Tweet
Modern AMD Switchable Graphics Detection Issues
Hello!
I've recently acquired one of the 2020 "AMD Advantage Edition" notebooks, in particular the ASUS Strix G15 Advantage Edition - Model G513QY from BestBuy. This notebook has the display, and HDMI port routed through the onboard Vega iGPU found within the Ryzen 9 5900HX. This is the only notebook I'm aware of that is shipping with the RX 6800M GPU. The 6800M is routed to the HDMI and Display via a Mux with the APU. Only the USB-C port, which is wired to allow Display Port Alt-Mode v1.4, is directly able to access the raw 6800m without involvement from the iGPU.
Onto the issue then:
Unlike an Nvidia+Intel configuration, which allows you to flag what programs to run on what GPU from the Nvidia Control Panel, AMD appears to favor the Windows 10/11 Graphics interface to handle this. I'm still running Windows 10, at the moment just for context. This appears to be the core of the issue. While running on explicitly the 6800M only, via DisplayPort Alt-Mode, my scores are significantly higher in both 2D and 3D, which led me to the AMD performance overlay which confirmed my suspicion. The 6800M was only being used for maybe 1 or 2 of the normal tests while it had the option to choose between GPUs for rendering.
With some extremely rare exceptions, Windows normally assigns these fairly accurately. Minecraft was the only other notable exception in my month of ownership. Dozens of other programs all seem to work fine, though Minecraft is notorious for tripping up Nvidia's Optimus as well. To try and combat this, I opened up the Win10 "Graphics settings" panel and added every .exe file I could find related to PE10.2 from the installation directory. Once added, I set them all to "High Performance (6800M) and ran PT10.2 again.
This appears to run the majority of the tests on the 6800M, but not all of them unfortunately. While I would normally just run everything without the APU MUX in place (via the 6800M DP out), I'm trying to determine the penalty cost invoked by the Mux switch on the 6800m. This is a measurable affair after a quick browse around the web regarding "performance loss from mux switch" including by AMD themselves, so I was trying to nail out the difference with my exact setup.
Any suggestions are welcome, and I'll gladly pass along any information you may be curious to see. In the past I've helped out with some DX11 testing before PT8 came out if I recall (still have that email chain somewhere I believe), so I'm not afraid to run test builds or whatnot if it helps out. Dual AMD GPU notebooks are still a little rare these days, though, they are anticipated to pick up steam big time this year if AMD is to be believed.
Duncan
I've recently acquired one of the 2020 "AMD Advantage Edition" notebooks, in particular the ASUS Strix G15 Advantage Edition - Model G513QY from BestBuy. This notebook has the display, and HDMI port routed through the onboard Vega iGPU found within the Ryzen 9 5900HX. This is the only notebook I'm aware of that is shipping with the RX 6800M GPU. The 6800M is routed to the HDMI and Display via a Mux with the APU. Only the USB-C port, which is wired to allow Display Port Alt-Mode v1.4, is directly able to access the raw 6800m without involvement from the iGPU.
Onto the issue then:
Unlike an Nvidia+Intel configuration, which allows you to flag what programs to run on what GPU from the Nvidia Control Panel, AMD appears to favor the Windows 10/11 Graphics interface to handle this. I'm still running Windows 10, at the moment just for context. This appears to be the core of the issue. While running on explicitly the 6800M only, via DisplayPort Alt-Mode, my scores are significantly higher in both 2D and 3D, which led me to the AMD performance overlay which confirmed my suspicion. The 6800M was only being used for maybe 1 or 2 of the normal tests while it had the option to choose between GPUs for rendering.
With some extremely rare exceptions, Windows normally assigns these fairly accurately. Minecraft was the only other notable exception in my month of ownership. Dozens of other programs all seem to work fine, though Minecraft is notorious for tripping up Nvidia's Optimus as well. To try and combat this, I opened up the Win10 "Graphics settings" panel and added every .exe file I could find related to PE10.2 from the installation directory. Once added, I set them all to "High Performance (6800M) and ran PT10.2 again.
This appears to run the majority of the tests on the 6800M, but not all of them unfortunately. While I would normally just run everything without the APU MUX in place (via the 6800M DP out), I'm trying to determine the penalty cost invoked by the Mux switch on the 6800m. This is a measurable affair after a quick browse around the web regarding "performance loss from mux switch" including by AMD themselves, so I was trying to nail out the difference with my exact setup.
Any suggestions are welcome, and I'll gladly pass along any information you may be curious to see. In the past I've helped out with some DX11 testing before PT8 came out if I recall (still have that email chain somewhere I believe), so I'm not afraid to run test builds or whatnot if it helps out. Dual AMD GPU notebooks are still a little rare these days, though, they are anticipated to pick up steam big time this year if AMD is to be believed.
Duncan
Comment