 3.0 was fine,so unless they release it and it happens,I don't believe what random people on a forum are saying. I would put more faith in a person who is involved with actual driver development! It would be major egg on the face,if Nvidia brings its equivalent to Zen2,and AMD can't!

Yeah, I had been wondering if I am brave enough to install that Beta X470 bios and see if that has it. Not that I have the matching GPU unless they backport support to Vega 56, but fingers crossed for free upgrades delivered by software updates.

Edit: Ah, the article update says no chance.

The masters of segmentation have support,but AMD apparently can support it under Linux,but suddenly its "too slow" under Windows.It was like with the rubbish that PCI-E 4.0 wouldn't work on 400 series chipsets,but the OEM B550A which was a B450 worked fine with it. OEMs were happy to support it but AMD forced them to remove it. You had people who used the older BIOSes,with RDNA1 GPUs and PCI-E 4.0 SSDs,and they had no problems,and all those OEM B550A systems were fine. IIRC,even the B550 chipset is based on the B450 one with new firmware.

Then how AMD couldn't find a way to support Zen3 on B450/X470 until their users made a big ruckus,and they backtracked. Back to the good old AMD,where you had platform segmentation,and all the same crap Intel pulled(socket 754,QuadFX,etc).
Wait and see if Zen4 and Zen5 thrash Intel,and see how AMD might start segmenting things more(like Intel does).

Edit!!

Nvidia said they are going to make their own version of SAM for their GPUs. So if that can support Zen2,lets see how long before AMD finds a "magic" way to do it too!

If Nvidia does bring support to Zen2,together with their better RT support,it's definitely adding browny points for a Nvidia GPU for me. Only the extra VRAM and better power consumption of the AMD GPUs,seem a real advantage,although the RTX3060TI seems decent enough in terms of effiency.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

In another update, via TechPowerup, it seems that there is no possibility of Ryzen 3000 Series or older AMD processors supporting SAM due to hardware limitations. Meanwhile, it is claimed it would be possible for Intel platforms to support this feature as far back as Haswell - but good luck getting those BIOS updates.

So Haswell can get it,but AMD can't bring it to the platform which makes up the bulk of its sales which is 18 months old. So it makes Zen2 longterm going to be fall even more behind Intel CFL and Cometlake,as they are slower in games. Makes you wonder what other so called "cost cutting" has happened with AMD CPUs(the posts in the TPU article imply AMD has been cost cutting).

Seriously AMD do something about this,Intel and Nvidia PR is going to try their best to spin it in their favour!

[DanceswithUnix]

There's a surprisingly useful comment on the TPU article about why - apparently the relevant x86 extension instructions are microcode-emulated in earlier AMD processors which adds significant latency. My reading is therefore that the technology would work, but would be too slow to provide any benefit.

That makes no sense to me. Might as well be saying "Ah yes, but yoghurt is fruity." Yes, it is, but wtf has that to do with large memory region mapping???

Nvidia said they are going to make their own version of SAM for their GPUs. So if that can support Zen2,lets see how long before AMD finds a "magic" way to do it too!

If it needs BIOS support, then sadly Nvidia won't be our knights in shining armour.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If it needs BIOS support, then sadly Nvidia won't be our knights in shining armour.

It works under Linux already with older AMD hardware!

[Homecook]

Nice

[DanceswithUnix]

It works under Linux already with older AMD hardware!

Since Tonga supposedly on the GPU side, not that I can see any evidence of my Linux box actually using it.

Edit: And I am using amdgpu as my driver, but according to lspci the video BAR is the standard 256M.

I'm too lazy to dig out a login for the 3900X/RX570 box behind me to see what that does.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Since Tonga supposedly on the GPU side, not that I can see any evidence of my Linux box actually using it.

AMD got to justify that nice price rise with Zen3. If Nvidia gets it to work with older CPUs,I can see myself moving towards them for my next GPU purchase. The nu-AMD is all about its "here and now" customers,right?? Apparently I am living in some alternate universe where Intel and Nvidia actually has better support for features in older products than AMD!!

[ik9000]

MSI's press release about its SAM / Re-Size BAR support on Intel motherboards accidentally includes a CPU-Z screenshot from a Rocket Lake system. I wonder how long that will stay live.

https://www.msi.com/news/detail/3de9...ea6f542e6e83de

you should have screenshot it - link not working for me!

[ik9000]

AMD got to justify that nice price rise with Zen3. If Nvidia gets it to work with older CPUs,I can see myself moving towards them for my next GPU purchase. The nu-AMD is all about its "here and now" customers,right?? Apparently I am living in some alternate universe where Intel and Nvidia actually has better support for features in older products than AMD!!

I would consider myself a "here and now" customer, but they're already ditching functionality from my very expensive 3900x. Justify that one to me AMD?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would consider myself a "here and now" customer, but they're already ditching functionality from my very expensive 3900x. Justify that one to me AMD?

You are - its all about Zen3 and RX6000 series customers now. Zen2 and RX5000 are "budget" parts now. You are not premium enough for them now,so you better stump up more cash!